FC Urartu

Not to be confused with Urartu Yerevan.

Football Club Urartu (Armenian: Ուրարտու Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ, translated Futbolayin Akumb Urartu), commonly known as Urartu, is an Armenian professional football team based in the capital Yerevan that currently plays in the Armenian Premier League. The club won the Armenian Cup four times, in 1992, 2007, 2016, and 2023. In 2013–2014, they won the Armenian Premier League for the first time in their history.

Urartu
Ուրարտու

Full name	Football Club Urartu
Nickname(s)	Հպարտ Առյուծներ Hpart Aryutsner (Proud Lions)
Founded	January 20, 1992; 33 years ago (1992-01-20)[1]
Ground	Urartu Stadium
Capacity	4,860[2]
Owner	Dzhevan Cheloyants
Director General	Gohar Vardanyan [3]
Head coach	Dmitry Gunko
League	Armenian Premier League
2023–24	4th of 10
Website	fcurartu.am/am
Home colours Away colours
Current season

In early 2016, the Russia-based Armenian businessman Dzhevan Cheloyants became a co-owner of the club after purchasing the major part of the club shares. The club was known as FC Banants until 1 August 2019, when it was officially renamed FC Urartu.

History

Kotayk

Urartu FC were founded as FC Banants by Sarkis Israelyan on 21 January 1992 in the village of Kotayk, representing the Kotayk Province.^[1] He named the club after his native village of Banants (currently known as Bayan). Between 1992 and 1995, the club was commonly referred to as Banants Kotayk.^[4] During the 1992 season, the club won the first Armenian Cup. At the end of the 1995 transitional season, Banants suffered a financial crisis. The club owners decided that it was better to merge the club with FC Kotayk of Abovyan, rather than disband it. In 2001, Banants demerged from FC Kotayk, and was moved from Abovyan to the capital Yerevan.

Yerevan

FC Urartu headquarters

In 2001, FC Banants was relocated to Yerevan.^[5][6] At the beginning of 2003, Banants merged with FC Spartak Yerevan, but was able to limit the name of the new merger to FC Banants. Spartak became Banants's youth academy and later changed the name to Banants-2. Because of the merger, Banants acquired many players from Spartak Yerevan, including Samvel Melkonyan. After the merger, Banants took a more serious approach and have finished highly in the league table ever since. The club managed to lift the Armenian Cup in 2007. Experience is making way for youth for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The departures of most of the experienced players have left the club's future to the youth. Along with two Ukrainian players, Ugandan international, Noah Kasule, has been signed.

The club headquarters are located on Jivani Street 2 of the Malatia-Sebastia District, Yerevan.^[7]

Domestic

Season	League										National Cup	Top goalscorer		Manager
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	P		Name	League
1992	Armenian Premier League	3	34	28	3	3	125	34	+91	59	Winner	Ashot Barseghyan	34	Varuzhan Sukiasyan
1993		3	28	23	2	3	111	21	+90	48	Semi-final	Andranik Hovsepyan	26
1994		5	28	17	1	10	95	56	+39	35	Semi-final
1995-2000	No Participation
2001	Armenian Premier League	7	22	10	4	8	46	28	+18	34	First round	Mkrtich Hovhannisyan	11
2002		3	22	16	2	4	43	15	+28	50	Quarter-final	Tigran Yesayan	11
2003		2	28	21	3	4	89	15	+74	66	Finalist	Ara Hakobyan	45	Oganes Zanazanyan
2004		3	28	12	7	9	40	39	+1	43	Finalist	Samvel Melkonyan	8
2005		3	26	15	6	5	49	31	+18	51	Semi-final	Aram Hakobyan	11	Oganes Zanazanyan Ashot Barseghyan
2006		2	28	18	3	7	67	26	+41	57	Semi-final	Aram Hakobyan	25	Ashot Barseghyan Nikolay Kiselyov
2007		2	28	16	4	8	56	26	+30	52	Winner	Arsen Balabekyan	15	Nikolay Kiselyov Jan Poštulka Nikolay Kostov
2008		5	28	11	8	9	34	25	+9	41	Finalist	Arsen Balabekyan	7	Nikolay Kostov Nedelcho Matushev Kim Splidsboel
2009		4	28	13	5	10	40	29	+11	44	Finalist	Samvel Melkonyan	12	Armen Gyulbudaghyants
2010		2	28	20	4	4	58	24	+34	64	Finalist	Du Bala	11	Stevica Kuzmanovski
2011		4	28	12	8	8	42	30	+12	44	Semi-final	Bruno Correa	16	Rafael Nazaryan
2011-12		Only Cup competition was held									Quarter-final
2012-13		8	42	5	16	21	37	64	-27	31	First round	Hovhannes Hambardzumyan	7	Rafael Nazaryan Volodymyr Pyatenko
2013-14		1	28	14	8	6	38	23	+15	50	Semi-final	Gevorg Nranyan	10	Zsolt Hornyák
2014-15		6	28	8	8	12	42	46	-4	32	Semi-final	Gevorg Nranyan	7	Zsolt Hornyák
2015-16		6	28	7	12	9	36	34	+2	33	Winner	Laércio	10	Aram Voskanyan Tito Ramallo
2016-17		5	30	5	6	19	18	44	-26	21	Semi-final	Laércio	3	Tito Ramallo Artur Voskanyan
2017-18		2	30	11	11	8	42	34	+8	44	Semi-final	Rumyan Hovsepyan	8	Artur Voskanyan
2018-19		3	32	14	10	8	43	35	+8	52	Semi-final	Vahagn Ayvazyan Walmerson Aleksandar Glišić	5	Artur Voskanyan Ilshat Fayzulin
2019–20		7	22	8	6	8	26	27	-1	30	Semi-final	Yevgeni Kobzar	7	Ilshat Fayzulin Aleksandr Grigoryan
2020–21		3	24	12	5	7	28	19	+9	41	Quarter-final	Jonel Désiré	8	Aleksandr Grigoryan Tigran Yesayan (Caretaker) Robert Arzumanyan
2021–22		5	32	9	13	10	37	32	+5	40	Finalist	Artur Miranyan	10	Arsen Petrosyan Robert Arzumanyan (Caretaker)
2022–23		1	36	26	5	5	68	25	+43	83	Winners	Dmytro Khlyobas	9	Dmitri Gunko
2023–24		4	36	13	11	12	49	49	0	50	Finalist	Temur Dzhikiya	11	Dmitri Gunko

