Marked for Grigor Barseghyan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ararat
Albert Khachumyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Moussa Kanté obliged against Gandzasar. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Ararat.
Match19 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ararat scored in the 101th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Moussa Kanté at 21 — 7.65
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Moussa Kanté did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
No deal for Lyova Mryan at that price
Ararat offered $1.4M; Shirak said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alashkert have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ararat
Albert Khachumyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Naldo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Naldo has just signed for Ararat, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market10 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pyunik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ararat is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Guy Félix Lima had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ararat spend $340.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $340.0K has been paid because Mikayel Mirzoyan is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Ararat asked and Shirak said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Ararat paid $340.0K
Mikayel Mirzoyan was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $340.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
In brief
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Squad
7 new faces, and Ararat are still learning each other
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Squad
The formation has left Kamil Mullin behind