23 Facts About Vardan Minasyan

Vardan Minasyan is an Armenian football manager and former player who is the football manager of Ararat-Armenia in the Armenian Premier League.

Vardan Minasyan played as a midfielder in his native Armenia, in Switzerland and in Russia.

Vardan Minasyan led Armenia to a record 3rd-place finish in Euro 2012 qualifications, where Armenia scored 22 goals, in his first qualification cycle.

Vardan Minasyan was the longest serving manager of the Armenian national squad to date and has the best match record of all the former managers of the national team.

Vardan Minasyan had played for several clubs in the Armenian Premier League.

Vardan Minasyan was a member of Pyunik before going abroad and Pyunik after returning from abroad.

Vardan Minasyan played one season in Swiss Super League club Lausanne Sports, which won the Swiss Cup, and later moved to Lokomotiv St Petersburg, which he played on for nearly two years.

Vardan Minasyan participated in 11 international matches since his debut in an away friendly match against Peru on 20 June 1996.

Vardan Minasyan began his coaching career as head coach of the Armenia U-21 youth national team in August 2004.

Vardan Minasyan resigned in 2005, and a year later became assistant coach at the club for which he spent the last years of his life as a football player, Pyunik Yerevan.

Vardan Minasyan worked as assistant coach for head coach Ian Porterfield, along with Englishman Tom Jones, for the Armenia national football team.

In early 2008, the new head coach, Danish specialist Jan Poulsen, was invited and Vardan Minasyan went back to his position as assistant head coach.

Vardan Minasyan learned much about managing from Samvel Darbinyan and Ian Porterfield.

In June 2008, Vardan Minasyan was replaced as head coach of Pyunik by Armen Gyulbudagyants after a defeat against Gandzasar Kapan.

At a ceremony on 22 December, Vardan Minasyan was awarded a special prize by the organization Telecom, naming him the best coach of Armenia for 2009.

Also, at the end of the year, the national team, led by Vardan Minasyan, performed better in comparison with the previous matches.

For good performances and matches won awards given by the Football Federation of Armenia, Vardan Minasyan made the list for the best coach of the season.

Vardan Minasyan continued to lead the Armenia national team during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification cycle.

On 21 October 2013, ten days before his contract was set to expire, Vardan Minasyan resigned from the national team.

Vardan Minasyan stated he had received several offers from abroad and wanted to discuss them.

Vardan Minasyan was sacked as manager of FC Tobol on 16 April 2015.

On 1 October 2018, Vardan Minasyan was appointed as the new head coach of FC Ararat-Armenia, where he signed a 2-year contract.

On 17 July 2020, Vardan Minasyan left Ararat-Armenia after his contract expired.