Armenia or Armenian diaspora Greatest All-Time Team

This blogger Artur Yanturin copied my blog team.  His entry was written in October 21, 2020, but mine was uploaded in a few weeks before his 2020. He also copied many many of my blog entries.  My blog entires were uploaded around 2014 and his were 2020.  I also updated mine periodically.  I made many mistakes. He kept my mistakes.  He seemed to be someone from the formerly Soviet Union.  He should know the topic much more than I do, but he still made my mistakes.  His Spartak Moscow All-Time team entry of was published in October 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2017.  His entry of the Dutch-German rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.  He also copied many many of my blog entries.

His Facebook and Instagram

Этот блогер Артур Янтурин скопировал команду моего блога. Его запись была написана 21 октября 2020 года, но моя была загружена за несколько недель до его 2020 года. Он также скопировал многие из моих записей в блоге. Весь мой блог был загружен примерно в 2014 году, а его — в 2020-м. Я также периодически обновлял свой. Я сделал много ошибок. Он сохранил мои ошибки. Он казался кем-то из бывшего Советского Союза. Он должен знать тему гораздо больше, чем я, но он все равно делал мои ошибки. Его запись о московском «Спартаке» за все время была опубликована в октябре 2020 года, но моя была загружена в 2017 году. Его запись о голландско-германском соперничестве между «Реалом» и «Барселоной» была написана в 2020 году, а моя была загружена в 2014 году. Он также скопировал многие из моих записей в блоге.

Armenia national team

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Soviet Union, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus
Georgia

The former Soviet Union without (Ukraine, Russia and Georgia)

Central Asia (mainly formerly Soviet Central Asia)

What if USSR 2018 World Cup

* Due to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the issue of ethnicity is very sensitive.  I am also including Armenians born outside of Armenia including Azerbaijan.  If I made a mistake in ethnicity, I apologize in advance.

Armenia became an independent state in 1991, the Armenian SSR having previously played for the Soviet Union national football team. The Football Federation of Armenia was founded on 18 January 1992 and established relations with FIFA in 1992 and with UEFA in 1993.

The first professional club in Armenia was established in 1935 as Spartak and was later renamed Ararat. FC Ararat Yerevan is notable for its wins in the Soviet Championship and the Cup in 1973. FC Ararat also reached the quarter-finals of the 1974–75 European Cup, losing to the eventual champions, Franz Beckenbauer's FC Bayern Munich. The first stadium in Armenia was named Spartak as well, built in the late 1920s in front of what is now the Yerevan Circus.  A number of Armenian players played for the USSR national team, including Khoren Oganesian at the 1982 FIFA World Cup and Eduard Markarov in the 1960s.

 

If there were an All-Time World Cup, this would be the 23 players I would bring to the tournament.  The team is not an All-Star team. I tried to be as realistic as possible.   A few of the players are selected for tactical reasons at the expense of more famous players.

Team

GK: Roman Berezovsky (Armenia) 

Roman Berezovsky began his professional career in 1991 with Koshkagorts in the Soviet Top League. He later played in the Armenian Premier League. In 1994, he moved to Zenit St. Petersburg, where he stayed until 2000.  He also played for Khimki and Torpedo Moscow, among other clubs.  He played 94 times for Armenia, the record of second most capped player of the national team.

Roman Berezovsky

GK: Alyosha Abramyan (Soviet Union)

In 1966-1978, Alyosha Abramyan played for FC Ararat Yerevan in the highest group of the USSR championship, He played 276 games for them.  In 1973 he became the USSR champion.  Then, he also won the Soviet Cup in 1973 and 1975.  In 2013, he won the Medal of Merit for Services to the Motherland (Armenia).

GK: Sergey Zatikyan (Armenia)

Sergey Zatikyan was considered as the best goalkeeper of Armenia in the twentieth century.  Zatikyan in 1947 defended the colors of Yerevan "Dynamo", then the team became "Spartak". The club was later renamed "Ararat".  He played for the team until 1963. In the USSR championship, Zatikyan played 59 games. 

RB: Grigory Hambardzumyan (Soviet Union)

Hambardzumyan played in the "Lernagorts" (now "Gandzasar" ) club in his hometown. In 1953 he was invited to the "Spartak" club in Yerevan. He is the first football player from Armenia to be included in the list of the 33 best football players of the  season. In 1961 he was the second in that list (as a right-back).  He was invited to preliminary team of the Soviet national team for the 1962 World Cup, but he did not make the team due to an injury.

