From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Hayq can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Van, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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 targets25 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 137% of the Hayq 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Mossi, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market25 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Petros Manukyan signs something — a contract at Hayq or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Mitch Apau takes up the language
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Andranik had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Hayq
Dénis Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Noah have kept their man, and Hayq go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Edgar Karapetyan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Hayq 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hayq know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Anthony Mossi
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hayq will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ararat keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dénis Duarte 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 Hayq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Everybody at Hayq saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Noah: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market11 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ezequiel Straccia has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Hayq.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
The numbers do not look good at Hayq
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Van come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Hayq did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Ararat, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
This is not rotation. Ashot Hambaryan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Hayq is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Hayq had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Artur Petrosyan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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
Upbeat
Market28 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hayq can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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 Dec 2026
Gagik Gevorgyan gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gagik Gevorgyan has just signed for Hayq, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 211% of everything Hayq earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Edgar Karapetyan 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gagik Gevorgyan commits to Hayq for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michael Asiryan is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Edgar Karapetyan 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.
Squad21 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 Hayq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
8 new faces, and Hayq 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Hayq
Edgar Karapetyan 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Mossi, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hayq, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hayq will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Hayq will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Ashot Mkrtchyan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hayq say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Dec 2026
Michał Bojdys 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 Hayq can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
This is not rotation. Ashot Hambaryan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Hayq is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Hayq
Dénis Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Karapetyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Narek Hovhannisyan and Hayq agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Hayq are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market7 Dec 2026
Hayq bring in an old head
Karolis Paulauskas is 35 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hayq, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 226% of everything Hayq earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Petros Manukyan signs something — a contract at Hayq or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Gor Ghukasyan has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Gor Ghukasyan keeps the shirt for now, at Hayq's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Hayq
Dénis Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Davit Petrosyan 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Michael Asiryan is 18, and Hayq 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Hayq 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.
Squad23 Nov 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hayq know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hayq will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dénis Duarte 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 Hayq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Anthony Mossi
“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
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market16 Nov 2026
Artur Petrosyan is 18, and Hayq 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artur Petrosyan and Hayq agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Radim Řezník out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hayq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Nov 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 Hayq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Oskar Wiśniewski is 20, and Hayq 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karen Hovhannisyan and Hayq agree another 2 years.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khalid Shakhtiev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Samvel Ghukasyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hayq will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Hayq have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Market9 Nov 2026
No fee and no drama: Karen Hovhannisyan has signed at Hayq, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
60 days out for Radim Řezník after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hayq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davit Petrosyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 226% of everything Hayq earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ashot Mkrtchyan, and the manager let it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hayq, another week without a signature from Khalid Shakhtiev.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khalid Shakhtiev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 35, with 1 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
Market2 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Petros Manukyan signs something — a contract at Hayq or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Radim Řezník out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hayq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Hayq
Dénis Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Hayq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davit Petrosyan 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
Hayq are still strangers to each other
21 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
74 days out for Radim Řezník after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hayq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.10, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dénis Duarte 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 Hayq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Anthony Mossi
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Hayq get the job done against Shirak-2
A 1‑0 win over Shirak-2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A season average of 7.21 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Radim Řezník out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hayq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hayq know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gor Ghukasyan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Hayq keep their word to Sousa
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Paulo Vitor
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Michał Bojdys asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Samvel Ghukasyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hayq will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
88 days out for Radim Řezník after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hayq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market5 Oct 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 Hayq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
295% of the income goes out in wages at Hayq
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Araks Ararat, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Victor
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Hayq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Ouattara 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Davit Petrosyan is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Hayq will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
Radim Řezník breaks a bone — 95 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
4‑0, and Aleksandar Glišić took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hayq tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.60, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Davit Petrosyan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.97, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match26 Sep 2026
Hayq make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hayq have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Hayq
Radim Řezník 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Radim Řezník out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hayq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Aleksandar Glišić, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match19 Sep 2026
No mercy from Hayq
Ararat-Armenia-2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hayq were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Davit Petrosyan at 21 — 7.65
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Davit Petrosyan did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Hayq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davit Petrosyan 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Hayq are still strangers to each other
20 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Vahan Bayramyan, on a 5‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Radim Řezník out for 109 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hayq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Sep 2026
4‑0, and Aleksandar Glišić took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hayq tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Sousa, 21, steals the show — 7.73
Marked 7.73 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Hayq
Aboubacar Ouattara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davit Petrosyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Radim Řezník breaks a bone — 116 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Sep 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 Hayq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 31 signed and 31 gone
That is the business done at Hayq 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
Words exchanged at Hayq
Dénis Duarte 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 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ashot Mkrtchyan, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hayq, another week without a signature from Khalid Shakhtiev.
Market7 Sep 2026
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Hayq have started building around Sousa
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
124 days out for Radim Řezník after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hayq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Hayq
Dénis Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davit Petrosyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Bentonit Ijevan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Victor 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
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 0‑2 Vahan Bayramyan left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Spartak Hayrapetyan
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Hayq are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Radim Řezník out for 131 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hayq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dénis Duarte 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 Hayq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Hayq 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Sardarapat made Hayq work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.94. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad24 Aug 2026
19 new faces, and Hayq are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Vahan Bayramyan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Anthony Mossi 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 Anthony Mossi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
138 days out for Radim Řezník after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hayq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Hayq out
Out, 0‑0 to Araks Ararat, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Pyunik-2, and it could have been more.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Paulo Vitor could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.10
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.10, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Victor decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.46, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A hand in 3 of them from Ashot Hambaryan — 7.91
Marked 7.91. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Market17 Aug 2026
Hayq say no — this time
The offer from Voždovac for Aleksandar Glišić 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 targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Leo Reis rejects the move
Hayq had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gandzasar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Hayq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Davit Petrosyan 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. Davit Petrosyan is living that version at Hayq, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dénis Duarte commits to Hayq for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Hayq
Radim Řezník 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Mika take the points off Hayq
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Levon Khachatryan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. David 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ararat Spertsyan 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.
Squad10 Aug 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 Hayq know which stage they are at.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aleksandar Glišić and Hayq agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Hayq
Aleksandar Glišić 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Hayq have made the call to Shirak. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Van 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 targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Van: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Hayq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezequiel Straccia 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Point won or two lost for Hayq?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Syunik? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.