Football Club Shirak ( hy, Շիրակ Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ), commonly known as Shirak, is an Armenian professional

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

. Shirak is known for its professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team which is one of the oldest

football clubs in Armenia This is a list of Armenian association football clubs. Active clubs * Alashkert * Ararat-Armenia * Ararat Yerevan * * Urartu * Erebuni * Gandzasar * Junior Sevan * Lokomotiv Yerevan * Lori * Noah * Pyunik * Shirak * Yerevan Inactive club ...

, having been created in 1958. The club is the only team that participated in all seasons 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 ...

since its creation in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

until

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. Shirak is one of the more successful clubs in Armenia, having won a total of 11 domestic titles including four

titles, two

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 ...

, and five

Armenian Super Cup 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 ...

. Shirak has yet to qualify for an international tournament playoff round, yet frequently plays

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualifying matches. Shirak's home stadium is the 4,500 seater

Gyumri City Stadium Gyumri City Stadium ( hy, Գյումրիի քաղաքային մարզադաշտ) is an all-seater football stadium in Gyumri, Armenia. It is currently the home venue of the Armenian Premier League club FC Shirak of Gyumri. The current capacity o ...

, the oldest venue in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. Shirak's youth academy has also produced successful players, including Artur Petrosyan and

Harutyun Vardanyan Harutyun Vardanyan ( hy, Հարություն Վարդանյան, born 5 December 1970 in Gyumri, Armenian SSR) is a former Armenian football player who played defender for the Armenia national football team and for Armenian, Swiss and German c ...

History

Shirak was founded in

in 1958, when

was still a part of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The club was originally named ''Shirak Leninakan,'' the latter being the name for

during the

. From its creation to the fall of the Soviet Union, Shirak played all its matches in the Soviet third division First League. Following the fall of the

and the renaming of Leninakan, Shirak changed its name to ''Shirak Kumayri,'' and was placed in the

with head coach Andranik Adamyan in charge. 1992 was the first

season played in history, which ended with Shirak and Pyunik tied at the top with 37 points each. After failing to agree on a tie-breaking match, it was decided to award the title to both teams. Thus, Shirak managed to win the league in the first domestic league in Armenian history. Shirak once again changed its name in late 1992 after the name

Kumayri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

was changed for ''Gyumri.'' Therefore 1993 was the first appearance as ''Shirak Gyumri'' in the

. After finishing second in the 1993 league season, Shirak qualified to the

final for the first time, yet failed to claim the title after losing 3-1 to Ararat. Shirak went on to win the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

seasons, however was not given the

title due to it being a transitional spring season. The next four seasons were not successful for the club, however Shirak managed to claim the league title again in 1999, with striker Arayik Adamyan scoring 16 goals. The league title would end up being the last title Shirak would win until the 2011-12 Armenian Cup. Shirak would eventually go on to win the 2012-13 Armenian Premier League and the 2016-17 Armenian Cup final.

Domestic history since 1992

European

Kit and badge

For most of the club's history, the team's colours were orange and black, inspired on the dominant colours present in Gyumri's architecture, specifically the Holy Saviour's Church, located in the city. As of 2019, Shirak has reached an agreement with

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

sportswear company Fourteen to provide all match and training apparel.

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

Badge

The club's current badge design was inspired by Gyumri's seal, with the main feature being the lion and cross which were present on the flag of the

Bagratuni dynasty The Bagratuni or Bagratid dynasty ( hy, Բագրատունի, ) was an Armenian royal dynasty which ruled the medieval Kingdom of Armenia from c. 885 until 1045. Originating as vassals of the Kingdom of Armenia of antiquity, they rose to beco ...

, which ruled

Bagratid Armenia The Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia ( xcl, Բագրատունեաց Հայաստան, or , , 'kingdom of the Bagratunis'), was an independent Armenian state established by Ashot I Bagratuni of the Bagratuni dynasty ...

during the middle ages.

Stadium

Shirak's home stadium has always been the

, built in 1924 and currently the oldest football stadium in the country. Following renovation works in 1999, the stadium became an all-seater stadium with a capacity for 2,844. The stadium pitch and facilities were upgraded in 2012 to meet all

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 ...

stadium regulations, allowing Shirak to play its

and

qualifying matches at home. The stadium capacity was once again increased, this time to the current 4,500 capacity following a second round of renovations in 2019. These renovations included new seating in the south end of the stadium.

List of stadiums used by the club

: 1958-

Supporters

Shirak's fans are known as the Black Panthers, in honor of the panther that appears on the flag of the Bagratid dynasty. Shirak's supporters are also considered to be one of the best in Armenian football, with high match attendance and active supporters during matches. Supporters have rioted against club management when the club failed to reach desired results in the past.

Rivalries

Shirak's main rival is considered to be Gandzasar. This rivalry grew as both teams were the only teams in the league that weren't from

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

, and thus competed to be the best team from the provinces.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Technical staff

Institutional

Executive board

Arman Sahakyan has been the President of Shirak since he purchased the club in 2010.

Staff

* Technical Director: Georgi Matevosyan * Sporting Director: Andranik Adamyan * Press Secretary: Arman Maloyan * Administrator: Suren Simonyan

Honours

National

League

(4):

, 1999, 2012–13

National cups

(2): 2011–12, 2016-17 *

(5): 1997,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, 2003,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, 2017

Other sports sections

Football reserves and academy

Shirak's youth academy has produced several notable players throughout its history. Artur Petrosyan is the most prominent academy product, having a successful career in

and European football. Shirak's reserves compete in the Armenian First League, the second division in Armenian football. The reserves are currently coached by Tigran Davtyan and also play their matches at the

Futsal

On 8 September 2017, prior to the beginning of the 2017-18

Armenian Futsal Premier League The Premier League is the premier futsal league in Armenia. It was founded in 1998. The Premier League, which is played under UEFA rules and is organized by the Football Federation of Armenia, currently consists of 5 teams. 2017-18 teams Current ...

season, Shirak Sports Club took over the ''Gyumri Futsal'' club, who were a founding member of the domestic futsal championship in Armenia which began in 1998. As a result, the futsal team was re-branded as

Shirak SC Futsal Shirak SC Futsal, is the professional futsal section of Shirak SC, an association football club based in Gyumri, Armenia. History The team was founded in 1998 as Gyumri Futsal to become one of the founding members of the Armenian Futsal Premier L ...

Basketball

On 19 September 2017, Shirak announced the creation of a basketball team that would compete in the newly created

Armenia Basketball League A The Armenia Basketball League A (Armenian: ), is the top men's official basketball league in Armenia. The first season of the competition was launched in 2017. Since 2019, it has been renamed the VBET A-League after a headline sponsorship agreeme ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Armenian Premier League Shirak Association football clubs established in 1958 1958 establishments in Armenia