From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rosario Central is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Ararat
Sebastián Jaume 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 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout23 Aug 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Benik Hovhannisyan has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ararat.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ararat. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Ernest Kacou 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 Ararat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Sebastián Jaume and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yakhja Magomedov has just signed for Ararat, and for once the answer mattered.
Market16 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Robert Karapetyan 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edgar 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edgar 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Aminu Sani 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Volodya Samsonyan
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
$460.0K settles it between the clubs for Gonçalo Gregório
Noah have accepted the money. What Ararat do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Ararat sell a favourite for $480.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Adama Méïté was one of the reasons people came, and $480.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The offer went to Noah this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad9 Aug 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Aug 2027
Adama Méïté has left for Alashkert in a $480.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aminu Sani and Ararat agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Khachumyan 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The name of Nikita Lobusov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ararat say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ararat may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets2 Aug 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Sebastián Jaume 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 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aminu Sani and Ararat agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Albert Khachumyan 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Martín SJ have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Usman Fahad 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
Volodya Samsonyan damages knee ligaments — 134 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 134 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Ararat say no — this time
The offer from Alashkert for Adama Méïté 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 targets26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
25 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan move for Jeremías Castro is in the works
Ararat have made the call to San Martín SJ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market26 Jul 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Arman Hovhannisyan has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ararat.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Volodya Samsonyan damages knee ligaments — 143 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 143 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 dugout19 Jul 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Adama Méïté again, and this time the name on the line is Alashkert. Ararat are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Khachumyan 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Andranik Martirosyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adama Méïté, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ararat told Malick Berté something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
Adama Méïté 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 Ararat can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2027
Ararat say no — this time
The offer from Shirak for Ernest Kacou 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Khachumyan 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 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to İbrahim Yılmaz, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Ararat have made the call to Stade Malien. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Gabriel Sánchez is in the works
Ararat have made the call to Rosario Central. 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
Match5 Jul 2027
Ararat finish in position 6
18 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
The dugout5 Jul 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$930.0K 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Ararat asked and Trabzonspor 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 terraces5 Jul 2027
Ararat supporters have found a favourite in Malick Berté
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Malick Berté 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market28 Jun 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 Ararat can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Pyunik wanted more than $1.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nikita Lobusov will call it something else in private.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to San Martín SJ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 49. 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Nikita Lobusov: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match16 Jun 2027
Cup progress for Ararat
A 0‑0 win over BKMA, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to Pyunik this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Perugia is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Ararat offered $440.0K; Noah 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Jun 2027
The drought breaks for Ararat
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Gandzasar were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Khachumyan 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
Crisis
Match12 Jun 2027
Nowhere to hide for Ararat
1‑4 against Alashkert, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match14 Jun 2027
Ararat are in real trouble now
Position 8, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and BKMA waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ararat is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Ararat's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ararat has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Perugia 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Lucas Rodrigues 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Usman Fahad
“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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Ararat dressing room in a hurry
-
Squad
Home is on Diego Contreras's mind
-
The dugout
A promise honoured at Ararat
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 58. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Jun 2027
21 days out for Narek Alaverdyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ararat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$720.0K on the table at Noah. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Match5 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Ararat's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ararat has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Noah wanted more than $930.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match5 Jun 2027
Ararat cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Ararat have gone to Noah with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Brian Oddei beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad31 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Volodya Samsonyan commits to Ararat for another 3 years.
Match29 May 2027
The goals have deserted Ararat
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ararat can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 May 2027
Albert Khachumyan 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 May 2027
Ararat come up short against Noah
Noah left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ararat Karapetyan left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Malick Berté
“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
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
36 days out for Narek Alaverdyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ararat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 May 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 May 2027
Lucas Rodrigues 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 dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Aminu Sani
“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.
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 Ararat know it.
The dugout24 May 2027
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 Ararat Karapetyan to a room that had heard them before.
Looking ahead24 May 2027
The leaders are next for Ararat
Noah top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A fracture rules Narek Alaverdyan out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Albert Khachumyan 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.
Squad17 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Ararat support went home talking about one name.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ararat Karapetyan was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ararat dressing room was either.
The dugout17 May 2027
The form table has caught Aminu Sani
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Narek Alaverdyan out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A brace, and Brian Oddei takes the afternoon — 9.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brian Oddei provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Rodrigues and Ararat agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 May 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Brian Oddei’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ararat.
The dugout10 May 2027
Adama Méïté 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ararat Karapetyan, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Narek Alaverdyan out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 May 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad3 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 Ararat know it.
Match1 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match3 May 2027
Ararat at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 8, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout3 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ararat Karapetyan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout3 May 2027
Aminu Sani dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Apr 2027
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Apr 2027
Shirak left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Lobusov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 8.14 — 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ararat Karapetyan after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for İbrahim Yılmaz
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Narek Alaverdyan out for 73 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Moussa Kanté, 21, steals the show — 7.82
Marked 7.82 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match17 Apr 2027
At last: Ararat win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Gandzasar. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hayk Tatosyan 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Gandzasar made Ararat work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
İbrahim Yılmaz 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
82 days out for Narek Alaverdyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ararat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Apr 2027
Ararat sink to position 9
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match10 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Ararat's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ararat has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Apr 2027
Ararat cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Brian Oddei beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
Noah will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Clinton Dombila has pre-agreed a move to Ararat, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Lucas Rodrigues 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
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
İbrahim Yılmaz damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Apr 2027
6 matches without a win for Ararat
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ararat are no longer polite ones.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Hayk Tatosyan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ararat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match3 Apr 2027
6 matches without a goal for Ararat
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
İbrahim Yılmaz damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
98 days out for Narek Alaverdyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ararat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match27 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Ararat's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ararat has to find a result from somewhere.
