FC Noah

Noah
Նոա
Full nameFootball Club Noah.
Founded2017; 8 years ago (2017)
GroundAbovyan City Stadium
Capacity3,946
OwnerVardges Vardanyan
ManagerRui Mota
LeagueArmenian Premier League
2023–24Armenian Premier League, 2nd of 10
Current season

Football Club Noah (Armenian: Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Նոա, romanized: Futbolayin Akumb Noa), commonly known as Noah, is an Armenian professional football club based in Armavir. Founded in 2017 as FC Artsakh, they currently play in the Armenian Premier League.[1]

History

The club was founded as FC Artsakh in 2017 and played its first match in a goalless draw against FC Banants on 2 June 2017.[2] Noah played its first competitive season in the 2017–18 Armenian First League, finishing second and achieving promotion to the Armenian Premier League.[3]

After a disappointing 8th-place finish in the 2018–19 season, the club was sold to Karen Abrahamyan, who rebranded it as FC Noah in 2019. The name references the biblical Noah, whose Ark came to rest on Mountains of Ararat, traditionally identified with Mount Ararat.[4] Noah won the 2019–20 Armenian Cup, defeating Ararat-Armenia on penalties.[5]

In 2024, they qualified for the UEFA Conference League league phase after defeating Ružomberok 4-3 on aggregate in the play-off round, becoming the first club in Conference League history to successfully navigate all four rounds of qualification. They had beaten Shkëndija, Sliema Wanderers and Greek powerhouse AEK Athens in the previous qualifying rounds.

Records

Domestic

Season[6] League National cup Top goalscorer Manager Kit manufacturer Main sponsor
Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Name League
2017–18 Armenian First League 2nd 27 21 2 4 77 16 65 Quarter-finals Armenia Grigor Aghekyan 18 Armenia Tigran Yesayan
Armenia Armen Sanamyan		 Nike Renault
2018–19 Armenian Premier League 8th 32 6 10 16 25 49 28 Quarter-finals Armenia Eduard Avagyan
Armenia Vigen Avetisyan		 4 Armenia Rafael Nazaryan
Armenia Sevada Arzumanyan		 Vega
2019–20 2nd 28 14 6 8 37 27 48 Winners Russia Maksim Mayrovich 11 Moldova Vadim Boreț Umbro N/A
2020–21 2nd 28 12 5 7 35 20 41 Semifinal Russia Vladimir Azarov 6 Moldova Vadim Boreț
Russia Dmitri Gunko		 Adidas N/A
2021–22 6th 32 9 12 11 38 43 39 Quarter-finals Russia Maksim Mayrovich 9 Russia Viktor Bulatov
Armenia Aram Hakobyan		 VBET[7]
2022–23 8th 36 8 8 20 34 66 32 Quarter-finals Armenia Levon Vardanyan 8 Armenia Robert Arzumanyan
2023–24 2nd 36 26 2 8 69 33 80 Quarter-finals Armenia Artur Miranyan 23 Armenia Robert Arzumanyan
Spain Carlos Inarejos		 to.sport fm 96.3

European

Main article: FC Noah in European football
As of match played 19 December 2024
Competition Pld W D L GF GA GD
UEFA Europa League 1 0 0 1 1 4 –3
UEFA Conference League 16 7 2 7 25 27 -2
Total 17 7 2 8 26 31 –5
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2020–21 UEFA Europa League 1QR Kazakhstan Kairat — 1–4 —
2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League 1QR Finland KuPS 1–0 0–5 1–5
2024–25 UEFA Conference League 1QR North Macedonia Shkëndija 2–0 2–1 4–1
2QR Malta Sliema Wanderers 7–0 0–0 7–0
3QR Greece AEK Athens 3–1 0–1 3–2
PO Slovakia Ružomberok 3–0 1–3 4–3
League phase Czech Republic Mladá Boleslav 2–0 — 31st
Austria Rapid Wien — 0–1
England Chelsea — 0–8
Iceland Víkingur Reykjavík 0–0 —
Cyprus APOEL 1–3 —
Serbia TSC — 3–4

UEFA Club Ranking

UEFA coefficient

As of 8 November 2024[8][9]
Rank Team Points
282 Ukraine Kolos Kovalivka 4.680
283 Ukraine Desna Chernihiv 4.680
284 Armenia FC Noah 4.500
285 Kazakhstan Ordabasy 4.500
286 Georgia (country) Iberia 4.500

Colours and badge

As FC Artsakh the club's main kit colours were red and white, however following the rebranding, the club chose black and a light green to represent the club. Umbro became the kit supplier for the 2019–20, following two years of using Nike.

Badge history

From 2017 to 2019, the club operated as FC Artsakh, bearing a red round badge with an eagle. Following the 2019 rebranding as FC Noah, the club's emblem was changed to a simple black text:
"Yerevan Armenia Football Club Noah".

  • Club crest (2019–2024)
    Club crest (2019–2024)

Stadium

Main article: Mika Stadium
The stadium's main East stand
The North and West stands

At the beginning phase of the 2018–19 Armenian Premier League season, FC Noah used the Mika Stadium, located in the Shengavit neighborhood of Yerevan, as their home ground until matchday 8. They were then forced to leave the Mika Stadium due to the inappropriate pitch conditions, and between matchday 9 and 14 they played at the Pyunik Stadium before moving to the artificial-turf pitch of the Dzoraghbyur Training Centre at the eastern outskirts of Yerevan. For the 2019–20 Armenian Premier League season, FC Noah played at the Alashkert Stadium located in the same neighbourhood of Yerevan.

