Legendary Football Expert to Come to Armenia: Vanetsyan Discusses Developing Armenian Football

The President of the Football Federation of Armenia, Artur Vanetsyan, regrets to note that there is currently no foundation in Armenia upon which future football successes can be built. In an interview with Radio Liberty, Vanetsyan emphasized that there is a perception in society that the work of the Football Federation is evaluated solely based on the results of the national team’s games.

“When the Armenian national team lost to Gibraltar, I became the most rejected person by the public. Then came the match against Macedonia, where the Armenian team won, and as I left the stadium, around 10,000 people were chanting my name,” said Vanetsyan.

The President of the Football Federation of Armenia presented his vision for developing Armenian football. “Today we have a task to develop youth and mass football in Armenia—meaning as many children as possible should play football. For that, we need fields, balls, and most importantly, coaches. I recently visited Zurich, where I met with the FIFA President, and had a meeting in Dublin with the UEFA President, and we reached an agreement to provide certain financial support to the Football Federation of Armenia so that we can build small fields. Our goal is to construct around 700 small fields in Armenia over the next five years. In 2019, we will build 12 small fields in Vayots Dzor, construct the Yeghgneadzor stadium, and build football schools in Martuni, Sisian, Armavir, and Ejmiadzin,” detailed Artur Vanetsyan.

He also announced that, after protracted negotiations, he succeeded in inviting a legendary football expert to Armenia. “I cannot reveal his name yet; my football colleagues are sitting there, holding their breath waiting for me to say whether I will announce it or not. According to the contract, I cannot disclose his name. I will only be able to announce his name on January 6. He is a legendary person in the football world who has agreed to come, live in Armenia, train our coaches, and write a development program for football. The country where he has worked for the last 20 years is now at the forefront of the football map. This person has had 9 world champions and 6 European champions; most of today’s football stars have been his students. He has always coached youth national teams. We are bringing someone who will write our football development program and lay the groundwork for serious football successes. I cannot express how happy this makes me because no one believed we could invite him to Armenia,” noted the President of the Football Federation of Armenia.

Vanetsyan also recalled that the assistant coach of the Armenian national team is a Spanish expert who had been the physical conditioning coach for the Spanish national team and Real Madrid for many years. The FFA President also emphasized that the head coach of the Armenian national team, Armen Gyulbudaghyan, is working day and night to ensure our team achieves success. Artur Vanetsyan is confident that Armenian football has a bright future.