RB: Sargis Hovsepyan (Armenia) 

Hovsepyan started his career with FC Malatia when the club was still in the Soviet league.  He was a star with Pyunik Yerevan under an independent Armenia. In 1992, he became the first player to be named Armenian Footballer of the Year.  He also played for  Zenit Saint Petersburg.  From 1992 to 2012, he was capped 132 times for Armenia, a record.  He was the last member of the original Armenian national team to retire.

Sargis Hovsepyan

CB: Marcelo Djian (Ethnic Armenian from Brazil)

Marcelo is of Armenian descent.  In his club career, he played centre-back for S.C. Corinthians, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, Clube Atlético Mineiro and Olympique Lyonnais.  Marcelo received the "Brazilian Silver Ball" in 1990 and named to Bola de Ouro Best XI in 1998.  He was one of the first Brazilian to play for Lyons.  For Brazil, he was capped once in 1989 against Peru.

CB/FB: Alexander Kovalenko  (Soviet Union)

Alexander Kovalenko was considered a legend in Armenia. From 1960 to 1975, he played for Ararat Yerevan. In the top league of the USSR championship, he played 281 games and scored 19 goals. In European competition played 4 matches.  He led his club to the league champion in 1973.

CB: Michel Der Zakarian (Armenia)

Der Zakarian moved to France with his family as a child.  He spent his entire professional career in France, with Nantes and Montpellier. He was a member of the Armenia national team, participated in five international matches since his debut in home 1998 World Cup qualifying match against Portugal.

CB: Alexander Mirzoyan (Soviet Union)

Born in Azerbaijan of an Armenian descent, Mirzoyan played for Neftchi Baku PFC, Ararat Yerevan and Spartak Moscow in his club career.  With Araray Yerevan, he won the Soviet Cup in 1975. He played twice for the USSR. He made his debut in 1979 against West Germany.

RB/LB/CB: Andranik Eskandarian (Iranian Armenian)

Andranik Eskandarian is probably the most famous Iranian player in the world during the 1970's because he played with Pele in NY Cosmos.  He was a sweeper, but played both rightback and leftback for NY Cosmos.  For the Iranian national team, he had 29 caps.  He won the Asian Cup in 1976 and went to the 1976 Olympics and the 1978 World Cup Finals.  His son played for the USA.  

Andranik Eskandaryan

LB: Norik Mesropyan (Soviet Union)

Norik Mesropyan played his entire career for Ararat Yerevan between 1964 and 1978, winning the Soviet Top League in 1973, and Soviet Cups in 1973 and 1975.  He played 87 straight league games for his club between 1970 to 1973, a record.  He also onlt received one yellow card in his entire career. He made the lists of the 33 best footballers of the USSR twice: 1971 and 1973.  In 1971, he also played 3 matches for the Soviet Olympic team.

DM: Alain Boghossian (French Armenian)

Alain Boghossian began his career with Olympique de Marseille in 1988.  Later, he played in Italy with Napoli and Sampdoria, but his best stint was with Parma, where he won the 1989 UEFA Cup.  For France, he had 26 caps.  He appeared as a substitute against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup Final.  He also was on the 2002 World Cup team. He is of Armenian descent.

LW/LM: Khoren Oganesian (Soviet Union)

Khoren Oganesian was chosen as the best player of Armenia in the 20th century by the Armenian FA.  He earned 34 caps by USSR between 1979 and 1984.  He won a bronze medal at the 1980 Olympics. In 1982, he became the first Armenian to play in the World Cup finals. His career was spent mainly with FC Ararat Yerevan, where the club played in the Soviet Top League and later, participated in the Armenian Premier League.  His domestic career lasted from 1974 and 1996.

Khoren Oganesian 

CM: Hovhannes Zanazanyan (Armenian born in Greece capped by the USSR) 

Hovhannes Zanazanyan aka Oganes Zanazanyan was born in Greece, where his father played for Apollo.  For his club career, he was known as the captain of Ararat Yerevan when they won the Soviet Top league in 1973.  He also played for Lernagots and Spartak Moscow.  He was capped 12 times for the Soviet Union Olympic team as well as 6 other senior caps.  

