You’ve seen the highlights. Maybe it was that night in 2021 when the Armenia soccer national team was suddenly sitting at the top of their World Cup qualifying group, three wins from three, and the entire country of three million people—plus about seven million more in the diaspora—collectively lost their minds. It felt like the "Golden Generation" was finally here. But if you follow Armenian football, you know the high is usually followed by a very specific, very painful kind of crash.
Honestly, being a fan is a test of patience. One day you're beating Romania in a thriller, and the next, you're watching the squad struggle through a heavy 9-1 defeat against Portugal as happened in late 2025. It’s a roller coaster. No, it's more like a bungee jump where you're never quite sure if the cord is attached.
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The Post-Mkhitaryan Identity Crisis
For over a decade, the Armenia soccer national team was basically "Henrikh Mkhitaryan and ten other guys." That’s not a slight to the other players, but when you have a guy winning trophies at Manchester United, Arsenal, and Inter Milan, the gravity naturally pulls toward him. When he retired from international duty in 2022, it left a massive void. Not just in goals, but in belief.
The team had to learn how to breathe without him.
Currently, the torch has passed to Eduard Spertsyan. If you haven't watched him yet, you should. The Krasnodar playmaker is the real deal—creative, technical, and now the captain. He’s the guy who has to orchestrate the transition for a squad that is getting younger and, frankly, a bit more unpredictable.
A New Era Under Yeghishe Melikyan
In August 2025, the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) decided to go in a different direction. They brought in Yeghishe Melikyan.
Melikyan is an interesting choice. He’s a local guy, a former national team player himself, and he’s had a ton of success in the Armenian Premier League with Pyunik. Bringing in a local coach usually signals one of two things: either the federation is broke, or they’ve realized that expensive foreign managers don't always understand the unique "Armenian soul" of the game. Melikyan definitely knows the landscape. He’s known for an aggressive, ball-control style, but he walked into a firestorm.
Right as he was appointed, the team’s longtime leader and captain, Varazdat Haroyan, quit.
Haroyan didn't mince words. He basically said he’d tried working with Melikyan before at the club level and it was a disaster, so he wasn't going to do it again. Losing your starting center-back and captain because of a locker-room feud is about as Armenian as it gets. It’s pure drama.
Current Roster Realities
With Haroyan out and Lucas Zelarayán retiring from the international stage late in 2025, the squad is lean. Melikyan has been forced to dig deep into the youth ranks. We’re seeing names like Georgiy Harutyunyan and Styopa Mkrtchyan trying to hold down a defense that, to be blunt, has been leaking goals.
The bright spots? They exist.
- Grant-Leon Ranos: The kid from Borussia Mönchengladbach has high expectations on his shoulders. He’s got that clinical German training mixed with Armenian flair.
- Nair Tiknizyan: A tireless left-back who provides a lot of the team's width.
- Ognjen Čančarević: The Serbian-born goalkeeper who has become a cult hero in Yerevan. Without his saves, some of those recent losses would have been even uglier.
Why the FIFA Ranking Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
As of early 2026, the Armenia soccer national team is hovering around the 106th spot in the FIFA rankings. On paper, that looks mediocre. It puts them in the same neighborhood as Madagascar or Vietnam.
But rankings are a bit of a lie in UEFA. Armenia is constantly playing against Top 20 giants. When you're in a qualifying group with Portugal or Hungary, your ranking is going to take a hit. What the numbers don't show is the team's ability to punch up. This is a side that can draw with Croatia or beat Ireland on a good day. They play with a chip on their shoulder.
The problem has always been consistency. They can’t seem to string together a full campaign without a mental collapse. They’ll play 70 minutes of brilliant, technical football and then concede two goals in stoppage time because someone lost their marker. It's heartbreaking to watch.
What’s Actually Next?
The 2026 World Cup qualifiers were a massive learning curve—and a painful one. The 9-1 loss to Portugal in November 2025 was a "rock bottom" moment that sparked a lot of soul-searching in Yerevan.
But there’s a roadmap out of this. The focus now is entirely on the UEFA Nations League and the upcoming Euro 2028 cycle. Melikyan has a contract through late 2026, and his job is to stabilize a defense that conceded in nearly 40 consecutive matches.
If you want to track the progress of the Armenia soccer national team, stop looking at the scoreboard for a second and look at the "legionnaires." More Armenian players are moving to mid-tier European leagues in Poland, Russia, and Slovakia. That’s where the growth happens. When the domestic players stop being "domestic" and start playing in high-pressure environments every weekend, the national team gets better.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
- Watch the Midfield: The duo of Iwu and Spertsyan is the engine. If they are healthy and clicking, Armenia can dominate possession against almost anyone outside the elite.
- Keep an eye on the Academy: The FFA has been pouring money into the Technical Center in Yerevan. The U21 players being called up now (like Artyom Bandikyan) are the first real "graduates" of this system.
- Ignore the Blowouts: Don't get discouraged by heavy losses to teams like Portugal. For a nation of Armenia's size, the goal isn't to beat the former World Champions every time—it's to consistently beat the teams ranked 50-80. That’s the path to a major tournament.
The dream of seeing the tricolor flag at a World Cup or a European Championship isn't dead, but it’s definitely in a "rebuilding" phase. It requires a bit of thick skin and a lot of belief in the next generation. For now, the focus is simple: stop the bleeding in defense and let Spertsyan cook.
If they can find a way to bring back the defensive discipline they had a few years ago, that 106 ranking will start climbing again. Until then, expect the unexpected. That’s just Armenian football.