From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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. Hayk Barseghyan 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Karen Nalbandyan has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilhan Fakili 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 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Joseph Sabobo
“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 Dec 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 Yakubu Abbas.
Market7 Dec 2026
The name of Philip Ejike keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alashkert say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
129% 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilhan Fakili 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
Uneasy
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.
Squad23 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.
Squad23 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
Ilhan Fakili 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 watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Alashkert game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shakhter runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vahan Barseghyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Petros Ghazaryan 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
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilhan Fakili 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.
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Arsen Sadoyan knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arsen Sadoyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ilhan Fakili 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.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 129% 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
Yaroslav Matyukhin 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 dugout2 Nov 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mitch Apau may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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. Ilhan Fakili 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
12 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
Uneasy
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
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.
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 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Artak Grigoryan 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.
Squad12 Oct 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.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Alashkert that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
Wages swallow 167% 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ilhan Fakili 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mitch Apau and Alashkert agree another 1 years.
Market5 Oct 2026
Alashkert bring in an old head
Mitch Apau is 36 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Taha Balcı 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilhan Fakili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Alashkert
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Yaroslav Matyukhin 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 watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every Alashkert game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ararat runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Everton Dias 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Armen Hovhannisyan 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ilhan Fakili 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 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Alashkert know which stage they are at.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shakhter waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Alashkert until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AGMK have kept their man, and Alashkert go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 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.
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
At 36, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Arsen Sadoyan knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arsen Sadoyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Neman 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 targets31 Aug 2026
$730.0K was the most the club would pay and Noah 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.
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Alashkert asked and Warri Wolves 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
Too much change too quickly at Alashkert
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Quilmes 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.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ilhan Fakili has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Alashkert know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Alashkert bow out of the cup
Urartu go through and Alashkert go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Alashkert have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Alashkert offered $900.0K; Pyunik 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.
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
Alashkert asked and Ararat 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 dugout24 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.
Squad24 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$900.0K on the table at Pyunik. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
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
A loan move for Ilhan Fakili is in the works
Alashkert have made the call to Besiktas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Karen Nalbandyan has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Alashkert that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Shirak have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Edgar Piloyan. The answer from Alashkert has not changed — yet.
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
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Levon Spertsyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Alashkert say no — this time
The offer from Kairat 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.
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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Defensores have kept their man, and Alashkert go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 move for Emre Bilgin is in the works
Alashkert have made the call to Besiktas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.