CM: Arkady Andreasyan (Soviet Union) 

Arkady Andreasyan was Baku, Azerbaijan SSR to an Armenian family, but his club career was all in Armenia.  His club career highlight included Ararat Yerevan won the 1973 Soviet Top League and the Soviet Cup in 1973 and 1975.   In 1975, he scored the winning goal against Bayern Munich in the European Cup.   He had 9 Olympic caps, winning the bronze medal in 1972 in addition his 12 senior caps.

AM/CM: Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Armenia)

Henrikh Mkhitaryan started with Pyunik in 2006 in Armenia before moving to play in Ukraine. Between 2013 and 2016, he starred with Borussia Dortmund.  With Manchester United, he became the first Armenian to win a major European trophy.   Then, he played briefly for Arsenal before moving to AS Roma.  At the time of writing, he had 86 caps for Armenia.  He was also voted the CIS Footballer of the Year in 2012 and 2013.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

CM/FW: Nazar Petrosyan (Armenian born in Turkmenistan) 

Born in Turkmenistan, Nazar Petrosyan started his career with Ararat Yerevan in Armenia, where he won the Soviet Top League in 1973.  Between 1978 and 1980, he played for Moscow CSKA Moscow.  He later played for Kuban Krasnodar and FC Kotayk.  He played 3 times for the Soviet Union between 1976 and 1977.  His debut was against Argentina.

AM/CM: Youri Djorkaeff (French with an Armenian mother)

Youri Djorkaeff is the son of French international Jean Djorkaeff. He played for many clubs in Europe, including Monaco, PSG, Inter Milan, Kaiserslautern, etc.  With OSG, he won the 1996 Cup Winners' Cup. He won another UEFA Cup a year later with Inter Milan. Internationally, he was a part of the great French team that won the World Cup in 1998 and then European Championship in 2000. He is considered one of the best French offensive players in that era.

Youri Djorkaeff 

FW/RM: Arutyan Kegeyan (Soviet Union)

In 1960, Arutyan Kegeyan was the first Armenian football player to receive the title of Honored Master of Sports and for a long time remained the only Honored Master of Sports in football in Armenia. In his club career, he mainly played for Spartak Yerevan (now Ararat Yerevan), helping them to reach the 1954 USSR Cup Final.  He also played for Spartak Moscow in 1955.  He had represented the national team.

FW: Vakeriy Porkujan (Armenian born in Ukraine)

Vakeriy Porkuyan mainly played for Chernomorets Odessa in his career, but between 1966 and 1970, he played with Dynamo Kyiv.  After his first season with the club, he was chosen by the national football team to attend the 1966 World Cup.  He was the World Cup bronze boot. He also went to the 1970 World Cup Finals.  In total, he had 8 caps, scoring 4 goals (all in the 1966 World Cup Finals).

Vakeriy Porkuyan 

ST: Levon Ishtoyan  (Soviet Union)

Ishtoyan started with FC Shirak, but he played mainly for Ararat Yerevan between 1968 and 1975.  He was a part of the team that won the Soviet Top League in 1973.  He had 8 caps.  He played in UEFA Euro 1972 qualifiers, but was not selected for the final tournament squad. He also played in a 1974 FIFA World Cup qualifier against France.

ST: Eduard Markarov (Soviet Union)

Born in Azerbaijan,  Markarov made his name with Neftchi Baku, where he played between 1961 and 1970.  From 1971 to 1975, he played for Ararat Yerevan.  He was the star on the team that won the 1973 Soviet league.  He played three matches for the Soviet Union national football team and was a member of the Soviet national squad that competed at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. 

ST Nikita Simonyan (Soviet Union)

Nikita Simonyan started with  Krylya Sovetov Moscow, but he played mainly for Spartak Moscow, where he is the top scorer in the history at 160 goals where he played between 1949 and 1959, and is also the top scorer in the Soviet Top League at 133 goals.  He was the Soviet captain at the World Cup Finals in 1958 and also won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1956.  He was capped 20 times. He was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1954.

Nikita Simonyan

Honorable Mention

Sanasar Gevorgyan (Soviet Union), Harutyun Abrahamyan (Armenia), Eduard Eranosyan (Bulgaria), Arsen Avetisyan (Armenia), Hamlet Mkhitaryan (Armenia), Sarkis Ovivyan (Soviet Union), Sergei Bondarenko (Soviet Union), Gevorg Ghazaryan (Armenia), Yura Movsisyan (Armenia), Andranik Teymourian (Iran), Éric Assadourian (Armenia),  Ara Hakobyan (Armenia), Karlen Mkrtchyan (Armenia), Artur Petrosyan (Armenia), Marcos Pizzelli (Armenia),  Karem Dokhoyan (Armenia), Robert Arzumanyan (Armenia), Vyacheslav Ambartsumyan (Soviet Union), Diego Rossi (Uruguay), Lucas Zelerayan (Argentina).

