Western Armenia national football team

Western Armenia
Nickname(s)	The Highlanders; Լեռնաշխարհը
Association	Football Federation of Western Armenia
Confederation	Confederation of Independent Football Associations
Head coach	Harutyun Vardanyan
Top scorer	David Ghandilyan (5)
FIFA code	n/a
	First colours
	First colours
First international
	Western Armenia 12–0 Chagos Islands ; (Sukhumi, Georgia; 30 May, 2016)
Biggest win
	Western Armenia 12–0 Chagos Islands ; (Sukhumi, Georgia; 30 May, 2016)
Biggest defeat
	Cascadia 4–0 Western Armenia ; (Hayes Lane, England; 7 June, 2018)
ConIFA World Football Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 2016)
Best result	Quarter-finals (2016, 2018)

The Western Armenia national football team (Armenian: Արեւմտյան Հայաստանի Ֆուտբոլի ազգային հավաքական, romanized: Arevmtyan Hayastani futbol azgayin havak'akan) is a football team representing the Armenians primarily from the historical region of Western Armenia, which is currently within the borders of Turkey.

History

The governing body, the Football Federation of Western Armenia, was formed in 2015 and joined the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA) on 1 June of that year.^[2] The team's first ever game was played on 6 January 2016, when a Western Armenia XI played against Olympique de Marseille (CFA), the reserve team of the leading French football club.^[3] Vahagn Militosyan scored both goals in a 3–2 defeat.^[4]

10 days after the team's first ever game, Western Armenia was selected at ConIFA's 3rd AGM to be one of the 12 participants in the 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup, to be held in Abkhazia in May and June.^[5] In the draw for the competition, the team was selected in Group A alongside the hosts and the Chagos Islands.^[6] Western Armenia's first full international, against the Chagos Islands, ended with the team inflicting a record 12–0 defeat on the Chagossians,^[7] before going down to a 1–0 defeat against Abkhazia in the final group game.^[8] This though was enough for the team to qualify for the quarter-finals where they played the Panjab football team.

International matches

30 May 2016 ConIFA WFC Group A	Chagos Islands	0–12	Western Armenia	Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi
20:00 GET		Report	3', 20', 30', 34', 45', 53' David Ghandilyan 55' Tamaz Avolian 58', 81' Armen Kapikiyan 64' Ruslan Trapizoyan 69' Vahagn Militosyan 73' Hiraç Yagan

31 May 2016 ConIFA WFC Group A	Abkhazia	1–0	Western Armenia	Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi
20:00 GET	Dmitri Kortava 9'

2 June 2016 ConIFA WFC Quarter-Final	Western Armenia	2–3	Panjab	Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi
20:00 GET	Tamaz Avolian 67' Raffi Kaya 79'		Amar Purewal 2', 36', 44'

3 June 2016 ConIFA WFC Placement R. 1	Kurdistan Region	0–0 (5–6 p)	Western Armenia	Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi
20:00 GET
	Penalties
	Miran Khesro Farhan Shakor Hunar Ahmad Farhang Wriya Diyar Rahman Aras Mustafa Znar Faizi (?)		Hiraç Yagan Raffi Kaya Tamaz Avolian Loris Berberian Jules Tepelian Herant Yagan Denis Oz

4 June 2016 ConIFA WFC Placement R. 2	Sápmi	3–0	Western Armenia	Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra
15:00 GET

31 May 2018 ConIFA WFC Group D	United Koreans in Japan	0–0	Western Armenia	Colston Avenue, Carshalton
12:00 BST		Report		Referee: Fehim Dayı

2 June 2018 ConIFA WFC Group D	Panjab	0–1	Western Armenia	Arbour Park, Slough
17:00 BST		Report	Militosyan 14'	Referee: Kristian Michel

3 June 2018 ConIFA WFC Group D	Western Armenia	4–0	Kabylia	Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, Enfield
18:00 BST	Mosoyan 23' Valenza-Berberian 61', 87' Militosyan 89'	Report		Referee: Massimo Amitrano

