FC Gandzasar Kapan

Gandzasar Kapan

Full name	FC Gandzasar Kapan
Nickname(s)	Արջեր Arjér (The Bears)
Founded	2004;21 years ago (2004)
Ground	Gandzasar Stadium, Kapan
Capacity	3,500
Owner	Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine CJSC
Executive Director	Vardan Djhanyan
Head Coach	Karen Barseghyan [1]
League	Armenian Premier League
2024–25	10th of 11
Website	fcgandzasarkapan.am
Home colours Away colours
Current season

FC Gandzasar Kapan is an Armenian football club based in the town of Kapan, Syunik Province. The team plays in Armenian Premier League. The club headquarters are located on 18 Garegin Nzhdeh street, Kapan. ^[2] The Gandzasar Kapan Training Centre is located at the eastern outskirts of the town of Kapan.

The club is under the ownership of Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine Closed Joint-Stock Company since 25 February 2015.

History

The club was founded in 2004 and made their debut in the Armenian football league system in the 2004 Armenian First League competition. They spent 2 years playing in the Armenian First League before getting promoted to the Armenian Premier League for the 2006 season.^{[ citation needed ]}

As of 2024–25 season, Gandzasar Kapan will play in the Armenian Premier League, the top division in Armenian football. The home ground of team is the Gandzasar Stadium.^{[ citation needed ]}

The club also runs a reserve team known as Gandzasar Kapan-2, which played in the First Division.^{[ citation needed ]}

On 3 November 2020, Gandzasar Kapan announced that they were withdrawing from the Armenian Premier League and Armenian Cup due to the ongoing financial constraints relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. ^{[3] [4]} They are currently playing in the Armenian First League, having entered in 2021–22 season. Following a 3rd-place finish in 2022–23 season (after FC West Armenia and BKMA Yerevan-2) Gandzasar stayed in the First League for the 2023–24 season. After playing 26 games (out of 28) in 2023–24 season, Gandzasar were officially declared champions and therefore directly promoted to the Armenian Premier League for 2024–25 season (this will be their first season in the Premier after withdrawing in 2020)

Domestic history

Season	League									National Cup	Top goalscorer		Manager
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P		Name	League
2004	Armenian First League	3rd	30	17	6	7	52	32	57	no participation
2005		3rd	24	16	3	5	62	24	51	First Round
2006	Armenian Premier League	5th	28	7	3	18	28	60	24	Quarter-final	Artur Kocharyan	15	Vladimir Petrosyan Albert Sarkisyan
2007		5th	28	11	6	11	35	31	39	First round	Artur Kocharyan	8	Souren Barseghyan Abraham Khashmanyan Samvel Petrosyan
2008		3rd	28	13	8	7	39	27	47	Quarter-final	Alexander Petrosyan	9	Samvel Petrosyan
2009		5th	28	12	2	14	32	47	38	Quarter-final	Arsen Avetisyan	14	Samvel Petrosyan Avetik Sargsyan Slava Gabrielyan
2010		6th	28	8	3	17	24	45	27	Quarter-final	Artur Kocharyan	8	Slava Gabrielyan Albert Sarkisyan
2011		3rd	28	12	10	6	31	16	46	Quarter-final Quarter-final	Arsen Avetisyan	5	Abraham Khashmanyan
2012–13		3rd	42	18	13	11	48	37	67	Semi-final	Dhiego Lomba Farias	9	Abraham Khashmanyan Avetik Sargsyan Samvel Sargsyan Sevada Arzumanyan
2013–14		5th	28	8	11	9	36	31	35	Runner-up	Narek Beglaryan	8	Sevada Arzumanyan Stepan Baghdasaryan Serhiy Puchkov
2014–15		7th	28	7	8	13	31	44	29	Quarter-final	Gegham Harutyunyan Vasil Palagnyuk	6	Serhiy Puchkov Samvel Petrosyan
2015–16		4th	28	11	12	5	35	27	45	Semi-final	Gegham Harutyunyan Narek Beglaryan	5	Samvel Petrosyan Ashot Barseghyan
2016–17		2nd	30	17	6	7	38	24	57	Semi-final	Gegham Harutyunyan	12	Ashot Barseghyan
2017–18		3rd	30	11	10	9	43	34	43	Winner	Gegham Harutyunyan	12	Karen Barseghyan Ashot Barseghyan
2018–19		6th	32	10	8	14	38	33	38	Quarter-final	Gegham Harutyunyan	8	Ashot Barseghyan Armen Petrosyan
2019–20		9th	22	6	7	9	25	29	25	Semi-final	Gegham Harutyunyan	6	Armen Petrosyan
2020–21		10th	Withdrew							First Round
2021–22	Armenian First League	3rd	28	10	7	11	38	47	37	did not enter	Orbeli Hambardzumyan	6	Tigran Gevorgyan
2022–23		3rd	33	22	4	7	85	33	70	Semi-final	Alen Karapetyan	24	Tigran Gevorgyan
2023-24		1st	28	24	2	2	69	17	74	Second round
2024–25	Armenian Premier League	10th	30	2	4	24	16	73	10	Quarter-final	Bertrand Mani	3	Karen Barseghyan

European history

Main article: FC Gandzasar Kapan in European football

As of match played 19 July 2018

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
UEFA Europa League	12	2	0	10	8	27	–19
Total	12	2	0	10	8	27	–19

