FC Ararat Moscow (Armenian: «Արարատ Մոսկվա» ՖԱ, Russian: ФК «Арарат» Москва) was a Russian football team based in Moscow that represented the Armenian diaspora in Russia. It was founded in 2017 and joined the Russian Professional Football League replacing FC Vityaz. The club was named after the Armenian club FC Ararat Yerevan.

Ararat Moscow
Full nameFootball Club Ararat Moscow
Founded30 May 2017; 6 years ago (2017-05-30)
DissolvedFebruary 5, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-02-05)
GroundSpartakovets Stadium
Capacity5,100
ChairmanValery Hovhannisyan
ManagerNone
LeagueNone
2019–20PFL, Zone Centre (excluded)

History edit

The club was founded in 2017 with the support of the Armenian Youth Association of Moscow.[1] On 30 May 2017, the club received the Russian Football Union license for participation in the 2017–18 Russian Professional Football League season and signed a former Russia international forward Roman Pavlyuchenko.[2][3] Pavlyuchenko was soon joined at Ararat by two more former national team players, Marat Izmailov and Aleksei Rebko.

On 30 July 2017, Sergei Bulatov resigned from his position as manager,[4] Arkadi Imrekov taking over as caretaker manager. On 16 August 2017, Aleksandr Grigoryan was announced as Ararat's new permanent manager.[5]

On 31 August 2017, the club announced that the club president Valeri Oganesyan has resigned and left for Georgia, and the financial audit conducted by the club discovered that Oganesyan transferred 20 million rubles (approx. €292,000) of club's funds to his personal accounts before leaving. The club lodged a complaint with the police to open criminal investigation into the matter.[6] A week later, the media businessman Ashot Gabrelyanov (of Life news agency) who is involved in the management in the club, announced that the financials of the club are stable and the financial dispute with Oganesyan is settled, and the club is sponsored by billionaire Samvel Karapetyan and businessman Kamo Avagumyan.[7]

On 26 October 2017, Grigoryan resigned as the manager despite Ararat leading the league decisively at the moment.[8]

On 17 November 2017, Samvel Karapetyan was appointed the president of the club and Igor Zvezdin as the head coach.[9] Dmitri Beznyak is officially registered with the league as the head coach and Zvezdin as senior coach-analyst. On 12 April 2018, Zvezdin left the club and was replaced by Maksim Bukatkin.[10]

On 28 April 2018, Ararat secured first place in the Centre Zone of the PFL and the right to promotion to the second-tier Russian Football National League.[11] Ararat initially were refused a license for the FNL,[12] but appealed against the decision.[13] The appeal was declined on 30 May 2018.[14]

On 9 January 2019, Ararat Moscow announced their return to Russian football, entering the Russian Professional Football League for the 2019–20 season.[15] On 5 February 2020, Russian Football Union excluded Ararat from RPFL once again for failing licensing. The club was 8th in the table at the time.[16]

League and cup history edit

Season League Russian Cup Top goalscorer Manager
Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Name League
2017–18 3rd 1st 26 19 6 1 49 15 63 Round of 32 Roman Pavlyuchenko 9   Sergei Bulatov
  Arkadi Imrekov (Caretaker)
  Aleksandr Grigoryan
  Poghos Galstyan (Caretaker)
  Igor Zvezdin
  Maksim Bukatkin

Statistics edit

Top goalscorers edit

As of Match played 26 May 2018
Name Years League Russian Cup Total
1   Roman Pavlyuchenko 2017 9 (11) 0 (2) 9 (13)
2   Taymuraz Toboyev 2017–Present 7 (21) 1 (4) 8 (25)
3   David Khurtsidze 2017–Present 3 (24) 3 (4) 6 (28)
4   Igor Lebedenko 2017 5 (17) 0 (3) 5 (20)
5   Viktor Zemchenkov 2017 3 (13) 1 (4) 4 (17)
5   David Davidyan 2017–Present 4 (12) 0 (2) 4 (14)
7   Aleksandr Katsalapov 2017–Present 3 (25) 0 (4) 3 (29)
8   Marat Izmailov 2017 2 (4) 0 (0) 2 (4)
8   Yegor Tarakanov 2017–Present 2 (24) 0 (4) 2 (28)
8   Aleksei Rebko 2017 2 (13) 0 (3) 2 (16)
8   Aleksei Kurzenyov 2018–Present 2 (7) 0 (0) 2 (7)

Managerial edit

Information correct as of match played 26 May 2018. Only competitive matches are counted.

Name Nat. From To P W D L GS GA %W Honours Notes
Sergei Bulatov   Russia 30 July 2017[4] 3 2 1 0 8 3 066.67
Arkadi Imrekov (Caretaker)   Russia 30 July 2017 16 August 2017 3 3 0 0 6 1 100.00
Aleksandr Grigoryan   Armenia 16 August 2017[5] 26 October 2017 12 10 1 1 25 8 083.33
Poghos Galstyan (Caretaker)   Armenia 26 October 2017 17 November 2017 3 2 1 0 3 0 066.67
Igor Zvezdin   Russia 17 November 2017 12 April 2018 0 0 0 0 0 0 !
Maksim Bukatkin   Russia 12 April 2018 30 May 2018 8 4 3 1 15 9 050.00
  • Notes:

P – Total of played matches W – Won matches D – Drawn matches L – Lost matches GS – Goal scored GA – Goals against
%W – Percentage of matches won

Nationality is indicated by the corresponding FIFA country code(s).

References edit

  1. ^ "У московских армян появился свой ФК "Арарат" - Вестник Кавказа". vestikavkaza.ru. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  2. ^ Футбольный клуб «Арарат» Москва прошел лицензирование и получил право выступать в ПФЛ в сезоне 2017/18. (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow. 30 May 2017. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  3. ^ Роман Павлюченко - игрок ФК «Арарат». (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow. 30 May 2017. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  4. ^ a b Сергей Булатов покидает Арарат. vk.com (in Russian). Ararat Moscow VK. 30 July 2017. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  5. ^ a b Александр Григорян возглавил Арарат. vk.com (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow VK.com. 16 August 2017. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  6. ^ Бывший президент "Арарата" Валерий Оганесян увел со счета клуба 20 млн. рублей и сбежал в Грузию (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow. 31 August 2017. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  7. ^ Из «Арарата» украли 20 млн рублей. И там правит Life (in Russian). Sports.ru. 8 September 2017. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  8. ^ Александр Григорян покинул «Арарат» (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  9. ^ Президентом ФК ”Арарат” избран Самвел Карапетян (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow. 17 November 2017. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  10. ^ Максим Букаткин назначен главным тренером "Арарата" (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow. 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  11. ^ «Арарат» получил право сыграть в ФНЛ (in Russian). Russian Football National League. 28 April 2018. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  12. ^ Московский ФК "Арарат" в следующем сезоне не будет выступать в России (in Russian). TASS. 19 May 2018. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  13. ^ Арарат готовится к участию в ФНЛ. ararat-moskva.ru (in Russian). FC Ararat Moscow. 15 May 2018. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  14. ^ Клубы ФНЛ получили лицензии (in Russian). Russian National Football League. 30 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  15. ^ "Московский "Арарат" возобновит выступления в России". news.sportbox.ru/ (in Russian). Sport Box. 11 January 2019. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Итоги Бюро Исполкома РФС" (Press release) (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 5 February 2020. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.

External links edit