Khoren Hovhannisyan is a true legend of Armenian football. This man was born in 1955 in Yerevan, from childhood began to get involved in this sport, choosing for himself the position of a midfielder. He has an interesting biography and career, so this is worth telling in more detail.
Start of football activity
Khoren Hovhannisyan was born and raised in a sports family. His father was a weightlifter and honored coach of the Armenian SSR. Mom was a professional gymnast. Khoren's older brother played football, and the younger one decided to follow in his father's footsteps and became a master of sports on the bar.
Khoren Hovhannisyan came out of ordinary yard football. But his success was not bad. So, for example, at the age of 14 in 1969, he won the All-Union tournament of yard teams “Leather Ball”, playing at that time for the team “Ani”. Then he, by the way, scored one of the goals in the final.
Then the athlete studied at a sports school, and when he graduated from it, he submitted documents to the Institute of National Economy with a degree in state planning. When he studied, he was invited to play for the youth team of the USSR. Coach Eugene Lyadin saw potential in a young player. He wrote a recommendation on Khoren to the leadership of Ararat. After that, the player was taken to the team double. That was in 1973. For the double, the footballer played for two years.
Way to success
Khoren Hovhannisyan spent his debut official match for FC “Ararat” in March 19, 1975. It was a game held as part of the ¼ final of the Champions Cup. And the rival was more than serious - Munich “Bavaria”. The match ended with a minimal victory 1-0 in favor of the Armenian club. Then Khoren entered the field as part of the USSR Championship - against the Dnieper. Then the Armenian team won 3-0.
The footballer showed clear success. He scored a lot, had a great ball, was quite technical. And in 1975 he won the USSR Cup. The following year he won second place with the team, and then won the European Youth Championship.
The skill of a young talented football player was noticed by representatives of the national team. He, of course, was invited to join. There he began to perform since 1979. In 1982, he even participated in the World Cup and scored a magnificent goal for the Belgian team. But he ended his career quickly - in 1984, having played 34 matches and scored 6 goals.
In 1985, Hovhannisyan Khoren left “Ararat” because of disagreements with the leadership. Almost two years he did not go on the field, but then he agreed to play for Iskra, Yerevan, and since 1989 he played for Pakhtakor. Throughout his career, Hovhannisyan Khoren scored 93 goals and played 305 matches. And five times he was added to the list of 33 best players of the season.
Coaching career
In 1991, Hovhannisyan Khoren began to try himself as a coach. He led the Simferopol Tavria. Officially, the head coach was Anatoly Zayaev, but Hovhannisyan was involved in the whole process.
But then the USSR collapsed, and Khoren returned to Armenia, where he decided to establish a club. He was called the “Armenian General Sports Union”. Despite the fact that at that time Khoren was already a veteran of football, he decided to continue to go on the field. And in the first season he takes the team to the finals and then becomes the champion of Armenia.
Then he moved to Lebanon and became the head of the Omenetmen club. In the first season he brought the team to fifth place, and in the next - to third. Then he returned to Armenia and began to lead his own team, which at that time changed its name to “Pyunik”. Khoren Hovhannisyan is a football player with great experience and strength, by that time, although he was already aged, he played for the team, thus becoming a playing coach. In the first season, his club won the gold double, and in the second - champion gold. But by the end of the 90s things did not go very smoothly, and Hovhannisyan decided to leave the team.
Achievements
Khoren Hovhannisyan is a football player with an amazing career. He achieved really great success in this sport. Together with “Ararat” he became the silver medalist of the USSR Championship and the owner of the USSR Cup. With “Cilicia” he won the Armenian Championship (twice, in 1992 and 1996) and the Cup of the country. Five times was in the list of the best players of the season, and in 1975 he was recognized as the best debutant of the year. In 1982, he received the prize “For the most beautiful goal of the season”.
Also Hovhannisyan Khoren, whose photo is presented above, is the 1976 European champion among youth teams. He also won bronze at the Olympic Games in 1980.
In 2005, Khoren was recognized as the best football player of Armenia of the twentieth century. Well, as you can see, this is really a great personality and real national pride of Armenia.