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FC Pyunik (Armenian: Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ Երեւան), is one of the most popular football clubs in Armenia. The club plays its home games in the Nairi Stadium in Yerevan.
[edit] History
Founded in 1992, Pyunik (Armenian for "Phoenix") has won a record of 10 Armenian Championships, along with 3 Armenian Cups, and 5 Armenian Supercups. The club is considered in Armenia as one of the most popular Armenian football clubs since the establishment of the Armenian Premier League in 1992. Pyunik's new era began in 2001, when wealthy Armenian businessman Ruben Hayrapetyan bought the club, brought star players from other Armenian team's such as Artavazd Karamyan and Arman Karamyan. FC Pyunik was not satisfied with what it already had, and improved the team more by bringing some foreign managers and players from Mali, Cameroon, Argentina and later from Romania. This improvments didn't waited to long, and Pyunik won the Armenian title the same year and the Armenian Cup in 2002. Later, first time in independent Armenian club history an Armenian club advanced to second round in Champions League. The club won Armenian Premier League titles seven times in a row. In 2007 season Pyunik's themes changed, the club resigned from its foreign player's services and depended on it own academy's products. However, Pyunik was still in the title hunt because it included seven Armenian national team players, such as Sargis Hovsepyan, Robert Arzumanyan, Levon Pachajyan, Karen Dokhoyan and many more. So, in 2007 season Pyunik proved it worth by wining another Armenian title, and again the 4th time in club's history it advanced the second round in Champions League qualifying, where they lost to Shakhtar Donetsk (2:0 and 2:1). After loosing several key players, Pyunik shows non-satisfactory performance in 2008 season.
[edit] Rivalry
Pyunik's main two rivals are Ararat and Banants, however, the rivalry with Ararat is a lot more fierce than that of Banants. The reason for that is because Ararat is known to be the most loved club of Yerevan because of its Soviet accomplishments, and Banants was originally based in the region of Kotayk, and was only moved to Yerevan in 1990s. Over the years Pyunik also proved that it has strongest youth school in Armenia. The proof of that is that most of Armenian Youth National team players are representing FC Pyunik. Few examples of Pyunik's products are Edgar Manucharyan, Robert Arzumanyan, Gevorg Ghazaryan, Henrik Mkhitaryan; all representing Armenian National team from very young age .
[edit] Stadium
Pyunik's home ground is the Nairi Stadium based in Yerevan. However, Nairi is not large enough to host international matches, therefore during international games Pyunik uses the Republican Stadium, which accommodates nearly 15,000 fans.
[edit] Current squad
[edit] Squad changes of 2008 season
In:
Out:
[edit] Previous Players
[edit] Pyunik in Europe
| Season |
Competition |
Round |
|
Club |
Score |
| 1996/97 |
UEFA Cup |
1Q |
 |
HJK Helsinki |
3-1, 2-5 |
| 1997/98 |
Champions League |
1Q |
 |
MTK Hungária FC |
0-2, 3-4 |
| 2002/03 |
Champions League |
1Q |
|
Tampere United |
4-0, 2-0 |
|
|
2Q |
 |
Dynamo Kiev |
0-4, 2-2 |
| 2003/04 |
Champions League |
1Q |
 |
KR Reykjavík |
1-0, 1-1 |
|
|
2Q |
 |
CSKA Sofia |
0-2, 0-1 |
| 2004/05 |
Champions League |
1Q |
 |
FK Pobeda |
3-1, 1-1 |
|
|
2Q |
|
FC Shakhtar Donetsk |
1-3, 0-1 |
| 2005/06 |
Champions League |
1Q |
|
FC Haka |
0-1, 2-2 |
| 2006/07 |
Champions League |
1Q |
 |
Sheriff Tiraspol |
0-0, 0-2 |
| 2007/08 |
Champions League |
1Q |
 |
Derry City |
0-0, 2-0 |
|
|
2Q |
|
FC Shakhtar Donetsk |
0-2, 1-2 |
[edit] Honours
( 1992, 1995/96, 1996/97, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 )
( 1996, 2002, 2004 )
( 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006 )
[edit] External links
Karen Harutunyan
