F.C. Ararat Tehran

Football club infobox
clubname = Ararat


fullname = Football Club Ararat Tehran
nickname =
founded = 1944
ground = Ararat Stadium
Vanak
Tehran
Iran
capacity = 15,000
owner = flagicon|Iran Iran Armenian Ararat Caltural Organization
chairman =
manager = flagicon|Iran Rafik Marcosi
league = 2nd Division
season = 2005-06
position = 2nd Division Group A, 2nd Second Place Playoff, eliminated

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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
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Ararat FC (PerB|آرارات تهران) is a popular football team based in Tehran, Iran. They currently play in the 2nd division of Iranian football.

Ararat FC is the football club of the multisport Ararat Club in Iran.

Club history

The club was established in 1944 by a group of Armenian-Iranians. They named the club after the famous mountain of the same name. The club was run by an Armenian athletic organization and was one of few clubs in Iranian football to have its own private stadium and training facilities. The club has never had spectacular results, but has always provided talented players for Iranian football. It was heavily supported by the Armenian minority in Iran, but was also loved by many non-Armenian Iranians. The last time the club played in the top level of Iranian football was the 1995-96 season of the Azadegan League (current IPL). Due to the poor decisions of the club management, Ararat FC has spent most of the past few years playing in the 1st Division and 2nd Division of Iran's football leagues. Until recently the club had a policy of only employing Armenian staff and players, but with the team's poor form in the past few years, this decision has been overturned and non-Armenians have coached the team. The players though are all Armenian-Iranians. In the 2005-06 season the club came very close to promotion into the Azadegan League, but fell short in the last few weeks of the season.In 2007-08 season they took the last place in their group and relegated to 3rd division.

Players

Current Squad

2007-2008

Famous Players

* Edmond Bezik
* Andranik Teymourian
* Serjik Teymourian
* Andranik Eskandarian
* Markar Aghajanian
* Edmond Akhtar
* Fred Malekian
* Karo Haghverdian
* Vagren Safarian
* Levon Stepanyan
* Arthur Minasyan
* Tigran Gspeyan

External links

Official

* [http://www.araratorg.org/sport.htm Official sports section of the Ararat Armenian Cultural Organization of Iran]

Fan site

* [http://ararat-tehran.persianblog.ir/ Ararat FC Fan Blog]