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	2Q	NAC Breda	0–2	0–6	0–8
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	EB/Streymur	2–0	1–3	3–3 (a)
		2Q	Servette	1–3	0–2	1–5
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Aktobe	1–2	1–2	2–4
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Mladost Podgorica	0–3	0–1	0–4
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Lech Poznań	2–1	0–2	2–3

Honours

• Armenian Premier League ^[5]
  • Runners-up: 2016–17
  • Third place: 2008, 2011, 2012–13, 2017–18
• Armenian First League
  • Winners: 2023–24
  • Runners-up: 2022–23
  • Third place: 2021–22
• Armenian Cup ^[6]
  • Winners: 2017–18
  • Runners-up: 2013–14
• Armenian Super Cup
  • Runners-up: 2018

Stadium

Gandzasar Stadium, the home of Gandzasar

The club play their home games at the Gandzasar Stadium, also known as Kapan City Stadium, which has a capacity of 3,500. It is situated at the centre of the town of Kapan, on the left bank of Voghji River.^{[ citation needed ]}

At the beginning of 2017 the team temporarily moved to the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan due to renovation works at the Gandzasar Stadium.^{[ citation needed ]}

Youth academy

Gandzasar Kapan Training Centre in Kapan

Gandzasar Kapan run their own youth training academy in the town of Kapan since its inauguration in May 2013. Being home to natural-grass as well as artificial-turf training pitches, the centre occupies an area of 35,000 m².

In addition to Kapan, the club also runs a football school in the Shengavit District of the capital Yerevan.

Players

Current squad

As of 1 August 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.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   RUS Grigori Matevosyan 2 DF   ARM Petros Manukyan 3 MF   JPN Takafumi Sawada 4 DF   ARM Taron Voskanyan 5 DF   JPN Shunto Kanda 6 DF   ARM Vaspurak Minasyan 7 FW   CMR Bertrand Mani 9 MF   ARM Patvakan Avetisyan 10 MF   ARM Levon Petrosyan(on loan from Pyunik) 11 MF   ARM Narek Alaverdyan 13 FW   UKR Roman Rostokin 14 MF   NGA Ofoeke Chibuike Emmanuel 15 MF   GHA Annan Mensah 17 DF   USA Luke Merrill

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW   RUS Grisha Paronyan 20 DF   GHA Simon Obonde 21 DF   ARM Arman Asilyan 22 DF   BLR Yevgeniy Guletskiy 24 FW   GHA Israel Nana Opoku 28 MF   ARM Armen Kirakosyan 29 FW   CIV Seydou Koné 31 GK   RUS Nikita Lobusov 33 MF   ARM Vahagn Hayrapetyan 37 DF   ARM Ruben Karagulyan 77 DF   ARM Arman Khachatryan 96 MF   ARM Petros Avetisyan — FW   ARM Vrezh Chiloyan

Gandzasar Kapan-2

Gandzasar Kapan-2

Founded	2006;19 years ago (2006)
Ground	Gandzasar Kapan Training Centre, Kapan
Owner	Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine CJSC
Executive Director	Garnik Aghababian
Manager	Ashot Manucharyan
League	Armenian First League
2016–17	4th
Home colours Away colours

FC Gandzasar Kapan's reserve squad played as Gandzasar Kapan-2 in the Armenian First League. They played their home games at the training field with artificial turf of the Gandzasar Kapan Training Centre.

Personnel

Management

Position	Name
Executive Director	Vardan Djhanyan
Deputy Director	Arthur Margaryan
Press Secretary	Spartak Petrosyan

Technical staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Tigran Gevorgyan
Assistant coach	Norayr Tamrazyan
Assistant coach	Tigran Ivanyan
Goalkeepers Coach	Tigran Ghazaryan
Doctor	Ara Aramyan

Managerial history

• Albert Sarkisyan (1 February 2006 – 1 December 2006)
• Souren Barseghyan (2007)
• Abraham Khashmanyan (2007)
• Samvel Petrosyan (2007–09)
• Slava Gabrielyan (1 July 2009–10)
• Albert Sarkisyan (20 April 2010 – 20 December 2010)
• Abraham Khashmanyan (2010–12)
• Samvel Sargsyan (24 May 2012 – 12 September 12)
• Sevada Arzumanyan (8 September 2012 – 14 April 2014)
• Serhiy Puchkov (30 April 2014 – 2 December 2014)
• Ashot Barseghyan (11 March 2015 – 12 July 2017)
• Karen Barseghyan (13 July 2017 – 26 March 2018)
• Ashot Barseghyan (26 March 2018 – 30 April 2019)
• Armen Petrosyan (1 May 2019 – 3 November 2020)
• Tigran Gevorgyan (1 May 2021 – )

See also

• Football in Armenia
• Football Federation of Armenia

References

1. "«Սյունիք» ՖԱ նորանշանակ գլխավոր մարզիչ Արամ Ոսկանյանի հարցազրույցը" [Interview with Aram Voskanyan, the newly appointed head coach of FC Syunik] (Video) (in Armenian). Retrieved 8 July 2025– via Facebook.
2. "Clubs". www.ffa.am. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
3. "Բաց նամակ "Զանգեզուրի Պղնձամոլիբդենային կոմբինատ"". facebook.com/gandzasarkapanfc (in Armenian). FC Gandzasar Kapan Facebook. 3 November 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
4. "Գանձասար-Կապանը պաշտոնական նամակ է ուղարկել ՀՖՖ". ffa.am/ (in Armenian). Football Federation of Armenia. 4 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
5. RSSSF Armenia (and subpages per year)
6. "FC Shirak achievements". fcshirak.am. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2019.

External links

• Gandzasar at Weltfussball.de