Match27 Mar 2027
Ararat cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Mar 2027
Noah take the points off Ararat
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Volodya Samsonyan 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Adama Méïté 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ararat Karapetyan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Mar 2027
105 days out for Narek Alaverdyan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ararat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Brian Oddei: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ararat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Ararat's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ararat has to find a result from somewhere.
Match20 Mar 2027
Ararat cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
İbrahim Yılmaz damages knee ligaments — 62 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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; Ararat are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match13 Mar 2027
3 matches without a goal for Ararat
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match13 Mar 2027
Van take the points off Ararat
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Usman Fahad 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Narek Alaverdyan out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” İbrahim Yılmaz and Ararat agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Umut Dilek, and the manager let it.
Market8 Mar 2027
Ararat sign Kaiquy, one for the future
Kaiquy is 20, and Ararat have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The form table has caught Umut Dilek
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Narek Alaverdyan out for 128 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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; Ararat are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Mansur Barhama arrives at Ararat with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for İbrahim Yılmaz
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Volodya Samsonyan 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ararat are still strangers to each other
13 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The shop window has João Carlos in it
Ararat have let the market know João Carlos can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Luís Eduardo 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 Ararat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 Feb 2027
Ararat opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Benik Hovhannisyan stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 targets8 Feb 2027
Ararat asked and Trujillanos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Narek Simonyan 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
Volodya Samsonyan 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market8 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market8 Feb 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Luís Eduardo arrives at Ararat with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Market8 Feb 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Kabiru Murtala arrives at Ararat with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Ararat close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 0 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Ararat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Batumi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Noah have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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; Ararat are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Market1 Feb 2027
A season-long audition: Pyunik still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Ararat's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
İbrahim Yılmaz damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
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 Ararat can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Volgar is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Usman Fahad and Ararat agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Urartu have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A move Aminu Sani 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. Aminu Sani is living that version at Ararat, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Volgar 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 targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Luka Tsulukidze is in the works
Ararat have made the call to Dinamo Batumi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market18 Jan 2027
A season-long audition: Noah still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Ararat's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
İbrahim Yılmaz damages knee ligaments — 132 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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 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
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonatan Lima and Ararat agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Khachumyan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pyunik have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mkhitar Mkhitaryan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gevorg Adamyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for İbrahim Yılmaz
140 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jonatan Lima commits to Ararat for another 1 years.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Ararat asked and Noah 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
“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 targets4 Jan 2027
Noah 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 targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Arman Nersesyan is in the works
Ararat have made the call to Ararat-Armenia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market4 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ararat, another week without a signature from Lucas Rodrigues.
In brief
-
Market
Benik Hovhannisyan is free to find somewhere else
-
Boardroom
Open for business: Ararat enter the window
-
Market
Ararat shop where it costs nothing
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
148 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
In brief
-
Squad
Ararat are still strangers to each other
-
The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Nikita Lobusov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
156 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 Dec 2026
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonatan Lima 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
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Diego Contreras arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Diego Contreras has, at Ararat, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Armen Haroyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Léo Mancha commits to Ararat for another 2 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ararat will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market14 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Malick Berté commits to Ararat for another 4 years.
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
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Ararat
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonatan Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Nov 2026
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Malick Berté out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonatan Lima 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” João Carlos and Ararat agree another 1 years.
Market23 Nov 2026
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market23 Nov 2026
No fee and no drama: Dakup Tongshinen has signed at Ararat, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
Ararat lift the trophy
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Malick Berté breaks a bone — 25 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A season on the outside for Jonatan Lima
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ararat has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonatan Lima and Ararat agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ararat 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to BKMA to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ararat and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ararat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Ararat 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
Yaya Sogodogo damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Yaya Sogodogo damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vahagn Hayrapetyan has, at Ararat, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yaya Sogodogo
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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
11 new faces, and Ararat 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
The name of Andranik Martirosyan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ararat say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ararat would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hakob 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Régis
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. Ararat will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 2 out at Ararat
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Plymouth Argyle is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lucas Rodríguez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Ararat than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Ararat sell a favourite for $450.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Patrick Handzongo was one of the reasons people came, and $450.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market31 Aug 2026
Gandzasar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ararat did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Patrick Handzongo has left for BKMA in a $450.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Noah have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Zaven Khudaverdyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ararat are still strangers to each other
10 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Aribim Pepple is in the works
Ararat have made the call to Plymouth Argyle. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad31 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. Ararat will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Ararat out
Out, 0‑1 to Noah, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ararat say no — this time
The offer from Van for Aleksandr Aleksanyan 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Ararat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cerro Porteno, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Temperley have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ararat Karapetyan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Lucas Rodríguez is in the works
Ararat have made the call to Uruguay Montevideo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gevorg Barseghyan and Ararat agree another 3 years.
Market24 Aug 2026
BKMA are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ararat will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Cerro Porteno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ararat
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Ararat 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Ernest Kacou has come up in conversations Ararat were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Temperley 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ararat has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“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 Ararat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Aug 2026
Van come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ararat did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ararat
Umut Dilek 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 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mkhitar Khachatryan 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aram Bayramyan 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Albert Khachumyan and Ararat agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Umut Dilek 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ararat know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Adama Méïté
Still no offer on the table, and Adama Méïté’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Ararat 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.