Marked for Sten Reinkort
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Shirak
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Jun 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Aleksa Vidić gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Shirak told Suren Tsarukyan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 May 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shirak, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
Omar Fayed in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Shirak know it.
Squad24 May 2027
Rafik Misakyan falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Match22 May 2027
Gandzasar left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Shirak
Junior Dávila 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Rafik Misakyan plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A welcome sight on the training pitch: Sten Reinkort has come through recovery and is pushing for a place again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sten Reinkort breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Shirak
Donald Kodia 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Sten Reinkort breaks a bone — 24 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Donald Kodia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rafik Misakyan falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sten Reinkort breaks a bone — 31 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Shirak
Donald Kodia 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Narek Janoyan falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 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 Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of John Guidetti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 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 Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Misakyan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Shirak
Junior Dávila 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hovhannes Pahlevanyan commits to Shirak for another 3 years.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 60 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Shirak
Donald Kodia 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Shirak are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Shirak are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Donald Kodia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
Rafik Misakyan falls out with a teammate over standards
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Boardroom
Wages eat 92% of everything Shirak earn
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Shirak
Donald Kodia 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 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafik Misakyan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Donald Kodia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Shirak would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Sten Reinkort out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shirak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Shirak
Martin Ramsland 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Misakyan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.