After starting the 2021–22 Armenian Premier League season playing their home games at the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium in Yerevan, Noah moved their home games to the Armavir City Stadium in Armavir in February 2022.[10]

Players

For a list of all former and current FC Noah players with a Wikipedia article, see Category: FC Noah players.

Current squad

As of 5 February 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

For recent transfers, see List of Armenian football transfers summer 2024.

Coaching staff

Position Name
Manager Portugal Rui Mota
Assistant manager Portugal Vítor Magalhães, Armenia Alexander Tadevosyan
Goalkeeper coach Armenia Gevorg Kasparov

Honours

FC Noah won their first trophy on 10 July 2020, defeating Ararat-Armenia on penalties to win the 2019–20 Armenian Cup.

Domestic

Player records

Most appearances

As of match played 19 December 2024
Name Years League Armenian Cup Supercup Europe Total
1 Armenia Benik Hovhannisyan 2019–2022 61 (2) 6 (1) 1 (0) 3 (0) 71 (3)
2 Russia Maksim Mayrovich 2019–2021, 2021–2022 63 (22) 6 (4) - (-) 0 (0) 69 (26)
3 Armenia Sergey Muradyan 2023–Present 53 (1) 1 (0) - (-) 12 (0) 66 (1)
4 Armenia Yuri Gareginyan 2018–2021 57 (3) 7 (0) 1 (0) 0 (0) 65 (3)
5 Italy Valerio Vimercati 2019–2021, 2023–2024 55 (0) 7 (0) 1 (0) 1 (0) 64 (0)
6 Armenia Jordy Monroy 2020–2022 54 (1) 5 (0) 1 (0) 2 (0) 62 (0)
7 Armenia Artur Grigoryan 2017–2019 53 (2) 4 (0) - (-) - (-) 57 (2)
8 Armenia Karen Harutyunyan 2017–2019 49 (3) 5 (0) - (-) - (-) 54 (3)
8 Portugal Alex Oliveira 2020–2021 47 (6) 5 (0) - (-) 2 (0) 54 (2)
8 Russia Dmitri Lavrishchev 2019–2020, 2022 48 (4) 4 (1) 1 (1) 1 (0) 54 (6)

Top goalscorers

As of match played 19 December 2024
Name Years League Armenian Cup Supercup Europe Total Ratio
1 Russia Maksim Mayrovich 2019–2021, 2021–2022 22 (63) 4 (6) - (-) 0 (0) 26 (69) 0.38
2 Armenia Artur Miranyan 2023–2024 23 (36) 1 (2) - (-) - (-) 24 (38) 0.63
3 Armenia Grigor Aghekyan 2017–2019 19 (40) 2 (5) - (-) - (-) 21 (45) 0.47
4 Portugal Gonçalo Gregório 2024–Present 12 (15) 0 (0) - (-) 6 (14) 18 (29) 0.62
5 Russia Vladimir Azarov 2019–2021 14 (41) 3 (9) 0 (0) 0 (1) 17 (51) 0.33
6 Armenia Petros Avetisyan 2021–2022 9 (19) 2 (4) - (-) 0 (2) 11 (25) 0.44
6 Brazil Matheus Aiás 2024–Present 5 (12) 0 (0) - (-) 6 (14) 11 (27) 0.41
8 Armenia Edgar Movsesyan 2018–2019, 2023–2024 9 (46) 0 (2) - (-) - (-) 9 (48) 0.19
8 Netherlands Paul Gladon 2023–2024 9 (22) 0 (2) - (-) - (-) 9 (24) 0.38
8 Albania Eraldo Çinari 2024–Present 8 (13) 0 (0) - (-) 1 (12) 9 (25) 0.36

See also

References

  1. ^ "Կայացավ Արցախ ֆուտբոլային ակումբի շնորհանդեսը" (in Armenian). totalfootball.am. 18 June 2019. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Բանանցը չկարողացավ հաղթել Արցախին ստուգողական խաղում". armsport.am. Retrieved 22 March 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Հայտնի է Հայաստանի Առաջին խմբի առաջնության խաղացանկը". armsport.am (in Armenian). 24 July 2017. Archived from the original on 26 July 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Luis Figo posts photo from Yerevan, with Mount Ararat in background (PHOTOS) | NEWS.am Sport - All about sports". sport.news.am. Archived from the original on 2024-08-29. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  5. ^ "FC Noah claimes title of Vbet Armenian Cup 2019/20 - Xinhua | English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 2024-08-29. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  6. ^ "Armenia - List of Champions". www.rsssf.org. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  7. ^ "VBET HAS BECOME THE TITLE SPONSOR OF FC NOAH". fcnoah.am. FC Noah. 19 July 2021. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  8. ^ "UEFA Club Coefficient Ranking". RankingandPrize.Com. n.d. Archived from the original on 2024-11-27. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  9. ^ "FC Noah UEFA Coefficient Ranking". RankingandPrize.Com. n.d. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  10. ^ "We are happy to inform that from now on Noah will hold its home matches in Armavir city stadium, which seats 3,100 spectators". facebook.com/noah.footballclub. FC Noah. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.