FC Pyunik

Infobox Football club
clubname = Pyunik


fullname = Football Club Pyunik Yerevan
nickname =
founded = 1992
ground = Republican Stadium, Yerevan
capacity = 15,000
chairman = flagicon|Armenia Karen Harutunyan
manager = flagicon|Armenia Vardan Minasyan
league = Armenian Premier League
season = 2007
position = Armenian Premier League, 1st
shirtsupplier= Hummel
shirtsponsors=
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FC Pyunik ( _hy. Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ Երեւան), is one of the most popular football clubs in Armenia. The club plays its home games in the Republican Stadium in Yerevan.

History

Founded in 1992, Pyunik (Armenian for "Phoenix") has won a record 10 Armenian Championships, along with 3 Armenian Cups, and 5 Armenian Supercups. The club is considered in Armenia, as one of the most popular Armenian football clubs since the establishment of the Armenian Premier League in 1992. Pyunik's new era began in 2001, when wealthy Armenian businessman Ruben Hayrapetyan bought the club and brought star players such as Artavazd Karamyan and Arman Karamyan from other Armenian clubs. FC Pyunik was not satisfied with what it already had, and improved the team more by bringing some foreign managers and players from Mali, Cameroon, Argentina and later from Romania. These improvments returned quick results, and Pyunik won the Armenian title the same year and the Armenian Cup in 2002. Later, for the first time in independent Armenian club history an Armenian club advanced to the second round in the Champions League. The club won the Armenian Premier League title seven times in a row. In the 2007 season Pyunik's strategy changed; the club resigned from its foreign players' services and depended on its own academy's products. However, Pyunik was still in the title hunt because it included seven Armenian national team players, such as Sargis Hovsepyan, Robert Arzumanyan, Levon Pachajyan, Karen Dokhoyan. In 2007 season Pyunik proved its worth by wining another title.

Rivalry

Pyunik's main two rivals are Ararat and Banants, however, the rivalry with Ararat is a lot more fierce than that of Banants. The reason for that is because Ararat is known to be the most loved club of Yerevan because of its Soviet accomplishments, and Banants was originally based in the region of Kotayk, and was only moved to Yerevan in 1990s. Another category Banants and Pyunik compete is their youth academies, which are considered to be the two best academies in the country.

Youth academy

Over the years Pyunik proved that it has strongest youth school in Armenia. The proof is that most of Armenian youth national team players are representing Pyunik, besides in 2005, Armenia U-19 team participated in final tournament of the European Under-19 Football Championship [ [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under19/fixturesresults/round=1926/index.html 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship fixtures and results.] , from uefa.com] . Few examples of Pyunik's products are Edgar Manucharyan, Robert Arzumanyan, Gevorg Ghazaryan, Henrik Mkhitaryan; all representing Armenia national team from very young age .

Stadium

Pyunik's home ground is the Republican Stadium based in Yerevan. However, because of ongoing reconstruction, the club plays its home matches at their sportbase, which can serve nearly 1000 supporters. It is supposed, that the main stadium will be ready towards the end of September 2008. The club also plays sometimes at their second home ground Nairi Stadium, also based in Yerevan, which capacity is around 2,500 seats.

Achievements

* Armenian Premier League: 10( 1992, 1995/96, 1996/97, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 )

* Armenian Cup: 3( 1996, 2002, 2004 )

* Armenian Supercup: 6( 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 )

Pyunik in European Cups

References

External links

* [http://www.fcpyunik.am/ Official website] hy icon
* [http://www.ffa.am/en/teams/fcpyunik/ Pyunik at FFA.AM]
* [http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/club=77431/domestic.html Pyunik at UEFA.COM]
* [http://www.eufo.de/football/arm/pyunevan.htm Pyunik at EUFO.DE]
* [http://www.weltfussball.de/teams/fc-pyunik/ Pyunik at Weltfussball.de]
* [http://www.playerhistory.com/Default.aspx?page=club_details&clubID=7839 Pyunik at Playerhistory.com]
* [http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/verein/10301/pyunikerewan/uebersicht/startseite.html Pyunik at Transfermarkt.de]
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/club.php?id=88 Pyunik at National Football Teams.com]