5 June 2018 ConIFA WFC Quarter-Final	Western Armenia	0–4	Székely Land	Hayes Lane, Bromley
18:00 BST		Report	Tankó 36' Csizmadia 61' L. Fülöp 65' Bajkó 86'	Referee: Givi Todua

7 June 2018 ConIFA WFC Placement R. 2	Cascadia	4–0	Western Armenia	Hayes Lane, Bromley
15:00 BST	Ferguson 24', 62' Oldham 54' Farkas 79'	Report		Referee: Ivan Mrkalj

9 June 2018 ConIFA WFC Placement R. 3	Barawa	0–7	Western Armenia	Coles Park, Haringey
15:00 BST		Report	N. Hovsepyan D. Hovsepyan Yedigaryan Guzel Varjabetyan Militosyan Mosoyan	Referee: Leon Dastych

2 June 2019 ConIFA EFC Group B	Western Armenia	1-2	South Ossetia	Avakyan Arena, Martuni
18:00	Aslanyan 79'		Gurtsiev 29', 56'	Attendance: 1,080 Referee: Ahmed Sabah Radha Ahmed

3 June 2019 ConIFA EFC Group B	Székely Land	0-5	Western Armenia	Askeran City Stadium, Askeran
16:00		Report	Badoyan 20' Hovsepyan 52' (pen.) Bakalyan 70' Minasyan 81' Aslanyan 90+1'	Attendance: 500 Referee: Arkadi Akobyan

4 June 2019 ConIFA EFC Group B	Padania	1-1	Western Armenia	Stepanakert Republican Stadium, Stepanakert
20:00	Colombo 69'	Report	Yedigaryan 67'	Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Ahmed Sabah Radha Ahmed

6 June 2019 ConIFA EFC Semi-Final	Abkhazia	1–1 (0–3 p)	Western Armenia	Stepanakert Republican Stadium, Stepanakert
18:30	Khugayev 10'		Manoyan 32' (pen.)	Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Ivan Mrkalj

9 June 2019 ConIFA EFC Final	Western Armenia	0-1	South Ossetia	Stepanakert Republican Stadium, Stepanakert
18:00			Bazayev 65'	Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Dmitrii Zhukov, Vitalii Mazin, Valerii Kravchenko, Aleksandr Demenko, Ivan Mrkalj

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Gevorg Kasparov	(1980-07-25)25 July 1980 (aged 37)	0	0	FC Gandzasar Kapan
2	2DF	Arman Mosoyan	(1990-04-24)24 April 1990 (aged 28)	0	0	Unattached
3	2DF	Fabrice Guzel	(1990-11-09)9 November 1990 (aged 27)	5	0	US Le Pontet
4	2DF	Massis Kaya	(1990-09-15)15 September 1990 (aged 27)	5	0	Unattached
5	2DF	Rafael Safaryan	(1986-01-30)30 January 1986 (aged 32)	0	0	FC Ararat
6	3MF	Gevorg Najaryan	(1998-01-06)6 January 1998 (aged 20)	0	0	Shakhter Karagandy
7	3MF	Artur Yedigaryan	(1987-06-26)26 June 1987 (aged 30)	0	0	Proleter Novi Sad
8	3MF	David Azin	(1990-01-11)11 January 1990 (aged 28)	2	0	Unattached
9	4FW	Vahagn Militosyan	(1993-06-10)10 June 1993 (aged 24)	3	2	FC Nitra
10	3MF	Khoren Veranyan	(1986-09-04)4 September 1986 (aged 31)	0	0	Retired
11	4FW	David Hovsepyan	(1991-01-15)15 January 1991 (aged 27)	3	0	KFC Komárno
12	1GK	Khachatur Hovsepyan	(1991-01-15)15 January 1991 (aged 27)	2	0	FC Ararat
13	2DF	Jules Tepelian	(1987-10-31)31 October 1987 (aged 30)	7	0	UGA Ardzv
14	2DF	Hiraç Yagan	(1989-01-03)3 January 1989 (aged 29)	7	1	Stade Nyonnais
15	3MF	Zaven Varjabetyan	(1998-11-12)12 November 1998 (aged 19)	1	0	ESC Rellinghausen
16	3MF	Norik Hovsepyan	(1998-12-23)23 December 1998 (aged 19)	0	0	Shirak SC
17	2DF	Raffi Kaya	(1994-06-08)8 June 1994 (aged 23)	5	1	Lancy
18	3MF	Herant Yagan	(1994-10-01)1 October 1994 (aged 23)	6	0	FC Suryoye
19	4FW	Levon Kürkciyan	(1994-11-02)2 November 1994 (aged 23)	2	0	1. FC Kleve
20	3MF	Emmanuel Odemis	(2000-07-05)5 July 2000 (aged 17)	2	0	Stade Nyonnais
21	4FW	Vicken Valenza-Berberian	(1992-09-21)21 September 1992 (aged 25)	1	0	FC Bords-de-Saône
22	3MF	Axel Tashedjian	(2000-05-09)9 May 2000 (aged 18)	1	0	Paris FC
23	3MF	Georgi Minasov	(1990-08-21)21 August 1990 (aged 27)	0	0	Unattached

