Yura Movsisyan Discusses Conflict and Scandal with Ruben Hayrapetyan

Famous footballer Yura Movsisyan has addressed the conflict between him and former President of the Armenian Football Federation Ruben Hayrapetyan during an episode of blogger Mher Baghdasaryan's show "Tete A Tete."

“Our conflict likely started from the very beginning, as I am not one of those people who, to put it bluntly, would submit, and after my departure, our successes led local footballers to learn what it means to be a professional footballer—a concept we didn’t have in Armenia before,” he said.

Speaking about the reasons for the conflict, Movsisyan stated, “One of the reasons was the psychology that existed since Soviet times, where the coach had to dictate every step you took—when to eat, when to wake up, when to sleep; in other words, you had to do as you were told. But as a player who had seen the world, it was strange for everyone to see my freedom. I used to tell everyone, please don’t tell me when to sleep, when to wake up, when to eat.”

“There was definitely fear among the players regarding the president of the federation. Not fear in the sense that he would hit someone, but they would pull back... When that man was sitting somewhere, they didn’t want to pass in front of him; they would take different routes to avoid being seen, which certainly does not speak of respect... The players wanted to remain unnoticed, so that he wouldn’t say or do something.”