Squad Explanation
-- This team was updated in April, 2022 after I discovered Russian blogger Artur Yanturin copied and stole my blog team.  Now, it was slightly different.

-- The idea of the blog born out of Youri Djorkaeff and Alain Boghossian winning the World Cup for France in 1998.  Wouldn't it be nice to team them up with Nikita Simonyan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan? Thus, the blog team becomes Armenia or Armenian diaspora all-time team.  I am using the "one drop" rule for ethnicity.

-- Eligibility is based on ethnicity and birthplace.  The players from the post-Soviet Union are also based on the national team.  However, the "cap-tied" rule does not apply here since  this is also an Armenian diaspora team.

-- According to the statistics, about 500,000 Armenians lived in Soviet Azerbaijan prior to the outbreak of Nagorno Karabakh War in 1988.  I did my best to avoid any political issue on the team.  All ethnic Armenians from Azerbaijan are eligible, but I would not select any ethnic Azerbaijani born in Armenia.  It would be controversial to force an Azerbaijani to wear the jersey of the Armenian national team.

-- Youri Djorkaeff, Alain Boghossian, Khoren Oganesian, Eduard Markarov, Nikita Simonyan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are automatic selections.  They are the best ever from Armenia.

-- Before the 1970's, most of the good footballers in the Soviet Union came from Russia.  After the 1970's, many Ukrainian and Georgian footballers emerged, but it was rare to see national team players from outside the three republics.  In 1958,  Nikita Simonyan (Armenia) was one of two non-Russian and non-Ukrainian on the World Cup team.  Simonyan was an Armenian born in Ukraine.  

-- Only five players selected here played for Armenian national team. Artur Petrosyan and Marcos Pizzelli made honorable mention.

-- Six ethnic Armenians participated in a World Cup Finals.  Nikita Simonyan, Eduard Margarov and Khoren Oganesian played for the Soviet Union.   Alain Boghossian was on the French team that won the World Cup in 1998.  His teammate Youri Djorkaeff has a Armenian mother. Andranik Eskandaryan and Andranik Teymourian played for Iran.  Khoren Oganesian is the only Armenia-born player to have played in the World Cup Finals.

-- I have 4 players who represented national team other than Armenia or the USSR. In addition to Eskandaryan, Boghossian and Djorkaeff, I also have Marcelo (Brazil). 

-- Sargis Amirkhanyan and Sahak Achemyan were Armenians from Turkey, who returned to Armenia in 1920's.  I do not know much about them.  They were pioneers of the game.

-- Ararat Yerevan won the Soviet Top League and the Soviet Cup tin 1973 coached by legendary former player Nikita Simonyan, one of Soviet Union's most prominent football figures.  The team is known as "Ararat-73".  I selected 9 players from that team.  They are Levon Ishtoyan, Eduard Markarov, Hovhannes Zanazanyan, Alyosha Abramyan, Alexander Kovalenko, Norik Mesropyan, Hovhannes Zanazanyan, Nazar Petrosyan and Arkady Andreasyan.  Alexander Mirzoyan joined the club in 1975 after the league championship.

Goalkeepers

-- I did not spend much time in analyzing the goalkeeper position.  I started with Roman Berezovsky who was one of the most capped players for Armenia.  Both Alyosha Abrahamyan and Sergey Zatikyan were legends in club football for Armenia during the Soviet era.  Alyosha Abrahamyan was honored because he was the goalkeeper of the 1973 Soviet league winning team.  It was a big achievement in Armenian footyball.

-- Harutyun Abrahamyan and David Yurchenko were contemporary goalkeepers, but Roman Berezovsky was ahead of them.

Defenders

-- I selected righbacks, Sargis Hovsepyan and Grigory Hambardzumyan over Sanasar Gevorgyan.  Hovesepyan is one of Armenia's cap record holders.  Sanasar Gevorgyan was from Ararat-73. He was known for his battle with Oleg Blokhin in the Soviet league, but I took Hambardzumyan who was a pioneer of Armenian footballers in the USSR over him.  He is the first football player from Armenia to be included in the list of the 33 best football players of the  season

-- Youri Djorkaeff's father Jean Djorkaeff was not Armenian.  He was born to a Kalmyk father and Polish mother.  Youri's eligibility came from his Armenian mother.  Jean was a great rightback in his time.