European

Main article: FC Urartu in European football

As of match played 25 July 2024

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
UEFA Champions League	4	2	0	2	6	6	0
UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League	26	3	3	20	18	64	–46
UEFA Conference League	8	2	0	6	9	16	–7
Total	37	7	3	27	33	85	–52

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2003–04	UEFA Cup	QR	Hapoel Tel Aviv	1–2	1–1	2–3
2004–05	UEFA Cup	1Q	Illichivets Mariupol	0–2	0–2	0–4
2005–06	UEFA Cup	1Q	Locomotive Tbilisi	2–3	2–0	4–3
		2Q	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	2–4	0–4	2–8
2006–07	UEFA Cup	1Q	Ameri Tbilisi	1–2	1–0	2–2 (a)
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	Young Boys	1–1	0–4	1–5
2008–09	UEFA Cup	1Q	Red Bull Salzburg	0–3	0–7	0–10
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Široki Brijeg	0–2	1–0	1–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Anorthosis Famagusta	0–1	0–3	0–4
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Rustavi Metalurgist	0–1	1–1	1–2
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Santa Coloma	3–2	0–1	3–3 (a)
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Omonia	0–1	1–4	1–5
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Sarajevo	1–2	0–3	1–5
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Čukarički	0–5	0–3	0–8
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Maribor	0–1	0–1	0–2
2023–24	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Zrinjski Mostar	0–1	3–2 (a.e.t.)	3–3 (3–4 p)
	UEFA Europa Conference League	2Q	Farul Constanța	2–3	2–3	4–6
2024–25	UEFA Conference League	1Q	Tallinna Kalev	2–0	2–1	4–1
		2Q	Baník Ostrava	0–2	1–5	1–7

Stadium

Main article: Urartu Stadium

Urartu Stadium

The construction of the Urartu Stadium was launched in 2006 in the Malatia-Sebastia District of Yerevan, with the assistance of the FIFA goal programme. It was officially opened in 2008 with a capacity of 3,600 seats. Further developments were implemented later in 2011, when the playing pitch was modernized and the capacity of the stadium was increased up to 4,860 seats (2,760 at the northern stand, 1,500 at the southern stand and 600 at the western stand).

Training centre/academy

Urartu Training Centre is the club's academy base located in the Malatia-Sebastia District of Yerevan. In addition to the main stadium, the centre houses 3 full-size training pitches, mini football pitches as well as an indoor facility. The current technical director of the academy is the former Russian footballer Ilshat Faizulin.

Fans

The most active group of fans is the South West Ultras fan club, mainly composed of residents from several neighbourhoods within the Malatia-Sebastia District of Yerevan,^[8] since the club is a de facto representer of the district. Members of the fan club benefit from events organized by the club and many facilities of the Banants training centre, such as the mini football pitch, the club store and other entertainments.

