From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Matheus Soares damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Alashkert did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dila keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Alashkert 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Alashkert has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 Feb 2027
Alashkert spent the window trying to move Domi Jaurès Massoumou on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Matheus Soares damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Floriana keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dani Figueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A move Keilen Robinson would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Keilen Robinson is living that version at Alashkert, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. BKMA have kept their man, and Alashkert go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mkhitar Grigoryan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Matyukhin 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 20, 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
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matheus Soares
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alashkert lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Feb 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 2 out at Alashkert
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Floriana, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpia is saying, and nobody at Alashkert is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Feb 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Alashkert asked and Van said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Matyukhin 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malik Odeyinka, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matheus Soares
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alashkert lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dila had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Karen Nalbandyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Alashkert asked and Urartu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibragim Tsallagov, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan move for Mustapha Jah is in the works
Alashkert have made the call to Floriana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Olimpia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alashkert lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Karen Nalbandyan 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 targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trento have kept their man, and Alashkert go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Joseph Sabobo again, and this time the name on the line is Ararat. Alashkert are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yaroslav Matyukhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Gabriel Vázquez is in the works
Alashkert have made the call to Quilmes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Alashkert are still strangers to each other
5 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Nobody at Alashkert will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alashkert lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Jan 2027
Khazar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alashkert did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Noah, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matheus Soares and Alashkert agree another 3 years.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artak Karapetyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Matyukhin 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Edgar Piloyan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Edgar Piloyan is on it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matheus Soares damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Robert Hakobyan out for 87 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jan 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matheus Soares and Alashkert agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Alashkert asked and Pyunik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malik Odeyinka, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Dani Figueira is in the works
Alashkert have made the call to Noah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Clinton Dombila is in the works
Alashkert have made the call to Noah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
94 days out for Robert Hakobyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alashkert will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Karen Nalbandyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Matyukhin 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 122% of the Alashkert income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 24 days on the sidelines for Pedro Tavares, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Klaidher 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Arsen Sadoyan for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Alashkert will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
112 days out for Robert Hakobyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alashkert will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aram Ghazaryan 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arman Bayramyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Edgar Piloyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alashkert will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Alashkert. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Robert Hakobyan out for 120 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Dec 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yaroslav Matyukhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Domi Jaurès Massoumou, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
127 days out for Robert Hakobyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alashkert will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Karen Nalbandyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Matyukhin 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 121% of everything Alashkert earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alashkert are still strangers to each other
5 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Olawale Farayola has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alashkert will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Malik Odeyinka
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 67. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match11 Nov 2026
Pyunik ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The dugout16 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibragim Tsallagov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arsen Sadoyan, and the manager let it.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alashkert, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sargis Sarkisov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Edgar Piloyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alashkert will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vahan Karapetyan 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hayk Karapetyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibragim Tsallagov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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 Alashkert know it.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alashkert, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Klaidher 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hrayr Mkoyan 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 121% of the Alashkert income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pedro Tavares and Alashkert agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Domi Jaurès Massoumou is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Olawale Farayola is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibragim Tsallagov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Alashkert are still strangers to each other
14 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
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Karen Nalbandyan 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
Ibragim Tsallagov 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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alashkert, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Edgar Piloyan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Edgar Piloyan is on it.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alashkert know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Alashkert the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Armen Mkhitaryan 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Ararat to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alashkert and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Mômô Fanyé Touré has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alashkert will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Alashkert lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Arsen Sadoyan joins up with his country. Alashkert lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Karen Nalbandyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
152% of the income goes out in wages at Alashkert
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ibragim Tsallagov 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Leonel Ortíz moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Alashkert than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Market5 Oct 2026
The Philip Ejike story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Philip Ejike signs something — a contract at Alashkert or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Matyukhin 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Alashkert 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
Squad21 Sep 2026
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every Alashkert game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shirak runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Edgar Piloyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alashkert will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Arsen Sadoyan knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alashkert, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alashkert know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A season on the outside for Leonel Ortíz
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Alashkert has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Hrayr Mkoyan 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market14 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Alashkert will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibragim Tsallagov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Ararat to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alashkert and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mômô Fanyé Touré is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 3 out at Alashkert
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Karen Nalbandyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Alashkert asked and Swindon Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibragim Tsallagov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alashkert, another week without a signature from Abdulsalam Abdulsalam.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Alashkert had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Urartu, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market31 Aug 2026
Alashkert say no — this time
The offer from SKA Khabarovsk for Kajally Drammeh was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market31 Aug 2026
The chase for Arman Nersesyan ended with $370.0K changing hands and Ararat-Armenia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
As if he never left: Hrayr Mkoyan returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Hrayr Mkoyan is a Alashkert player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fenix have kept their man, and Alashkert go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad24 Aug 2026
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Malik Odeyinka had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.01 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$370.0K on the table at Ararat-Armenia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$240.0K was the most the club would pay and Urartu were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Alashkert asked and Ararat-Armenia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Alashkert say no — this time
The offer from BKMA for Edgar Piloyan was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kajally Drammeh had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad17 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market17 Aug 2026
BKMA pay $130.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market17 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: AGMK will make the call about Malik Odeyinka this week. Alashkert have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Swindon Town have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Almagro: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Alashkert will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$160.0K settles it between the clubs for Zaven Khudaverdyan
Noah have accepted the money. What Alashkert do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Edgar Piloyan again, and this time the name on the line is BKMA. Alashkert are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Olawale Farayola commits to Alashkert for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Karen Nalbandyan 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 targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Henrikh Barseghyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tigran Haroyan 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aram Hakobyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Alashkert will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Karen Nalbandyan commits to Alashkert for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Karen Nalbandyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Ararat have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joseph Sabobo. The answer from Alashkert has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hakob Hakobyan 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Karen Nalbandyan’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Market3 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Sogdiana: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alashkert are still strangers to each other
6 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.