-- For centerback position, I took Marcelo who was named to Brazil's Bola de Ouro twice in his career.  I was selecting because of this two awards.  He is an ethnic Armenian who was capped twice by Brazil. 

-- Michel Der Zakarian who moved to France as a child was included on many all-time list I found on the internet.  He was capped 5 times by Armenia.  He had a long and steady career playing in La Ligue.  Not many Armenians had the same successes playing outside of Armenian. 

--  Karem Dokhoyan (Armenia) was also mentioned frequently, but I only put him on honorable mention.

-- Andranik Eskandarian was the most famous Iranian player before the 1990's generation, but it was largely due to the fact that he was playing with Pele in NY Cosmos.  His ethnicity is Armenian.  He is one of few Armenians who had experience playing in the World Cup.

Midfielders/Wingers

-- József Zakariás was said to be Armenian.   He played 35 times for Hungary between 1947 and 1952.  He was a member of the Mighty Magyars.  He helped Hungary become Olympic Champions in 1952,[1] Central European Champions in 1953 and defeated England twice. He then helped Hungary reach the 1954 World Cup final. During the World Cup finals. According an interview of his family I found online, he was not Armenian.  Thus, he was ineligible for this team.

-- Khoren Oganesian played in a generation when the Soviet Union was full of great midfielders. David Kipiani, Fyodor Cherenkov and Leonid Buryak played around the same time. He was the first Armenian to play in the World Cup Finals.  Both David Kipiani and Fyodor Cherenkov did not feature in the 1982 World Cup Finals.  David Kipiani was injured while Cherenkov was overlooked. The Soviet went with Leonid Buryak, Yuri Gavrilov and Khoren Oganesian.  Buryak travelled to Spain, but did not play in the World Cup Finals because of an injury.  Oganesian who was a regular since World Cup Qualifiers was one of the key midfielders.

-- Alain Boghossian turned down offers to play for the Armenia national football team, but this was also the Armenian diaspora team.  So he was eligible. He was a World Cup winner.

-- Andranik Teymourian had over 100 caps for Iran. He is notably the first Christian to captain the Iran national team. He was a defensive midfielder who could play wide.  I put him on honourable mention because I already had Alain Boghossian and Khoren Oganesian.

-- The reason of this blog came from Youri Djorkaeff.  He was an important player for France when they won the 1998 World Cup and the following European Championship.

-- Henrikh Mkhitaryan established himself at Borussia Dortmund. At the time of writing, he is making a name with Manchester United. He is probably the most accomplished Armenian footballer eligible playing club football in the Western Europe since the breakup of Soviet Union.

-- I knew nothing about Oganes Zanazanyan and Arkady Andreasyan.  Their selections was based upon the fact that they played for the Soviet national team.

Forwards

-- Eduard Markarov is probably the most famous Armenian born in Azerbaijan.  He was a hero of Ararat Yerevan that won the 1973 Soviet Top League and the Soviet Cup in 1973 and 1975.  He also went to the 1966 World Cup.

-- Nikita Simonyan is the top scorer in the history of the club Spartak Moscow at 160 goals.  He was the captain of the 1958 Soviet World Cup team.  

-- Vakeriy Porkuyan scoring 4 goals for the Soviet Union, all in the 1966 World Cup Finals).  He was the tournament's bronze boot.

-- Hamlet Mkhitaryan was probably the best player not selected.  He is the father of Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

-- Yura Movsisyan (Armenia) grew up in the United States.  Sometimes, he was listed among the greatest Armenians, but I only put him on honorable mention.

-- Sergey Bondarenko was also mentioned, but I thought that he was an Russian born in the Far East. I have question marks about him.

-- The football fans in Levon Ishtoya's hometown painted the number 8 of on the back of the most important city monument - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.  That was how much he was loved.

-- Vyacheslav Ambartsumyan only made honorable mention.

 

Formation

The idea of the blog was actually born out of Youri Djorkaeff and Alain Boghossian winning the World Cup for France in 1998.  The two Frenchmen brought World Cup experiences to the team.  The rest of the starting lineup is a mixture of Soviet players and Armenian players.