Sargis Hovsepyan ( hy, Սարգիս Հովսեփյան; born on 2 November 1972) is an Armenian former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a
right-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
. Hovsepyan was the long-time
captain of the
Armenia national team. He participated in 133 international matches and scored two goals since his debut in the national team's first game in a home
friendly match
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
against
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...
on 14 October 1992. Hovsepyan ended his career on 14 November 2012 at the age of 39, just over a month before turning 40 years old. He was the last member of the first Armenia national team to retire. After his final match, he was awarded the Medal of the City Hall.
A month after the completion of his playing career, he was appointed director of the Armenia national team.
Club career
Sargis Hovsepyan played his first match at the professional level when he was seventeen. It was in the
Soviet Top League
The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991.
The professional top level ...
with second league club
Malatia Yerevan. The following year, the Soviet Union collapsed. Sargis had then started competing in the
Armenian Premier League
The Armenian Premier League ( hy, VBET Հայաստանի Պրեմիեր Լիգա, known as the VBET Armenian Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the competition was held as a r ...
of his now independent homeland. Hovsepyan first joined
Lori Vanadzor
Lori may refer to:
*Lori (given name)
* Lori Province, Armenia
* Lori Fortress, a fortress in Armenia
* Lori Berd, a village in Armenia
* Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget, a historical Armenian kingdom from c. 980 to 1240, sometimes known as the Kingdom ...
in 1991 and was transferred to
Pyunik Yerevan
Football Club Pyunik Yerevan ( hy, Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ Երևան, Futbolayin Akumb P’yunik Yerevan), commonly known as Pyunik (" Phoenix"), is an Armenian professional sports club based in the Kentron neighbourh ...
the following year. He immediately became the first star of the country. In 1992, he became the first player to be named
Armenian Footballer of the Year. In the same year he made his debut for the national team. Hovsepyan was named Armenian Footballer of the Year again for 1995, becoming the first player to receive the award twice.
Hovsepyan was switched clubs in 1997 to 1998 and spent the next part of his club career in Russia.
Anatoliy Byshovets
Anatoliy Fyodorovich Byshovets (russian: Анатолий Фёдорович Бышовец, uk, Анато́лій Фе́дорович Бишове́ць; born 23 April 1946) is a Soviet and Russian football manager of Ukrainian origin and for ...
had acquired Hovsepyan and took him into
Zenit St. Petersburg
Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...
. Zenit coach
Anatoli Davydov
Anatoli Viktorovich Davydov (russian: Анатолий Викторович Давыдов; born 13 November 1953) is a Russian professional football coach and a former player. He is the director of the academy for FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Ca ...
later believed Hovsepyan to be suited for right-back. In this position, Sargis was so good that by the end of the season in 1999, the leaders of the club called him the best player on the team. The first season Hovsepyan joined them, Zenit won the
1998–99 Russian Cup
The 1998–99 Russian Cup was the seventh season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of Soviet Union.
Andrey Kobelev played for both eventual finalists during the tournament, captaining FC Dynamo Moscow in their Ro ...
, the Russian Cup in history. The categorically refused to sell any kind. Hovsepyan began to receive the interest of
CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...
and
Lokomotiv Moscow
FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three oc ...
.
However,
Yury Morozov, the next coach of St. Petersburg, had decided not to use Hovsepyan for any useful positions. And thus he unwittingly provoked the subsequent parting player with the club. No player in the new center of defense look convincing. Suffice it to say that in the list of 33 best for the season of 2002, Hovsepyan was in second place - just after
Sergei Ignashevich
Sergei Nikolayevich Ignashevich ( rus, link=no, Сергей Николаевич Игнашевич, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ɪɡnɐˈʂɛvʲɪtɕ; born 14 July 1979) is a Russian professional football coach and a former play ...
. But in just a couple of months, it turned out that without Hovsepyan in Zenit, the defense was superfluous. In the football club, tactical revolution broke out. The team became the defensive line, and the specialty of the last defender suddenly lost its relevance.
Vlastimil Petržela
Vlastimil Petržela (born 20 July 1953 in Prostějov) is a Czech football coach and former player. He worked with Zenit Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2006, winning the silver medals of Russian Premier League in 2003 and reaching the quarterfina ...
, who brought St. Petersburg advanced developments, claimed the Armenian defender couldn't do their plays. Sargis was unable to fit into the new tactical realities. "Hovsepyan did blunders, played frankly bad. But the 'zone' is not understood - man all his life playing personal, and in thirty years to relearn hard" said Vyacheslav Malafeev. This does not provide an understanding of why the coach did not use the defense in a different role, on the flank. Petrzhela then explained that Hovsepyan lacked speed. Adoption of a strange, given that it is this quality that has always been one of the main advantages of the player. Apparently, the defender simply agreed whatever the coach felt, and in the summer of 2003, Hovsepyan left Zenit and was forced on the transfer list. A couple of years later, Petrzhela, watching from St. Petersburg, had another defender, Daniel Kiritse, who wished him not to get lost in football, as Hovsepyan. From the present day, farewell funny. Because the "lost" Sargis ten years has been claimed in the big football, and the pan coach after the Zenit has had it once quickly. Play the game in 2003 at the club
Torpedo-Metallurg, Hovsepyan returned to Pyunik and left from Russia. He won a lot of national trophies in 2008 and won the Armenian Footballer of the Year award for a third time in 2008. He is the first player to win the award three times, a feat that has only been matched by
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Henrikh Mkhitaryan ( hy, Հենրիխ Մխիթարյան, ; born 21 January 1989) is an Armenian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Inter Milan.
