Armenia Premier League 04/17 13:00 29 Ararat Yerevan v Pyunik Yerevan - View
Armenia Premier League 04/21 12:00 30 Pyunik Yerevan v Ararat Armenia - View

Wikipedia - FC Pyunik

Football Club Pyunik Yerevan (Armenian: Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ Երևան, romanized: Futbolayin Akumb P’yunik Yerevan), commonly known as Pyunik ("Phoenix"), is an Armenian professional sports club based in the Kentron neighbourhood of Yerevan. Pyunik is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its creation in 1992, has always played in the Armenian Premier League, becoming the most successful team of Armenia in number of official titles, with 31 won to date.

Internationally, Pyunik has yet to win an international title, with the closest result being a bronze place finish in the 2006 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup. Pyunik's domestic success usually qualifies the team for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. Pyunik is also known to be one of the most popular football clubs in Armenia, along with Urartu, Shirak and Ararat.

Pyunik has always had a fierce rivalry with Ararat, as both clubs are considered to be the most successful clubs in Armenia, the latter due to its Soviet accomplishments. Both clubs are also the two most popular in the country and favorites within the Armenian Diaspora. Pyunik also shares a rivalry with Urartu which began when Urartu relocated from Abovyan to Yerevan in 2001, and became the third largest team in the city. The Pyunik-Urartu rivalry is seen as one of the biggest clashes in Armenian football.

Pyunik's home stadium is the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, which is also home to the Armenia national football team. The youth academy has produced many Armenian internationals such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Robert Arzumanyan, Karlen Mkrtchyan, Edgar Manucharyan, Varazdat Haroyan and Gevorg Ghazaryan, many who have played or are playing for top European clubs.

History

Pyunik was founded in 1992 by Armenian football legend Khoren Oganesian and originally named Homenetmen Yerevan. The club won the first Armenian Premier League competition held in 1992 which it shared with Shirak since both teams were tied on points. In 1995, Homenetmen Yerevan was renamed FC Pyunik (Armenian for "Phoenix"). Following the change of name, Pyunik went on to win the 1995–96 Armenian Premier League and end the season with a 59-match unbeaten streak.

In 1996, Pyunik played its first international cup match, a UEFA Europa League qualifying match against Finnish club HJK Helsinki which Pyunik won 3–1. Pyunik also won the 1996-97 Armenian Premier League securing itself another chance at qualifying for an international cup playoffs the following year.

In 1997, Pyunik played its first UEFA Champions League qualifying match against Hungarian side MTK Budapest FC yet failed to qualify for the playoffs following a 6–3 defeat on aggregate.

1998 proved to be a crucial year for the club following the loss of its main source of funding and the subsequent departure of its main players. Pyunik finished 6th that season and withdrew from football altogether.

Pyunik secured a comeback to professional football following its absorption of FC Armenicum, a newly promoted team to the Armenian Premier League. The club's new management sought to bring more experience to the club and reinforced the squad with foreign players from Argentina, Cameroon, Mali and Romania. The reinforcements brought positive results and Pyunik went on to win the 2001 Armenian Premier League and 2002 Armenian Cup.

2002 saw Pyunik advance to the second round of the UEFA Champions League qualifying round after beating Finnish champions Tampere United 6–0 on aggregate. From 2002 forwards, Pyunik went on to win the Armenian Premier League a record of 10 times in a row, from 2001 to 2010.

On 8 January 2020, former Armenian international goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky was announced as the club's new manager. Just over 7-months later, 13 July 2020, Berezovsky left the club by mutual consent. On 20 July 2020, Artak Oseyan was announced as Pyunik's new manager, but left his role as head coach on 13 December 2020. On 7 January 2021, Yegishe Melikyan was announced as Pyunik's new manager.

In the 2022/23 season, after victories over Cluj and Dudelange, Pyunik became the first ever Armenian club to reach the third round of Champions League qualifying, where they played against former European Champions Crvena Zvezda, losing 7-0 on aggregate.

Subsequently, Pyunik dropped into the play-off round of the Europa League, where they played against the Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol. After two scoreless draws, Pyunik lost on penalties, thus dropping into the group stages of the Conference League, the first ever group stage appearance in a European competition for the club.

