Oldest records of football teams in
Soviet Armenia goes back to 1926–1927, when the
Trans-Caucasian Championship was organized in Tbilisi. Three
South Caucasian countries participated: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Armenia became an independent state in 1991, the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic having previously played for the
Soviet Union national football team. The
Football Federation of Armenia was founded on 18 January 1992 and established relations with
FIFA in 1992 and with
UEFA in 1993. Armenia has competed in every
UEFA European Championship qualifying and
FIFA World Cup qualification since 1994. The first head coach of the Armenian national squad was Soviet Armenian football star
Eduard Markarov. Armenian winner of the
UEFA Jubilee Awards and fellow Soviet Armenian football great
Khoren Oganesian also became a head coach. Many of the early coaches of the national team never stayed for longer than two years. Scottish coach
Ian Porterfield became head coach in 2006 and began to lead the team to some of its first international successes. Under his leadership, the Armenian team played a series of great matches with victories over
Kazakhstan 2–1,
Poland 1–0 and a draw with
Portugal (1–1), with
Cristiano Ronaldo in the lineup. But then tragedy struck; the 62-year-old Porterfield died of cancer, leaving his work unfinished. An acting assistant coach,
Vardan Minasyan, became acting head coach following Porterfield's death. Minasyan learned much from Porterfield and
Samvel Darbinyan, another former head coach of Armenia, during this time about coaching and managing. On 10 February 2009, after the draw for the qualifying round teams of the
UEFA Euro 2012, by order of the President of the
Football Federation of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan, Minasyan continued to lead the Armenian national squad, only now as the official head coach. In the
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches, Minasyan led Armenia in
Group B against
Russia,
Slovakia,
Ireland,
Macedonia and
Andorra. Armenia, considered a heavy underdog, defeated the group favorite Slovakia with two crushing defeats 4–0 and 3–1, defeated Andorra in two matches as well 4–0 and 3–0, drew with Macedonia 2–2 and defeated them in the deciding match 4–1 and tied with the group winners Russia 0–0. The Armenian team scored the most goals out of Group B, with a total of 22.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Armenia scored 6 goals, the most goals scored by a single player in Group B. The national team almost made the final draw, but controversially lost in a decisive match against
Ireland 1–2. Armenian goalkeeper
Roman Berezovsky was given a red card by Spanish referee Eduardo Gonzalez in the 26th-minute for supposedly touching the ball outside the goal area. However, replays clearly showed the ball touched his chest and never touched his hands. Replays also showed that Ireland striker
Simon Cox had actually touched the ball with his right hand. Despite this, Gonzalez did not penalize Cox, who would later admit he touched the ball with his hand. Had Cox's offence been punished, Armenia would have been awarded a free-kick. Edgar Malakyan was swapped for replacement goalkeeper
Arsen Petrosyan.
Valeri Aleksanyan later accidentally scored an own goal past Petrosyan, which ended up deciding the match. Armenia and Ireland would each score another goal. The
Football Federation of Armenia unsuccessfully filed a protest over the match. Gonzalez had later resigned after the match. Despite not getting to play in the
UEFA Euro 2012, Minasyan brought the Armenia national team to a record #41
FIFA ranking, placed the team in a personal best third place in the group stage and went on to become the longest leading head coach of the Armenia football team. Minasyan stated he was proud of the entire team. They were all welcomed in the airport back in Armenia as heroes. After the incredible UEFA Euro 2012 run, the
2014 World Cup and
Euro 2016 qualifiers were not successful, with the Armenian side stood near bottom in the 2014 World Cup run and even finished last without a single win in Euro 2016 campaign. Armenia salvaged some few pride in
2018 World Cup qualification when the Armenians managed to create a shocking 3–2 home win over
Montenegro, which contributed to Montenegro's failure to qualify for the
2018 FIFA World Cup. After these disappointments,
Vardan Minasyan returned to lead Armenia in the
2018–19 UEFA Nations League D, but finished behind
Macedonia, including a humiliating 0–1 home loss to
Gibraltar. Due to this humiliation, Minasyan was sacked and
Armen Gyulbudaghyants was appointed new coach of Armenian side. The Armenians participated in the
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying along with giants
Italy,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, former European champions
Greece,
Finland and
Liechtenstein. Armenia lost two opening fixtures to Bosnia 1–2 away and Finland 0–2 at home, and was supposed to get eliminated pretty early. However, Armenia began their resurgence following these losses, with a convincing 3–0 home cruise to Liechtenstein before managed to create a shocking 3–2 away win over Greece, former
UEFA Euro 2004 champions. Armenia suffered a minor setback after losing at home to powerhouse Italy 1–3, before created another shock in their qualification with a 4–2 convincing win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the same ground. Armenia was pulled back to the ground when they faced Greece, Finland and Italy in their games, with Armenia defeated in both games and eventually finished fifth in their group, failed to qualify for
UEFA Euro 2020. Armenia participated in the
2020–21 UEFA Nations League C and was seen as a minnow in a group containing strong
North Macedonia and
Georgia, along with fellow minnow
Estonia. Armenia began with a 1–2 loss to North Macedonia away, before bounded back with an encouraging 2–0 home win to Estonia in September 2020. In October, Armenia had to play their designated "home game" away from their country in Poland due to the
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and disappointed with only a 2–2 draw to Georgia and 1–1 draw to Estonia, thus leaving impression that Armenia would flounder from the chance to get promotion. Yet, in November the same year, despite having to play away from home, and without their talisman and captain
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenia managed what would be the country's greatest comeback in the history, beating Georgia right in
Tbilisi 2–1 before stunned the Fyromians, who had qualified for Euro 2020, 1–0, in their designated home game in Cyprus. These wins had not just ensured Armenia's promotion to
2022–23 UEFA Nations League B, but it also meant Armenia could be the first Caucasus country to get a
FIFA World Cup playoff ticket. Moreover, the League B season in 2022–23 could also ensure Armenia a playoff place for the
UEFA Euro 2024. Armenia participated in the
2022 World Cup qualification and was seen weak to the group containing strong
Germany,
Iceland,
Romania and
North Macedonia. Armenia started with a difficult 1–0 win to Liechtenstein away, leaving yet again an impression that Armenia would just end up being mopped by the remainders. However, Armenia stunned both Iceland and Romania on their home fixtures 2–0 and 3–2 to top the group for the first time ever, raising the country's hopes of qualifying for an improbable maiden World Cup. Ultimately however, Armenia's campaign ended in bitter disappointment as they failed to win a single one of their remaining seven qualifying games, finding themselves on the end of a 6-0 trashing by Germany and even being held to a 1–1 draw at home by lowly Liechtenstein. Armenia finished a distant fourth place in the group, ahead of Liechtenstein and an underwhelming Iceland side but six points behind playoff-bound North Macedonia and even five points behind third-placed Romania. ==Stadium==