Managers

Manager	Period	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %
Gilbert Catikoglu	2015–2016	6	1	1	4	016.7
Harutyun Vardanyan	2018–2019	14	4	3	7	028.6
Totals		20	5	4	11	25

President

President	Year(s)
Hiraç Yagan	2015–present

Honours

Non-FIFA competitions

CONIFA European Football Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2019

References

^ "Western Armenia member of ConIFA". ffowa.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
^ "Homepage". Football Federation of Western Armenia. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
^ "Western Armenia will have their very first match in early January!". Twitter. ConIFA. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
^ "Football Federation of Western Armenia Plays First Game". asbarez.com. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
^ "#Abkhazia2016 participants". ConIFA. 17 January 2016. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
^ "CONIFA World Football Cup 2016 Draw is Set!". ConIFA. 1 April 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
^ "Western Armenia Beats Chagos Islands 12:0 in CONIFA World Cup". asbarez.com. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
^ Abkhazia 1–0 Western Armenia (Video). Abkhazia: WFC 2016. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

[1] "Western Armenia member of ConIFA". ffowa.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

[2] "Homepage". Football Federation of Western Armenia. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

[3] "Western Armenia will have their very first match in early January!". Twitter. ConIFA. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

[4] "Football Federation of Western Armenia Plays First Game". asbarez.com. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

[5] "#Abkhazia2016 participants". ConIFA. 17 January 2016. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

[6] "CONIFA World Football Cup 2016 Draw is Set!". ConIFA. 1 April 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

[7] "Western Armenia Beats Chagos Islands 12:0 in CONIFA World Cup". asbarez.com. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

[8] Abkhazia 1–0 Western Armenia (Video). Abkhazia: WFC 2016. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.

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Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) members
Africa	Barawa Chagos Islands Darfur Kabylia Matabeleland Somaliland Western Sahara Zanzibar Yoruba
Americas	Cascadia Quebec Mapuche Rapa Nui
Asia	Arameans Suryoye East Turkestan Iraqi Kurdistan Panjab Rohingya Ryūkyū Tamil Eelam Tibet United Koreans of Japan West Papua
Europe	Abkhazia Artsakh Canton Ticino Chameria County of Nice Ellan Vannin Felvidék Franconia Kárpátalja Kernow Monaco Northern Cyprus women Occitania women Padania Parishes of Jersey Raetia Romani people Sápmi women Sardinia Sicily South Ossetia Székely Land Transnistria Two Sicilies Western Armenia Yorkshire
Oceania	Hawaiʻi Kiribati Mariya Tuvalu