Pyunik owner Artur Soghomonyan has talked with Mediamax Sport about the historical achievement of the club, the enormous work the team has done, and future plans.

“Pyunki’s achievement means progress for Armenian football in general. The team worked as one and fought to get where they are now. Reason number one is that they have a professional, ambitious manager.

Both Vardar and Tobol have higher ratings. We knew we could only beat them with teamwork, not individual brilliance, and that’s what we did.

We hope this is not our ceiling and our progress will be ongoing. Now we are preparing for the game against Maccabi, whom we host on August 9.

We couldn’t beat Tobol with the fans’ support. They gave us a wonderful atmosphere in the stadium. It was a big encouragement for the players, as many of them are still young.

The players realized they had no right to lose. I hope this success will bring more people to the stadium. The next round and opponent will be difficult, so the game promises to be entertaining again.

I promised Pyunik would be able to get into the group stage within 3-5 years and I remain committed to that goal. The manager and I are working together to strengthen the squad to make it happen.

For now, we signed many foreign players, but we anticipate that in the near future the core of the squad will be made of local footballers. We want to develop Armenian football.

Manager Talalaev is very strict. It took time for players to get used to it and see the professional that he is. The manager has helped them play better and believe in themselves.

I am very optimistic about Armenian football. I hope Artur Vanetsyan will head our football federation. I met with him, he has great ideas, but of course, he will need the clubs’ support. We understand his work in the National Security Service is more important, but football would get so much from him.

We hope to get to the final stages of 2022 World Cup or Euro 2026. We’ll be relying on the new generation of Armenian footballers, they will be able to do that.

Armenian kids are talented. We just need to work with them, and one day Armenia can play well and reach finals like Iceland, Croatia and Denmark.”