ARMENIAN SOCCER TEAM GETS NEW FOREIGN COACH
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Aug. 16, 2006

The Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) named the new foreign coach
of the national soccer team on Wednesday less than a month before the
start of its qualifying campaign for the 2008 European Championship.

Ian Porterfield, a veteran British tactician, pledged to bring a
"good spirit" to the team as he was presented to the media after
signing an 18-month contract with the FFA. "I am looking forward to
working here over the next few months," he said.

Ruben Hayrapetian, the federation chairman, said Porterfield was chosen
from a pool of about two dozen foreign specialists that showed interest
in the job. Hayrapetian said the 60-year-old Scot’s experience and
track record was decisive in the selection process. He refused to
disclose any financial details of the deal.

Porterfield managed the Scottish side Aberdeen in the late 1980s
and England’s reigning champions Chelsea in the early 1990s before
continuing his coaching career abroad. He has coached the national
teams of Zambia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Trinidad and Tobago. His last
job was with one of South Korea’s leading football clubs.

Porterfield, who replaces Dutchman Henk Wisman, is the fifth foreigner
to take the helm of the Armenian team in the last four years. He
faces a daunting task of ending its protracted run of poor results
in the European qualifying competitions. He admitted having little
knowledge of the squad, saying that he last watched its games in 2003.

Armenia is presently only 104th in the worldwide rankings of national
teams that are issued by the game’s governing body, FIFA. It faces
Serbia, Belgium, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan
in Group A of 2008 European Championship qualifying.

The Armenians will open their qualifying campaign against Belgium,
one of the group favorites, in Yerevan on September 6. Few believe
that they stand a chance of qualification.

The competition will see the first-ever games between Armenia and
Azerbaijan that are certain to arouse nationalistic passions in the
two countries locked in a bitter conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The
FFA wants the matches, tentatively scheduled for September 2007,
to be played in Baku and Yerevan. The Azerbaijani side, however,
is pushing for a neutral venue, saying that it can not guarantee the
security of Armenian players.

A final decision on the issue rests with UEFA, European football’s
governing body. It is expected to be announced later this year or
early next.