After gaining independence from theSoviet Union, the team played its first international match on 12 October 1992. The national team has participated in the qualification of every major tournament from theUEFA Euro 1996 onwards, though they are yet to qualify for the final stages of either aUEFA European Football Championship or aFIFA World Cup.[5] The team's main achievements have been third-place finish in theUEFA Euro 2012 qualifying stage,[6] and being promoted to the2022–23 UEFA Nations League B.
Oldest records of football teams inSoviet Armenia goes back to 1926–1927, when theTrans-Caucasian Championship was organized in Tbilisi. ThreeSouth Caucasian countries participated: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.[7]
The first head coach of the Armenian national squad was Soviet Armenian football starEduard Markarov. Armenian winner of theUEFA Jubilee Awards and fellow Soviet Armenian football greatKhoren Oganesian also became a head coach. Many of the early coaches of the national team never stayed for longer than two years. Scottish coachIan Porterfield became head coach in 2006 and began to lead the team to some of its first international successes. Under his leadership, the Armenian team played a series of great matches with victories overKazakhstan 2–1,Poland 1–0 and a draw withPortugal (1–1), withCristiano Ronaldo in the lineup. But then tragedy struck; the 62-year-old Porterfield died of cancer, leaving his work unfinished. An acting assistant coach,Vardan Minasyan, became acting head coach following Porterfield's death. Minasyan learned much from Porterfield andSamvel Darbinyan, another former head coach of Armenia, during this time about coaching and managing.[11] On 10 February 2009, after the draw for the qualifying round teams of theUEFA Euro 2012, by order of the President of theFootball Federation of ArmeniaRuben Hayrapetyan, Minasyan continued to lead the Armenian national squad, only now as the official head coach.[12][13][14]
In theUEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches, Minasyan led Armenia inGroup B againstRussia,Slovakia,Ireland,Macedonia andAndorra. Armenia, considered a heavy underdog, defeated the group favorite Slovakia with two crushing defeats 4–0 and 3–1, defeated Andorra in two matches as well 4–0 and 3–0, drew with Macedonia 2–2 and defeated them in the deciding match 4–1 and tied with the group winners Russia 0–0. The Armenian team scored the most goals out of Group B, with a total of 22.Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Armenia scored 6 goals, the most goals scored by a single player in Group B.[15][16] The national team almost made the final draw, but controversially lost in a decisive match againstIreland 1–2. Armenian goalkeeperRoman Berezovsky was given a red card by Spanish referee Eduardo Gonzalez in the 26th-minute for supposedly touching the ball outside the goal area. However, replays clearly showed the ball touched his chest and never touched his hands. Replays also showed that Ireland strikerSimon Cox had actually touched the ball with his right hand.[17] Despite this, Gonzalez did not penalize Cox, who would later admit he touched the ball with his hand.[18] Had Cox's offence been punished, Armenia would have been awarded a free-kick.[6] Edgar Malakyan was swapped for replacement goalkeeperArsen Petrosyan.Valeri Aleksanyan later accidentally scored an own goal past Petrosyan, which ended up deciding the match. Armenia and Ireland would each score another goal. TheFootball Federation of Armenia unsuccessfully filed a protest over the match.[17][19] Gonzalez had later resigned after the match.[20] Despite not getting to play in theUEFA Euro 2012, Minasyan brought the Armenia national team to a record #41FIFA ranking, placed the team in a personal best third place in the group stage and went on to become the longest leading head coach of the Armenia football team. Minasyan stated he was proud of the entire team.[21][22] They were all welcomed in the airport back in Armenia as heroes.[23]
After the incredible UEFA Euro 2012 run, the2014 World Cup andEuro 2016 qualifiers were not successful, with the Armenian side stood near bottom in the 2014 World Cup run and even finished last without a single win in Euro 2016 campaign. Armenia salvaged some few pride in2018 World Cup qualification when the Armenians managed to create a shocking 3–2 home win overMontenegro, which contributed to Montenegro's failure to qualify for the2018 FIFA World Cup.[24] After these disappointments,Vardan Minasyan returned to lead Armenia in the2018–19 UEFA Nations League D, but finished behindMacedonia, including a humiliating 0–1 home loss toGibraltar.[25] Due to this humiliation, Minasyan was sacked andArmen Gyulbudaghyants was appointed new coach of Armenian side. The Armenians participated in theUEFA Euro 2020 qualifying along with giantsItaly,Bosnia and Herzegovina, former European championsGreece,Finland andLiechtenstein. Armenia lost two opening fixtures to Bosnia 1–2 away[26] and Finland 0–2 at home,[27] and was supposed to get eliminated pretty early. However, Armenia began their resurgence following these losses, with a convincing 3–0 home cruise to Liechtenstein[28] before managed to create a shocking 3–2 away win over Greece, formerUEFA Euro 2004 champions.[29] Armenia suffered a minor setback after losing at home to powerhouse Italy 1–3,[30] before created another shock in their qualification with a 4–2 convincing win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the same ground.[31] Armenia was pulled back to the ground when they faced Greece, Finland and Italy in their games, with Armenia defeated in both games and eventually finished fifth in their group, failed to qualify forUEFA Euro 2020.