Mkhitaryan won four Armenian Premier League title ...
.
In the match of the 1st round of the
2010 Armenian Premier League
The 2010 Armenian Premier League season was the nineteenth since its establishment. The season began in March 2010 and ended in November 2010. FC Pyunik were the defending champions, having won their twelfth championship last season.
Participating ...
, Sargis Hovsepyan had his 500th match in meetings, becoming the second player of Armenia who overcame the barrier of 500 matches. This match could mark Hovsepyan scoring a goal, but could not due to a penalty.
On 10 May 2010, winning in Pyunik the final match of the Armenian Cup against Banants, he became the oldest player in the history of the Armenian football to win the Cup. On that day, Hovsepyan was 37 years and 189 days. This figure surpassed the previous one, which was owned by Karen Simonyan, who won the Cup in 36 years and 336 days (2007). Hovsepyan also owns another cup record. In total he had in this tournament 62 games.
Hovsepyan has been on the winning team of the
Armenian Premier League
The Armenian Premier League ( hy, VBET Հայաստանի Պրեմիեր Լիգա, known as the VBET Armenian Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the competition was held as a r ...
for nine seasons, the most of any player in the history of the League.
Sargis Hovsepyan retired as a football player in 2012. On this occasion, the former captain of Pyunik and the national team made a special appeal to the entire football community, in which he stated that, in his opinion, it is time to hang up his boots.
International career
The first match for Hovsepyan and the
Armenia national football team
The Armenia national football team ( hy, Հայաստանի ֆուտբոլի ազգային հավաքական, ''Hayastani futboli azgayin havak'akan'') represents Armenia in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation o ...
was held on 14 October 1992 in a home game qualifier against
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...
, which ended 0–0.
In December, the
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
Executive Committee, while in Prague, took a decision that players who have played a part of their national team for 100 matches will receive their awards from UEFA. These awards will also be awarded retroactively. Thus Hovsepyan, who played more than 100 matches in the national team of Armenia, in absentia, won this award.
Playing for the Armenian team from 1992 to 2012, Hovsepyan had 131 matches and scored 2 goals
and became the champion on to play a match for the national team. In the near forty years of his life, he spent twenty playing for the national team.
Hovsepyan played his final game on 14 November 2012 in a friendly match against
Lithuania, which Armenia won 4–2, and then retired from association football afterward. That same night, Hovsepyan received a standing ovation from the
Yerevan Republican Stadium audience. Hovsepyan was awarded a gold Medal of City Hall by Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan and awarded a car by Armenian Football Federation head
Ruben Hayrapetyan
Ruben Rafiki Hayrapetyan ( hy, Ռուբեն Ռաֆիկի Հայրապետյան, born 9 March 1963 in Yerevan, Armenia), also known by his nickname Nemets Rubo (''Rubo The German''), is an Armenian football official, a former member of the Armenia ...
for his contributions to Armenian football. He was the last member of the original Armenia national team to retire.
Coaching career
A couple months after retiring as a football player, Hovsepyan joined the coaching staff of FC Pyunik and became the assistant coach to the club's head coach and national team manager
Vardan Minasyan
Vardan Minasyan ( hy, Վարդան Մինասյան; born 5 January 1974) is a former Armenian footballer who played as a midfielder, and is the former football manager of FC Taraz in the Kazakhstan Premier League.
Minasyan has been largely cred ...
.
Personal life
Hovsepyan has a son, who is training with Pyunik and plays for their junior club. It is Hovsepyan's dream for his son to play on the same football field as him.
Career statistics
:''Scores and results list Armenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hovsepyan goal.''
Honours
As a player
Pyunik Yerevan
*
Armenian Premier League
The Armenian Premier League ( hy, VBET Հայաստանի Պրեմիեր Լիգա, known as the VBET Armenian Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the competition was held as a r ...
(9):
1992,
1995–96,
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
,
2009,
2010
*
Armenian Cup
The VBET Armenian Cup ( hy, Հայաստանի Անկախության Գավաթ) is the main football (soccer), football cup competition of Armenia. In its original form as the Armenian Cup, it started in 1939, when Armenia was a republic of the ...
: 1996, 2004,
2009,
2010
*
Armenian Supercup
The Armenian Supercup is a match that is played between the Armenian Premier League Champion and Armenian Cup
The VBET Armenian Cup ( hy, Հայաստանի Անկախության Գավաթ) is the main football (soccer), football cup competitio ...
(5): 1997, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009
Zenit St. Petersburg
*
Russian Cup:
1998–99; runner-up: 2001–02
*
Russian Premier League Cup
The Russian Premier League Cup was a football competition organized by Russian Premier League. This was a knockout competition for 16 teams of the Premier League. All ties, including the final, were two-legged. The winners of the Cup did not get an ...
: 2003
Individual
*
Armenian Footballer of the Year: 1992, 1995, 2008
As a manager
Pyunik Yerevan
*Armenian Premier League:
2014–15
*Armenian Cup:
2013–14,
2014–15
See also
*
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
In men's association football, a cap is traditionally awarded in international football to a player making an official match appearance for their national team. In total, over 600 players have played in 100 or more international matches. The re ...
References
External links
*
*
Career historyat armfootball.tripod.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hovsepyan, Sargis
1972 births
Living people
Footballers from Yerevan
Armenian footballers
Armenia international footballers
Armenian expatriate footballers
Association football defenders
FC Pyunik players
FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players
FC Moscow players
Expatriate footballers in Russia
Armenian Premier League players
Russian Premier League players
FIFA Century Club
Soviet footballers
Soviet Armenians