Marked for Rizvan Ablitarov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rizvan Ablitarov damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ernest Kacou 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 Sardarapat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Sardarapat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arsen Arakelyan 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tigran Armenakyan, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rizvan Ablitarov damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 Oct 2026
Yury Budagyan hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sardarapat can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ernest Kacou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
210% of the income goes out in wages at Sardarapat
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match3 Oct 2026
Syunik left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Drilon Mati, and the manager let it.
Market5 Oct 2026
There is a particular relief in a club addressing the thing its own crowd has been shouting about. Nikolay Aslanyan arrives for exactly that job, and now he has to do it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sardarapat are still strangers to each other
23 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rizvan Ablitarov damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Sep 2026
6‑2, and Samvel Hovhannisyan took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sardarapat tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Samvel Hovhannisyan takes the afternoon — 8.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samvel Hovhannisyan provided it, and the 8.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match26 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Sardarapat and Noah-2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Karen Shirkhanyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Sardarapat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernest Kacou 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.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Davit Davtyan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Karen Shirkhanyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Rizvan Ablitarov damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Vahagn Arabyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Narek Aleksanyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Lernayin Artsakh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonard Kacaj, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Sargis Hovhannisyan to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Armen Khanjyan
Nobody at Sardarapat is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Rizvan Ablitarov damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Sardarapat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gandzasar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Hayk Rechelyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match12 Sep 2026
Urartu-2 made Sardarapat work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Samvel Hovhannisyan
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rizvan Ablitarov
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sardarapat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Sardarapat close the window on a squad of their own making
34 in and 24 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Hayk Rechelyan 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Sardarapat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernest Kacou 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Areg Hovnanyan
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Sardarapat are still strangers to each other
23 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arsen Arakelyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rizvan Ablitarov
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sardarapat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
BKMA come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sardarapat did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Drilon Mati and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Sardarapat asked and Lernayin Artsakh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Arsen Arakelyan 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The formation has left Alen Mkrtchyan behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sardarapat will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sardarapat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 59 days on the sidelines for Vahagn Arabyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Drilon Mati 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Leonard Kacaj
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Sargis Hovhannisyan to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sardarapat have made the call to Gandzasar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market24 Aug 2026
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Ararat is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hayk Rechelyan commits to Sardarapat for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Drilon Mati and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Grigoryan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hayk Khachatryan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hakob Movsisyan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sargis Barseghyan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sardarapat will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Sardarapat
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
Sardarapat take on the side everybody is chasing