Wrestling Wrestling has been a successful sport in the
Olympics for Armenia. Half of the 12
Armenian Olympic medalists and were wrestlers. At the
1996 Summer Olympics in
Atlanta,
Armen Nazaryan won the gold in the Men's
Greco-Roman Flyweight (52 kg) category, and
Armen Mkrtchyan won the silver in Men's
Freestyle Paperweight (48 kg) category, securing Armenia's first two medals in its modern Olympic history. With Armenia's two gold medalists, Armen Nazaryan (1996) and Artur Aleksanyan (2016), and three silver medalists, Armen Mkrtchyan (1996), Tigran Martirosyan (2008), and
Arsen Julfalakyan (2012), wrestling is Armenia's most successful Olympic sport. More than half of Armenia's Olympic medals have come from wrestling. Armenia hosted the 2010
FILA Wrestling World Cup. The Armenian wrestling team came in third place overall and Armenian wrestlers individually won three of the seven gold medals. Traditional Armenian wrestling is called
kokh, and practiced in traditional garb; it was one of the influences included in the Soviet combat sport of
sambo, which is also very popular. Sambo in Armenia is regulated by the
Sambo Federation of Armenia.
Football , home of
Armenia national football team Football is the most popular sport in Armenia. Armenia used to play as part of the
USSR national football team at the international level. Their most successful team was
Yerevan's FC Ararat, which had claimed Soviet championship in the 1973, and had also gone to post home victory against
FC Bayern Munich in the
1974–75 European Cup. Armenia played as part of the
USSR until 1992, when the
Armenia national football team played their first official match, representing solely Armenia, against
Moldova. The national team is controlled by the
Football Federation of Armenia. The
Armenian Premier League is the top flight
football competition in Armenia. The league currently consists of ten teams, and relegates to the
Armenian First League. Over the years, the league has evolved from a small competition, consisting of only eight teams to two separate divisions. Armenia also has many
football venues, such as the
Hrazdan Stadium and
Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium. is currently the most prominent footballer in Armenia.
Nikita Simonyan was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning Soviet Union national football team at the
1956 Summer Olympics and a four-time
Soviet Top League and two-time
Soviet Cup winner playing for
FC Spartak Moscow. Simonyan also became the Soviet Top League top goalscorer three times. He also holds the record for most league goals scored for Spartak Moscow at 133. After retiring from football, he became the head coach of Spartak and later became the manager of both Spartak and
FC Ararat Yerevan. Both teams won the Soviet Top League under Simonyan's management.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is the current captain of the Armenia national football team and the team's star player. Mkhitaryan won the Armenian Premier League four times and the
Armenian Supercup twice as a player for
FC Pyunik. He has also been given the
Armenian Footballer of the Year award nine times. As of 8 September 2019, Mkhitaryan is the
top goalscorer of all time for the Armenia national team with 29 goals. Many other Armenian players have played in European domestic leagues such as
Arthur Petrosyan,
Sargis Hovsepyan,
Roman Berezovsky,
Edgar Manucharyan,
Yura Movsisyan and many others. Many Armenian diaspora footballers represented their country of birth, with the most notable players including
Youri Djorkaeff and
Alain Boghossian who were both part of the winning French team in the
1998 FIFA World Cup,
Andranik Eskandarian and
Andranik Teymourian of Iran,
Alecko Eskandarian of the United States,
Kevork Mardikian and
Mardik Mardikian of Syria,
Wartan Ghazarian and
Agop Donabidian of Lebanon, etc.