Honours

• Armenian Premier League
  • Winners (2): 2013–14, 2022–23
  • Runners-up (5): 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017–18
• Armenian Cup
  • Winners (4): 1992, 2007, 2016, 2022–23
  • Runners-up (7): 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2021–22, 2023–24
• Armenian Supercup
  • Winners (1): 2014
  • Runners-up (5): 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016

Current squad

As of 27 February 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ARM Gor Matinyan 2 MF  RUS Artemi Gunko 3 DF  ARM Erik Piloyan 5 DF  RUS Aleksandr Putsko 6 MF  BRA Alef Santos 7 MF  ARM Sergey Mkrtchyan 8 MF  ARM Narek Aghasaryan 9 MF  RUS Maksim Paliyenko 10 FW  ARM Karen Melkonyan 11 FW  RUS Vladislav Yakovlev (on loan from CSKA Moscow) 14 MF  UKR Artem Polyarus 16 DF  NGA Barry Isaac 18 FW  RUS Anton Kilin 19 DF  ARM Artur Melikyan 22 MF  ARM Mikayel Mirzoyan

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 FW  ARM Nicholas Kaloukian 30 MF  BRA Bruno Michel 33 DF  ARM Alik Mkrtchyan 34 MF  ARM Narek Aleksanyan 42 GK  RUS Aleksandr Melikhov 52 DF  ARM Vahe Shapaghatyan 53 MF  ARM Davit Harutyunyan 55 DF  ARM Erik Simonyan 60 DF  RUS Dmitry Tikhy 77 FW  ARM Edgar Movsesyan 88 DF  ARM Zhirayr Margaryan 90 MF  RUS Oleg Polyakov 92 GK  RUS Aleksandr Mishiyev 99 DF  ARM Khariton Ayvazyan

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ARM Hayk Ghazaryan (at BKMA Yerevan until 30 June 2025) — DF  ARM Arman Ghazaryan (at Alashkert until 30 June 2025) — MF  ARM Arman Arakelyan (at BKMA Yerevan until 31 December 2025) — MF  ARM Levon Bashoyan (at BKMA Yerevan until 31 December 2025) — MF  ARM Karen Davtyan (at Gandzasar Kapan until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ARM David Ghiasyan (at BKMA Yerevan until 30 June 2025) — MF  ARM Artur Israelyan (at West Armenia until 30 June 2025) — MF  ARM Garnik Minasyan (at BKMA Yerevan until 31 December 2025) — MF  ARM Hamlet Sargsyan (at BKMA Yerevan until 30 June 2025) — FW  ARM Edik Vardanyan (at BKMA Yerevan until 30 June 2025)

Personnel

Technical staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Dmitry Gunko
Coach	Nikolay Tyunin
Fitness Coach	Aleksey Gorshkov
Coach Analyst	Francisco Compañ
Goalkeepers Coach	Stepan Ghazaryan
Doctor	Arsen Hambaryan
Physiotherapist	Karen Gharibyan
Physiotherapist	Karapet Israelyan
Team Manager	Davit Shahbagyan
Kit Manager	Harutyun Jangchyan
Interpreter	Areg Harutyunyan
Urartu-2 Coach	Igor Paderin

Management

Position	Name
President	Dzhevan Cheloyants
General Director	Gohar Vardanyan
Sport Director	Dmitrii Kudryashov
Deputy General Director for Administration and Maintenance	Georgii Gzrayan
Deputy General Director for PR, Information and Marketing	Lusine Harutyunyan
Press Officer	Gevorg Malakyan
Lawyer	Hamlet Petrosyan

Urartu-2

Urartu-2

Founded	2003
Ground	Urartu Training Centre, Yerevan
Capacity	600
Owner	Dzhevan Cheloyants & Oleg Mkrtchyan
Director General	Hrach Aghabekyan
Manager	Tigran Arakelyan
League	Armenian First League
2021–22	6th
Website	https://www.fcurartu.am
Home colours Away colours

Banants Training Centre

Urartu has also the second team, Urartu-2 which plays in the Armenian First League. They play their home games at the training field with artificial turf of the Urartu Training Centre.

Managerial history

• Varuzhan Sukiasyan (1992–94)
• Poghos Galstyan (July 1, 1996 – June 30, 1998)
• Oganes Zanazanyan (2001–05)
• Ashot Barseghyan (2005–06)
• Nikolay Kiselyov (2006–07)
• Jan Poštulka (2007)
• Nikolay Kostov (July 1, 2007 – April 8, 2008)
• Nedelcho Matushev (April 8, 2008 – June 30, 2008)
• Kim Splidsboel (2008)
• Armen Gyulbudaghyants (Jan 1, 2009 – Dec 1, 2009)
• Ashot Barseghyan (interim) (2009)
• Stevica Kuzmanovski (Jan 1, 2010 – Dec 31, 2010)
• Rafael Nazaryan (Jan 1, 2011 – Jan 15, 2012)
• Volodymyr Pyatenko (Jan 17, 2013 – June 30, 2013)
• Zsolt Hornyák (July 1, 2013 – May 30, 2015)
• Aram Voskanyan (July 1, 2015 – Oct 11, 2015)
• Tito Ramallo (Oct 12, 2015 – Oct 3, 2016)
• Artur Voskanyan (Oct 3, 2016 – Aug 11, 2018)
• Ilshat Faizulin (Aug 12, 2018 –Nov 24, 2019)
• Aleksandr Grigoryan (Nov 25, 2019 –Mar 10, 2021)
• Robert Arzumanyan (10 March 2021 – 24 June 2022)^[9]
• Dmitri Gunko (27 June 2022–)^[10]

See also

• Soccer portal
• Sports portal

• Football in Armenia
• Football Federation of Armenia