Ararat (football club, Tehran)

The club was founded in 1944 by Iranian Armenians and named after the famous mountain . Despite the fact that the club has never had impressive results, the club, thanks to the support of the Armenian minority, was one of the few clubs in the country that had stable funding and its own stadium . The last time “Ararat” played in the “League of Azadegan” - the highest league of Iran (since 2001, the Higher League - “Pro League”, and the name “Azadegan” passed to the first division) in the 1995/96 season. Due to the difficulties experienced by the club, the club has recently played in the 1st and 2nd leagues of Iran . Until recently, the club had a policy of hiring Armenian staff and players, but recently the club began to invite non-Armenian coaches, while the selection of players still takes place among Armenians of Iran. In the 2005/06 season , the club was very close to moving to the 1st league of Iran (since 2001, Liga Azadegan), but spent a few weeks before the finish of the tournament. In the 2007/08 season , Ararat took the last place in the league and was supposed to start the new season in the 3rd league, but in July 2008 the Iranian Football Federation increased the number of teams in the 2nd league to 28 teams. Thanks to this decision, “Ararat” has retained a place in the second most significant league of Iran.

Due to the difficult financial condition and large debts, the club was unable to pay salaries to the players and staff, as a result, the club took the last place in the 2nd league of group “A”. Thus, “Ararat” went down in the 3rd most important Iranian football league. The Iranian Football Federation went to meet the club in solving financial problems and provided him with a 2-year break to resolve all problems, after which the club will resume its performances from the 3rd league.

•   Gevorg Kasparov
•   Edmond Bezik
•   Andranik Teymourian
•   Serzhik Teymourian
•   Andranik Eskandaryan (father of American football player Aleko Eskandaryan )