After a defeat away against Basel on the first matchday, Pyunik faced Slovan Bratislava in their first home match in Yerevan, which they won thanks to goals from Artak Dashyan and Yusuf Otubanjo. This result meant that they became the first ever Armenian team to win a game in UEFA group stage competitions.

Domestic history

Season League Armenian Cup Top goalscorer Manager
Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Name League
1992 Armenian Premier League 1st 22 17 3 2 75 31 37 Runner-Up Poghos Galstyan 26
1993 4th 28 21 3 4 80 29 45 Semi-final Gegham Hovhannisyan 26
1994 2nd 28 23 1 4 113 24 47 Semi-final Arsen Avetisyan 39
1995 2nd1 10 5 4 1 31 8 19 Quarter-final Arsen Avetisyan 12
1995–96 1st 22 19 3 0 71 14 60 Winner
1996–97 1st 22 19 2 1 67 9 59 Runner-Up Arsen Avetisyan 24
1997 4th 18 11 2 5 42 16 35 Varazdat Avetisyan 10
1998 6th 26 6 3 17 27 68 21 Semi-final
1999 Club did not participate.
2000
2001 Armenian Premier League 1st 22 17 2 3 77 23 53 Semi-final Arman Karamyan 21 Samvel Darbinyan
2002 1st 22 19 2 1 85 14 59 Winner Arman Karamyan 36
2003 1st 28 23 5 0 87 11 74 Semi-final Galust Petrosyan 12
2004 1st 28 22 5 1 89 25 71 Winner Edgar Manucharyan
Galust Petrosyan
21
2005 1st 20 11 6 3 35 15 39 Quarter-final Tigran Davtyan 9
2006 1st 28 23 4 1 86 23 73 Runner-Up Arsen Avetisyan 15
2007 1st 28 18 3 7 58 22 57 Semi-final Henrikh Mkhitaryan 12
2008 1st2 28 18 5 5 40 18 59 Semi-final Albert Tadevosyan 10
2009 1st 28 20 5 3 64 13 65 Winner Henrikh Mkhitaryan 11
2010 1st 28 20 5 3 73 22 65 Winner Gevorg Ghazaryan
Marcos Pizzelli
16
2011 3rd 28 12 10 6 33 28 46 Quarter-final Edgar Manucharyan 8
2011–12 Only Cup competition was held Quarter-final
2012–13 4th 42 19 6 17 67 51 63 Winner Viulen Ayvazyan 11
2013–14 6th 28 8 8 12 41 39 32 Winner Sarkis Baloyan 10
2014–15 1st 28 19 4 5 58 26 61 Winner César Romero 21
2015–16 3rd 28 13 9 6 44 21 48 Quarter-final Vardan Pogosyan 9
2016–17 4th 30 12 9 9 35 27 45 Runner-Up Alik Arakelyan 6 Sargis Hovsepyan
Artak Oseyan
2017–18 5th 30 9 9 12 37 41 36 Quarter-final Alik Arakelyan 7 Armen Gyulbudaghyants
Aleksei Yeryomenko
Armen Gyulbudaghyants
2018–19 2nd 32 18 6 8 46 32 60 Quarter-final Erik Vardanyan 8 Andrei Talalayev
Aleksandr Tarkhanov
2019–20 8th 22 8 2 12 39 42 26 Second Round Denis Mahmudov 9 Aleksandr Tarkhanov
Suren Chakhalyan (Caretaker)
Roman Berezovsky
2020–21 7th 24 6 7 11 20 18 25 First Round José Caraballo 3 Artak Oseyan
Yegishe Melikyan
2021–22 1st 32 23 6 3 52 25 75 Quarterfinal Hugo Firmino 16 Yegishe Melikyan
2022–23 2nd 36 25 5 6 72 23 80 Semifinal Luka Juričić
Yusuf Otubanjo
17 Yegishe Melikyan
  • Due to the 1995 season being a transitional season, there was no official winner of championship.
  • Championship was decided by a decision game.

