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Artavazd and Arman Karamyan in action for Armenia (©empics)
The brothers Karamyan
Friday, 16 July 2004
By Paul-Daniel Zaharia

It takes quite a bit to surprise supporters in Romania, but when AFC Rapid
Bucuresti signed Artavazd and Arman Karamyan from Ukrainian club FC Arsenal
Kyiv for a combined fee of around ‚¬100,000, it was a novelty in more than
just the one sense.

Novelty factor
Not only will the 24-year-olds become the first Armenians ever to play in
Romanian football, they are also twins. At most, five pairs have twins have
been active in the whole history of Romanian football, and there have been
none at all in the last ten years.

Ronald and Frank de Boer have spent much of their careers together
(©empics)

Moving together
That the two brothers, of whom striker Arman is the older by five minutes,
have joined Rapid together is no surprise. They have moved together
throughout their careers. Both started at FC MIKA before joining FC Pyunik.
They then tried their luck abroad, firstly at Greek side Panahaiki GC and
then at Arsenal.

High hopes
However, while midfield player Artavazd and his brother struggled to make
the grade in Kiev, they have high hopes for their time in Bucharest. “We
came here in order to prove that we can play at a high level and to win
everything we can with Rapid,” said Artavazd. “What I like is that here in
Romania that the teams play attacking football with pressing and not a
defensive game.”

Ground rules
However, first Artavazd was keen to lay down some ground rules. He said:
“You journalists call me Artavazd. Please, do not do that anymore. In
Armenia, nobody knows me as Artavazd. Everybody knows me as Artiom. Since I
was a little boy, my family, my friends and all the colleagues where I
played called me Artiom.”
Rapid experience
Seems fair. Artiom and Arman know all about Romanian style after both played
in a UEFA Cup qualifying round game against Rapid during their time with
MIKA four years ago. The Armenian side lost the game 3-1 on aggregate but
the twins were suitably impressed to want to try their luck in Romania when
the chance arose.

Artavazd prefers to be known as Artiom
(©AFP)

Stoichita link
The opportunity came because of a Romanian connection – former Armenia coach
Mihai Stoichita. Stoichita recommended the attack-minded pair to one of the
old Romanian national team assistant coaches, and now Rapid technical
director, Dan Apolzan, who moved to sign them after watching them in a
friendly game.
Famous twins
So the Karamyan twins are preparing to embark upon another chapter of their
career, hoping no doubt that they can one day emulate great footballing
twins like Egyptians Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan or Dutchmen Frank and Ronald
de Boer.
Ulterior motive
Meanwhile, Rapid president Dinu Gheorghe, who made the decision to buy the
Karamyans, has admitted that he may have had an ulterior motive in signing
the midfield player and striker. After all, Armenia have been drawn
alongside Romania, Finland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, F.Y.R.
Macedonia and Andorra in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 1.
‘Good deal’
“I am sure that these two boys will prove in a very short time that we made
a good deal and that we didn’t fool ourselves,” said Gheorghe. “Apart from
anything else, our deal will enable our national coach, Anghel Iordanescu,
to keep an eye on them.
International angle
“And, who knows,” he added. “Maybe they will be so well trained at Rapid
that they will score goals against all of our main opponents in the 2006
World Cup qualifiers, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. And not
against us, of course!”