Response of the Football Federation of Armenia Leadership to Edmon Marukyan

Edmon Marukyan, the president of the 'Bright Armenia' party, has addressed Armenian football on his Facebook page, specifically concerning the decision by the leadership of Vanadzor's 'Lori FA' football club to halt its performances in the VBET Armenian Premier League.

Recall that on March 16, during the kickoff of the VBET Armenian Premier League match between 'Ararat' and 'Lori', the team representing Vanadzor refused to play. Subsequently, the leadership of 'Lori FA' announced that the club would not continue its performances in the VBET Armenian Premier League, justifying this decision by stating there was a 'created unhealthy atmosphere'.

However, Edmon Marukyan went even further, explaining the behavior of 'Lori FA' leadership with the following unsubstantiated claims: 'The personnel brought by this government are failing in all sectors', 'they act in the most disgraceful manner', 'such disgraceful events have never occurred', 'the future of football governance awaits in penal institutions'. These are excerpts from the party leader's comments regarding football.

It is possible that some individuals have misrepresented the situation in Armenian football to Edmon Marukyan; nevertheless, we believe he is not in a position to assess the current state of Armenian football, which has received high praise from real experts in the field. We are glad that the parliament member has noticed that the Armenian championship has been ongoing for 8 months, and we are surprised that he has not noticed that the Armenian national team recently won an official tournament for the first time in its history, and has also achieved significant successes with the Armenian futsal national team. Moreover, this occurred during a very challenging period for the Republic of Armenia, when the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic were compounded by a wartime situation. It should be noted that these achievements contain a modest contribution from, using Mr. Marukyan's own lexicon, 'the personnel brought by this government'.

In our assessment, Edmon Marukyan, contradicting fundamental principles of sports, is attempting to politicize Armenian football, which is unacceptable, especially at this time when the Armenian national team is about to start in the World Cup qualifiers. The politicization of football is an unacceptable and condemnable action.

Finally, regarding Mr. Marukyan's threats about some 'criminal facts' concerning the leadership of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA): We officially demand that such facts be made public if they exist; otherwise, we expect a public apology from Mr. Marukyan to the FFA leadership for tarnishing their honor and dignity.