FC Pyunik
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| Full name | Football Club Pyunik | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1992 | ||
| Ground |
Yerevan Football Academy Stadium Yerevan | ||
| Capacity | 1,428 | ||
| Owner | Samvel Aleksanyan | ||
| Chairman | Rafik Hayraprtyan | ||
| Manager | Sargis Hovsepyan | ||
| League | Armenian Premier League | ||
| 2013–14 | 6th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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Football Club Pyunik (Armenian: Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ), is an Armenian professional football club based in Yerevan. It is one of the most popular football clubs in Armenia.[1]
The club headquarters are located on Masis street 7, Yerevan.[2] The Pyunik Training Centre is located in the Kentron District of Yerevan.
The owner of the club is the Armenian businessman Samvel Aleksanyan.
History
Founded in 1992 as Homenetmen Yerevan, the club won the first Armenian Premier League competition held in 1992 (shared with Shirak). In 1995, Homenetmen Yerevan was renamed FC Pyunik (Armenian for "Phoenix").
The new era of Pyunik began in 2001, when they absorbed the newly-promoted club FC Armenicum and automatically gained position in the Armenian Premier League without playing a single game in the lower leagues. The new owner of the club Ruben Hayrapetyan, took serious approach to develop the team bringing star players from other Armenian clubs. Pyunik had significantly improved after the arrival of foreign players from Mali, Cameroon, Argentina and later from Romania. Thus, Pyunik won the Armenian Premier League title the same year and the Armenian Cup in 2002. Later, for the first time in independent Armenian club history an Armenian club advanced to the second round in the Champions League. Afterwards, the club won the Armenian Premier League title ten times in a row.
In general, Pyunik have won a record 13 Armenian Championships, along with 7 Armenian Cup titles and 8 Armenian Supercups. The club is among the popular Armenian football clubs.
Stadiums
Between 1992 and 1999, the club used the Hrazdan Stadium as a home ground. After the renovation of the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in 1999, the club moved there and used it regularly as a home ground until 2013. However, Pyunik were forced to play their home games at their own Pyunik Stadium of 770 seats during 2008, due to the large-scale renovation works at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium.
In April 2013, the club started to use the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium as a home venue for the domestic competitions.
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 2001. Another category Banants and Pyunik compete is their youth academies, which are considered to be the two best academies in the country.
Youth academy
FC Pyunik run their own youth training academy in Yerevan. Many of the Armenian national team players are graduates of the club's academy including Edgar Manucharyan, Robert Arzumanyan, Gevorg Ghazaryan, Karlen Mkrtchyan and Henrik Mkhitaryan. Many of them were members of the Armenia U-19 national team who participated in final tournament of the 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship.[3]
Honours
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Winner (13) – 1992, 1995-96, 1996-97, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 -
Runner-up (2) – 1994, 2011
Armenian Super Cup
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Winner (8) – 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 -
Runner-up (6) – 1997, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014
Pyunik in European Cups
As of 3 July, 2014.
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League | 30 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 50 |
| UEFA Europa League | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 15 |
| Total | 37 | 8 | 8 | 21 | 35 | 65 |
- Home results are noted in bold
Current squad
- As of 24 July 2014
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Managers
Levon Yablukyan (2000–01)- Samvel Darbinyan (2001–02)
Oscar López (2002–03)
Mihai Stoichiță (2003–04)- Vardan Minasyan (2004–05)
Henk Wisman (2005–06)- Samvel Petrosyan (2006–07)
- Armen Gyulbudaghyants (2007–08)
- Vardan Minasyan (June 1, 2008–Dec 31, 2011)
- Suren Chakhalyan (Jan 1, 2012–Nov 8, 2012)
- Vardan Minasyan (interim) (Nov 9, 2012–Jan 14, 2013)
- Rafael Nazaryan (Jan 16, 2013–Nov 10, 2013)
- Varazdat Avetisyan (interim) (Nov 14, 2013–1?)
- Sargis Hovsepyan (Dec 30, 2013–)
References
External links
- Official website (Armenian)
- Pyunik at FFA.AM
- Pyunik at UEFA.COM
- Pyunik at EUFO.DE
- Pyunik at Weltfussball.de
- Pyunik at National Football Teams.com
- Pyunik at Football-Lineups.com
- European Football Club Ranking
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