Vardan Martun Ghazaryan (; ; born 1 December 1969) is a

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 ...

coach and former player. Born in Armenia, Ghazaryan moved to Lebanon and obtained citizenship through naturalisation in 1994. He played for

Homenetmen Homenetmen ( hy, Հ.Մ.Ը.Մ., , short for hy, Հայ Մարմնակրթական Ընդհանուր Միութիւն, meaning ''Armenian General Athletic Union'') is a pan-Armenian Armenian Diaspora, diaspora organization devoted to sport and sco ...

and

Sagesse ''Sagesse'' (literal trans. "Wisdom") is a volume of France, French poetry by Paul Verlaine. First published in 1881 (see 1881 in poetry, 1880), it was important in the symbolism (arts), symbolist and modernism, modernist movements. The subject m ...

as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, and represented Lebanon internationally from 1995 until 2001. Ghazaryan is the second-highest all-time scorer in the Lebanese Premier League, scoring 117 official league goals. He is also the joint-top scorer for the national team with 21 goals, alongside Hassan Maatouk. In 2017, Ghazaryan was appointed manager of

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

for one year. He returned as Sagesse coach in 2021.

Club career

Ghazaryan started his senior career in 1989 in Armenia, at Spartak Hoktemberyan, before moving to

Kapan Kapan ( hy, Կապան) is a town in southeast Armenia, serving as the administrative center of the urban community of Kapan as well as the provincial capital of Syunik Province. It is located in the valley of the Voghji River and is on the nort ...

in 1990. In 1992 he moved to Lebanon, joining

Homenetmen Beirut Homenetmen Beirut may refer to: *Homenetmen Beirut (basketball), a Lebanese basketball club *Homenetmen Beirut (football) Homenetmen Sports Association Beirut ( ar, الجمعية الرياضية هومنتمن بيروت; ), or simply Homene ...

.Alt URL
/ref> He stayed there for seven years, before moving to

in 1999. He spent three years there, before moving back to Homenetmen in 2002. Ghazaryan then joined Sagesse once again, in 2005, before retiring in 2009 aged 39. His first goal in the Lebanese Premier League came on 23 January 1993, when he scored the second goal for Homenetmen against

Tadamon Sour Tadamon Sour Sporting Club ( ar, نادي التضامن الرياضي صور, lit=Solidarity Sporting Club Tyre), or simply Tadamon, is a football club based in Tyre, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Tyre ...

in the 54th minute.Alt URL
/ref> Ghazaryan was named AFC Player of the Month for January 1996. On 16 November 2008, at 39 years old, Ghazaryan scored his 129th goal in the Lebanese Premier League against Tadamon Sour, becoming the highest all-time scorer in the league.Alt URL
/ref> However, some do not recognise the 12 goals he scored in the 2000–01 season, which was canceled,Alt URL
/ref> making him the second-highest top-goalscorer with 117 goals, behind Fadi Alloush's total of 120.

International career

Having moved to Lebanon from Armenia, Ghazaryan obtained Lebanese citizenship through naturalisation in 1994. He is the joint-leading goal scorer in the history of the Lebanon national team, with 21 goals (four in World Cup qualifiers, three in

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

qualifiers and 14 in

friendlies 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 ...

Managerial career

In 2009, Ghazaryan returned to his native Armenia where he trained an Armenian club;Alt URL
/ref> he moved back to Lebanon four years later. Ghazaryan became the assistant coach for

, before being appointed head coach in 2017. In July 2021, ahead of the

2021 Lebanese Challenge Cup The 2021 Lebanese Challenge Cup was the 8th edition of the Lebanese Challenge Cup. The competition included the teams placed between 7th and 10th in the 2020–21 Lebanese Premier League, and the two newly promoted teams from the 2020–21 Lebane ...

, Ghazaryan was appointed head coach of Lebanese Premier League side Sagesse, for whom he had already played as a player.

Career statistics

International

: ''Scores and results list Lebanon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ghazaryan goal''.

Honours

Player

Syunik Kapan *

Armenian SSR League Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

Homenetmen *

Lebanese Second Division The Lebanese Second Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الثانية) is the second division of Lebanese football. Established in 1933, it is controlled by the Lebanese Football Association. The 12 teams that participate ...

: 2002–03 Individual * IFFHS All-time Lebanon Men's Dream Team * AFC Player of the Month: January 1996 *

Lebanese Premier League Best Player The Al-Manar Football Festival () was an event organised by the Al-Manar television station between the 1996–97 and 2018–19 seasons in order to award players, managers, referees and teams who were considered to have performed the best over ...

: 1996–97 * Lebanese Premier League Team of the Season: 1996–97, 1999–2000 Records * Lebanon all-time top goalscorer: 21 goals

Notes

References

External links

*
Vardan Ghazaryan
at RSSSF * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghazaryan, Vardan 1969 births Living people People from Kapan Soviet Armenians Soviet footballers Lebanese footballers Lebanese football managers Lebanon international footballers Armenian footballers Armenian football managers Armenian emigrants to Lebanon Naturalized citizens of Lebanon Association football forwards FC Armavir (Armenia) players FC Lernagorts Kapan players Homenetmen Beirut footballers Sagesse SC footballers Armenian Premier League players Lebanese Premier League players Lebanese Second Division players Asian Games competitors for Lebanon Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games 2000 AFC Asian Cup players AC Tripoli managers Sagesse SC football managers Lebanese Premier League managers Association football coaches