Chess World Ranked #2
Levon Aronian Chess remains the most popular
mind sport in Armenia as well as among the most popular sports in general. It is widely played in Armenia, and in the
Armenian diaspora, where the Armenian schools encourage it as a curricular activity. Ethnic Armenian chess players have been very successful on the international chess scene. Notable chess players of Armenia include
Tigran Petrosian,
Levon Aronian,
Vladimir Akopian,
Gabriel Sargissian,
Sergei Movsesian and
Rafael Vaganian. The legendary chess player
Garry Kasparov is of Armenian descent. Armenia has won the
European Team Chess Championship in both the men (1999) and women (2003) sections. The 1999 men team was made up of
Smbat Lputian,
Artashes Minasian,
Ashot Anastasian, Levon Aronian and
Arshak Petrosian. The 2003 women team was made up of
Elina Danielian,
Lilit Mkrtchian and
Nelly Aginian. Levon Aronian won the
Chess World Cup in
2005. In 2006, the Armenian Chess Team of Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian,
Karen Asrian,
Artashes Minasian, and
Smbat Lputian won the
Chess Olympiad in Turin. Two years later, Armenia successfully defended their Olympiad title with a
second consecutive win in Dresden, the team being made up of Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian,
Tigran L. Petrosian and Artashes Minasian. Armenia won the
World Team Chess Championship in 2011, against the top ten teams of the world, including Russia and China. Members of the Armenian chess team were Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and
Robert Hovhannisyan. The Armenian Chess Team won the Olympiad title for a third time in 2012 at the
Istanbul-hosted Chess Olympiad. The team consisted of Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and Tigran L. Petrosian. Armenia currently ranks 5th on the all-time Chess Olympiad medal table despite only competing since 1992. The nation was also a contributing power to the still #1 ranked
Soviet Union. Tigran Petrosian himself is still ranked #1 for the best individual results in the open section.
Basketball at the
Mika Arena Despite the popularity of basketball in Armenia, the
country's national team only recently made headlines internationally through winning the
2016 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries. Armenia's best basketball players all play outside of the country, mostly in the United States and Russia. The first ever season of the professional domestic basketball competition of Armenia known as
Basketball League A was launched in October 2017 with 7 participating teams, representing the cities of Yerevan (4 teams), Gyumri, Artik and Stepanakert.
Weightlifting Weightlifting has also been a successful sport for Armenia in the
Olympics, with
Arsen Melikyan winning the bronze medal in Men's middleweight (77 kg) category at the
2000 Summer Olympics, which was the independent Republic of Armenia's first Olympic medal in weightlifting. In April 2007, the Armenia national team won the
2007 European Championships in
Strasbourg, with 10 gold medals.
Nazik Avdalyan and
Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan both became
World Weightlifting Champions in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Before the establishment of an independent
Armenia, Armenian weightlifters like
Yurik Sarkisyan,
Oksen Mirzoyan and
Yurik Vardanyan competed for the
Soviet Union and were very successful.
Vardanyan won the gold medal at the
1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve 400 point totals in the 82.5 kg weight category. He earned the title
Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977, and was awarded the
Order of Lenin in 1985.
Yurik Vardanyan,
Yurik Sarkisian and
Oksen Mirzoyan set multiple world records during their distinguished careers.
Boxing Boxing is a popular sport in Armenia. The country has regularly sent competitors to the
Olympics, but met with little success. The sport is regulated by the
Armenian Boxing Federation. Though Armenia has had little success in amateur boxing, the country has still produced an Olympic medalist,
Hrachik Javakhyan, and a World Champion,
Nshan Munchyan. Armenian boxers have had more success in professional boxing.
Vic Darchinyan and
Arthur Abraham have both won world titles in different weight divisions.
Susi Kentikian has also won world titles in women's boxing.
Khoren Gevor is a four-time world title challenger.
Karapet Karapetyan was long time Netherlands Champion in kickboxing and came far in boxing but stopped to continue as a lawyer.
Vanes Martirosyan and
Karo Muratyan are both rising contenders.
Artistic gymnastics Armenia has produced many Olympic champions in
artistic gymnastics during the Soviet days, such as
Hrant Shahinyan,
Albert Azaryan and
Eduard Azaryan. The success of the Armenian gymnasts in the Olympic competitions has greatly contributed in the popularity of the sport. Thus, many prominent competitors represent the country in the European and World championships, including
Artur Davtyan and
Harutyun Merdinyan. The capital Yerevan has many state-owned schools of artistic gymnastics, including the Albert Azaryan School opened in 1964 and the Hrant Shahinyan School opened in 1965.
Futsal Futsal is very popular in Armenia. Many companies as well as universities have their own teams who participate in the Futsal League of Armenia. Currently, 8 teams take part in the Armenian futsal league, representing the cities of Yerevan,
Gyumri,
Vanadzor,
Kapan and
Alaverdi. The
Mika Sports Arena of Yerevan is the home of the
Armenia national futsal team. ==Other growing sports==