Armenia participated in the2020–21 UEFA Nations League C and was seen as a minnow in a group containing strongNorth Macedonia andGeorgia, along with fellow minnowEstonia. Armenia began with a 1–2 loss to North Macedonia away, before bounded back with an encouraging 2–0 home win to Estonia in September 2020.[32][33] In October, Armenia had to play their designated "home game" away from their country in Poland due to2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, and disappointed with only a 2–2 draw to Georgia and 1–1 draw to Estonia, thus leaving impression that Armenia would flounder from the chance to get promotion.[34][35] Yet, in November the same year, despite having to play away from home, and without their talisman and captainHenrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenia managed what would be the country's greatest comeback in the history, beating Georgia right inTbilisi 2–1 before stunned the Fyromians, who had qualified for Euro 2020, 1–0, in their designated home game in Cyprus.[36][37] These wins had not just ensured Armenia's promotion to2022–23 UEFA Nations League B, but it also meant Armenia could be the first Caucasus country to get aFIFA World Cup playoff ticket. Moreover, the League B season in 2022–23 could also ensure Armenia a playoff place for theUEFA Euro 2024.
Armenia participated in the2022 World Cup qualification and was seen weak to the group containing strongGermany,Iceland,Romania andNorth Macedonia. Armenia started with a difficult 1–0 win to Liechtenstein away, leaving yet again an impression that Armenia would just end up being mopped by the remainders. However, Armenia stunned both Iceland and Romania on their home fixtures 2–0 and 3–2 to top the group for the first time ever, raising the country's hopes of qualifying for an improbable maiden World Cup. Ultimately however, Armenia's campaign ended in bitter disappointment as they failed to win a single one of their remaining seven qualifying games, finding themselves on the end of a 6-0 trashing by Germany and even being held to a 1–1 draw at home by lowly Liechtenstein. Armenia finished a distant fourth place in the group, ahead of Liechtenstein and an underwhelming Iceland side but six points behind playoff-bound North Macedonia and even five points behind third-placed Romania.[38][39]
Hrazdan Stadium was built from 1969 to 1970 on Athens St.,Kentron in a period of 18 months with the financial support of the oil magnateCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation. A total amount of 5 million rubles was allocated for Hrazdan.[40] The stadium was named after the slope of theHrazdan River. It is the largest stadium in Armenia, with more than 70,000 seats. The opening of the stadium took place on 29 November 1970.[40] The Armenia national team played home matches in Hrazdan until 2000. Several Armenian football clubs also played in Hrazdan. In Soviet times, it was one of the largest stadiums in the Soviet Union (among the top four) and one of the few double-tiered stadiums. Hrazdan was the football ground stadium forArarat Yerevan. Hrazdan Stadium hosted its first official football match on 19 May1971 when Ararat Yerevan defeatedKairat 3–0 in front of a record 78,000 spectators.[41] The stadium would host Ararat Yerevan for the final victory of the club in the1973 Soviet Top League and in the 1973 and 1975Soviet Cup. TheSoviet Union national football team played only two matches at the stadium, both of which date back to 1978. In April of that year, in a friendly game againstFinland, the USSR won 10–2. Six months later, in a qualifying match for theUEFA Euro 1980 againstGreece the Soviet team won again 2–0. The match with Finland hosted 12,000 spectators and the match with Greece hosted 40,000.[8] The capacity of the stadium decreased from 70,000 to an all-seater of 53,849 spectators. By the second half of 2012, Hrazdan was completely renovated to become the regular venue of the national team's home matches.
TheRepublican Stadium was renovated in 1999 and, since 2000, has been the home ground for Armenia. The stadium was built in 1953 and finished within a year's time.[42] Republican Stadium has a capacity of 14,968. During the Soviet period and onward from 1953 to 1999, it was known as Dinamo Stadium. The stadium had its official name changed to "Republican Stadium named after Vazgen Sargsyan" in 1999, after Armenian war hero and formerPrime Minister of ArmeniaVazgen Sargsyan, who died that year. Local clubsPyunik andUlisses play home matches at the Republican Stadium. In 2008, the stadium went under a large-scale development in order to modernize the playing surface and to create a high level VIP section and other facilities which metUEFA standards.[8]
Armenia played a match in Hrazdan in 2008 againstTurkey after partial renovation earlier that year. The number of seats decreased from 75,000 to 53,849.[43] It is planned to hold Armenia's home matches after a complete renovation in 2012. On 12 October 2012, Armenia played a2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match againstItaly, but has not used Hrazdan since. Hrazdan is used mostly for Armenian football clubs and a number of other athletic competitions.[8]
The home gear color were previously the Red-Blue-OrangeArmenian tricolour, designed byStepan Malkhasyants. All three colors were on the first Armenia national team jerseys issued. The definition of the colors, as stated in government website, is:
The Red emblematizes the Armenian Highland, the Armenian people's continued struggle for survival, maintenance of theOrthodox Christian faith, Armenia's independence and freedom. The Blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. The Orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia.[44]
In the Euro 2012 qualification matches, played in 2010 and 2011, Armenia's home colors were red-blue-red, produced by Hummel. Beginning with the May 2012 friendly with Greece, Armenia switched to all-red home colours and an all-white away kit produced byAdidas.[8]
^FIFA adopted a decision not to allow to participate in the 1994 FIFA World Cup the national teams of those former Soviet republics that did not participate in the qualification draw on 8 December 1991.[53] A proposition of Ukraine to arrange a separate tournament for all successors of the Soviet Union and supported by Georgia and Armenia was blocked by Russia.[54]
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