European history

As of match played 17 August 2023
Competition GP W D L GF GA +/-
UEFA Champions League 40 9 9 22 36 68 –32
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup 28 9 7 12 27 48 –21
UEFA Europa Conference League 12 6 0 6 17 17 0
Total 80 24 16 40 80 133 −53
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1996–97 UEFA Cup QR HJK Helsinki 3–1 2–5 (aet) 5–6
1997–98 UEFA Champions League 1Q MTK Budapest 0–2 3–4 3–6
2002–03 UEFA Champions League 1Q Tampere United 2–0 4–0 6–0
2Q Dynamo Kyiv 2–2 0–4 2–6
2003–04 UEFA Champions League 1Q KR Reykjavík 1–0 1–1 2–1
2Q CSKA Sofia 0–2 0–1 0–3
2004–05 UEFA Champions League 1Q Pobeda Prilep 1–1 3–1 4–2
2Q Shakhtar Donetsk 1–3 0–1 1–4
2005–06 UEFA Champions League 1Q Haka Valkeakoski 2–2 0–1 2–3
2006–07 UEFA Champions League 1Q Sheriff Tiraspol 0–0 0–2 0–2
2007–08 UEFA Champions League 1Q Derry City 2–0 0–0 2–0
2Q Shakhtar Donetsk 0–2 1–2 1–4
2008–09 UEFA Champions League 1Q Anorthosis Famagusta 0–2 0–1 0–3
2009–10 UEFA Champions League 2Q Dinamo Zagreb 0–0 0–3 0–3
2010–11 UEFA Champions League 2Q Partizan Belgrade 0–1 1–3 1–4
2011–12 UEFA Champions League 2Q Viktoria Plzeň 0–4 1–5 1–9
2012–13 UEFA Europa League 1Q Zeta Golubovci 0–3 2–1 2–4
2013–14 UEFA Europa League 1Q Teteks Tetovo 1–0 1–1 2–1
2Q Žalgiris Vilnius 1–1 0–2 1–3
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 1Q Astana 1–4 0–2 1–6
2015–16 UEFA Champions League 1Q Folgore 2–1 2–1 4–2
2Q Molde FK 1–0 0–5 1–5
2016–17 UEFA Europa League 1Q Europa FC 2–1 0–2 2–3
2017–18 UEFA Europa League 1Q Slovan Bratislava 1–4 0–5 1–9
2018–19 UEFA Europa League 1Q Vardar 1–0 2–0 3–0
2Q Tobol 1–0 1–2 2–2 (a)
3Q Maccabi Tel Aviv 0–0 1–2 1–2
2019–20 UEFA Europa League 1Q Shkupi 3–3 2–1 5–4
2Q Jablonec 2–1 0–0 2–1
3Q Wolverhampton Wanderers 0–4 0–4 0–8
2022–23 UEFA Champions League 1Q CFR Cluj 0–0 2–2 (aet) 2–2 (4–3 p)
2Q F91 Dudelange 0–1 4−1 4−2
3Q Red Star Belgrade 0–2 0–5 0–7
UEFA Europa League PO Sheriff Tiraspol 0–0 0–0 0–0 (2–3 p)
UEFA Europa Conference League Group H Basel 1–2 1–3 3rd
Slovan Bratislava 2−0 1–2
Žalgiris 2−0 1–2
2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League 1Q Narva Trans 2−0 3−0 5−0
2Q Kalmar FF 2−1 2−1 4−2
3Q Bodø/Glimt 0–3 0–3 0–6
Pyunik Yerevan is a professional soccer team based in Yerevan, Armenia. The team was founded in 1992 and has since become one of the most successful clubs in Armenian football history. Pyunik Yerevan has won numerous domestic titles, including multiple Armenian Premier League championships and Armenian Cup victories.

The team plays their home matches at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, which has a capacity of over 14,000 spectators. Pyunik Yerevan is known for their passionate fan base and intense rivalries with other top clubs in Armenia.

The team's colors are red and white, and their logo features a lion, symbolizing strength and courage. Pyunik Yerevan has a reputation for developing young talent and has produced several players who have gone on to have successful careers in European leagues.

Overall, Pyunik Yerevan is a respected and competitive team in Armenian football, known for their skilled players, strong work ethic, and dedication to success on the pitch.