Since the election of Armen Melikbekyan to the position of director of the Armenian Football Federation (FFA), the local championship has become one of the most scandalous in the post-Soviet space. In recent years, the league has lost several important sponsors and now the club with the most titles in the country’s history, Pyunik, is in danger of disappearing.
It all started before the national team’s important match against Türkiye. The national team is represented by many players of the eminent team.
breaking the agreement
The Armenian community was shocked by the news of the conflict between Pyunik and the local federation. In the morning, the association announced the unilateral termination of the contract with the team for the use of the Abovyan city stadium. In addition to breaking the agreement, officials banned the use of the reserve stadium in Armavir.
Therefore, the leader of the Armenian championship (14 points after six rounds) will probably be forced to withdraw from the championship, and disputes with the federation may even lead to the suspension of the club’s activities.
The confrontation with officials has been going on for a long time, club president Artur Soghomonyan announced at the end of August, and also reproached the federation for blackmail attempts. The association sent another letter criticizing the team leaders’ actions:
– We recently received a new letter from the Federation, which we consider to be elementary blackmail. The point of the letter is that if the head coach and owner of Pyunik continues to criticize the actions of the federation, we will be deprived of the opportunity to play our home games at the Abovyan City Stadium. We had already been expelled from Yerevan before, and this despite the fact that at the end of last season Pyunik became the most visited team in Armenia. Now, if the federation deprives us of the opportunity to hold matches at the Abovyan stadium, without giving us the opportunity to participate in the Armenian championship, it will kill Pyunik. Perhaps this is what the federation is looking for. That is why we will defend our rights,” Soghomonyan told Brontozyabre.
The management intends to defend its interests and contact the relevant authorities: FIFA and CAS.
Photo source: FC Urartu
Before this, the club was regularly in trouble: the team’s matches were regularly moved from the main stadium to the reserve stadium, so many fans cannot come to the stadium – the club loses more profits. Currently Pyunik is the most popular team in the country and more than 1.5 thousand children attend the local academy. The conflict between the federation and the team could deprive one of the largest clubs of the USSR and modern Armenia of existence.
It should be noted that the process began before the start of the most important matches of the national team within the framework of the selection for the European Championship. Armenia currently occupies second place in Group D with 6 points. The team is two points ahead of the Croatians and only three behind Turkey; It is with them that the team, made up mostly of players from the most famous club in the country, will have to play.
