«Fact». There is an extremely unhealthy atmosphere in the Federation. A demarche is being conducted against Vanetsyan

«Fact» newspaper writes: “The Armenian national football team suffered its most disgraceful defeat in history, losing to a nearly second-string Italy team by a score of 1:9. The phenomenon itself is shameful, but in reality, this score reveals deeper problems in our footballing world and the true face of the current authorities.

Outwardly, one might logically question what connection exists between the defeat of the Armenian national football team and the face of the authorities. It turns out that there is a connection, a very direct one. Now let’s understand how.

This defeat is not just the result of a single game; it’s a reflection of the current situation. This defeat has moral, psychological, and, most painfully, political causes; ones that endanger the already dire state of Armenian football and could throw it into an abyss.

After the noisy resignation of Arthur Vanetsyan from the position of Head of the National Security Service, media outlets actively circulated information that Nikol Pashinyan had instructed to find ways to remove Vanetsyan from the position of President of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA).

The fact that a demarche is being conducted against Vanetsyan within the federation was further confirmed by the situation surrounding the appointment of Abraham Khashmanyan, when members of the executive committee from the “My Step” faction created a great uproar over nothing, hoping they had found a way to rid themselves of Vanetsyan. It turned out they hadn’t and thus only intensified the atmosphere within the football federation.

Previously, and especially in the last ten days, the newspaper has regularly received information from various sources indicating that there is an extremely unhealthy atmosphere in the federation, where the first vice president and general secretary of the FFA, Armen Melikbekyan, is leading a de facto demarche against the president of the FFA, and teams have been formed that are in a Cold War against one another.

Furthermore, it has been repeatedly raised since last year that Melikbekyan has absolutely failed the federation's operations, while simultaneously concealing existing problems from Vanetsyan.

According to the newspaper's information, this completely unhealthy atmosphere has directly affected the psychological state of the team’s players, who are simply disheartened.

We are absolutely not inclined to think that the 1:9 defeat is a continuation of the mentioned demarche. We are more inclined to believe that it is a consequence of that demarche and unhealthy atmosphere, especially since none of the federation leaders accompanied the national team to Italy. This is unprecedented and another proof of deep-rooted issues.

Before the match against the Greek national team, we did not publish the noted information regarding the team to avoid escalating the situation further and not contributing to the deepening of the demoralized state. Time has shown that the information was absolutely correct, and there was no room for deepening the situation any further.

In summary, Vanetsyan's departure from the presidency of the FFA is the right solution; he no longer has any role in the federation. However, at best, this will win the hearts of the “village” authorities, but it will not yield anything to footballing reality—the system is rotten.

This situation shows that the current authorities are extremely intolerant and will not allow even one sphere, so-called, to remain beyond their direct control—from courts to the football federation.

These authorities carry out every step based purely on personal motivations and within a personal sphere. This pertains both to the initiated criminal cases and to ordinary labor relations. Nikol Pashinyan and his team are not interested in the outcome; what matters is their comfort and rating. For example, Arthur Vanetsyan, who was once a favorite of the “My Step” faction, has become absolutely unacceptable after his resignation. This is what we mean when we say that the disgraceful defeat of the day before yesterday directly reveals the true face of these authorities.

For more details, see today’s issue of the newspaper.