2021–22 Armenian Premier League

The 2021–22 Armenian Premier League, known as the VBET Armenian Premier League (Armenian: VBET Հայաստանի Պրեմիեր Լիգա) for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th season of the league since its establishment.

Armenian Premier League

Season	2021–22
Dates	30 July 2021 – 28 May 2022
Champions	Pyunik (15th title)
Relegated	Sevan
Champions League	Pyunik
Europa Conference League	Ararat-Armenia Alashkert Ararat Yerevan
Matches played	144
Goals scored	348 (2.42 per match)
Top goalscorer	Serges Déblé (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Ararat Yerevan 7–1 Noah (2 August 2021) Noravank 7–1 Van (12 April 2022)
Biggest away win	BKMA Yerevan 0–4 Pyunik (30 July 2021) Van 0–4 Alashkert (31 October 2021) Pyunik 2–6 Ararat Yerevan (11 December 2021)
Highest scoring	Ararat Yerevan 7–1 Noah (2 August 2021) Pyunik 2–6 Ararat Yerevan (11 December 2021) Noravank 7–1 Van (12 April 2022)
Longest winning run	7 matches Ararat-Armenia
Longest unbeaten run	16 matches Pyunik
Longest winless run	13 matches Noravank
Longest losing run	8 matches BKMA Yerevan
← 2020–21 2022–23 → (Note: Longest runs include results involving Sevan.)

Season events

On 9 July 2021, the Football Federation of Armenia announced that 10 teams would play in the 2021–22 season of the Armenian Premier League. BKMA Yerevan, Noravank and Sevan where all promoted to the Premier League and given licenses, replacing Gandzasar Kapan and Lori who'd previously withdrawn from the league the previous season, and Shirak who were relegated.^[1]

On 1 December, the Football Federation of Armenia Disciplinary Committee voted in favor to remove Sevan from the Armenian Premier League after they failed to turn up for two games in a row, against Alashkert and BKMA Yerevan. As a result, all of Sevan's results were excluded from the championship table.^[2]

Teams

Yerevan

Noah

Noravank

Sevan

Van

Yerevan teams:
Alashkert
Ararat
Ararat-Armenia
BKMA
Pyunik
Urartu

Locations of the teams

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Alashkert	Yerevan (Shengavit)	Alashkert Stadium	6,850
Ararat Yerevan	Yerevan (Kentron)	Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium	14,403
Ararat-Armenia	Yerevan (Avan)	Yerevan Football Academy Stadium1	1,428
BKMA
Noah	Armavir	Armavir City Stadium1	3,100
Noravank	Vayk	Charentsavan City Stadium2	5,000
Pyunik	Yerevan (Kentron)	Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium	14,403
Sevan	Sevan	Gegharkunik Province2	500
Urartu	Yerevan (Malatia-Sebastia)	Urartu Stadium	4,860
Van	Charentsavan	Charentsavan City Stadium	5,000

• ¹Noah played their home games for the first half of the season at the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium, Yerevan, instead of their home venue Mika Stadium, Yerevan.
  For the second half of the season they played their home games at the Armavir City Stadium in Armavir.^[3]
• ²Noravank play their home games at the Charentsavan City Stadium, Charentsavan until the second half of the season, due to the rebuilding of their regular venue Arevik Stadium, Vayk.
• ³Sevan play their home games at Alashkert Stadium, Yerevan, instead of their home venue Sevan City Stadium, Sevan.

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alashkert	Aram Voskanyan	Artak Grigoryan	Sport-Saller	Marsbet
Ararat Yerevan	Edgar Torosyan	Hrayr Mkoyan	Fourteen	TotoGaming
Ararat-Armenia	Dmitri Gunko	Armen Ambartsumyan	Puma	Tashir Group
BKMA	Rafael Nazaryan	Hayk Ishkhanyan	Macron	Armed forces of Armenia
Noah	Abraham Khashmanyan	Jordy Monroy	Adidas	VBET
Noravank	Vahe Gevorgyan	Andranik Kocharyan	Macron
Pyunik	Yegishe Melikyan	Arman Hovhannisyan	Joma	VBET
Sevan			Adidas	TotoGaming
Urartu	Robert Arzumanyan (acting)	Hakob Hakobyan	Jako
Van	Sevada Arzumanyan	Arman Meliksetyan	Puma	VBET

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Alashkert	Aleksandr Grigoryan	Mutual termination	22 July 2021[4]	Pre-season	Aleksandr Grigoryan	31 July 2021[5]
Sevan	Armen Shahgeldyan	Mutual termination	8 August 2021[6]	5th	Pambos Christodoulou	11 August 2021[7]
Alashkert	Aleksandr Grigoryan	Mutual termination	20 September 2021[8]	9th	Milan Milanović	26 September 2021[9]
Urartu	Arsen Petrosyan	Moved to Academy position	17 November 2021[10]	6th	Robert Arzumanyan (acting)	17 November 2021[10]
Ararat Yerevan	Vardan Bichakhchyan	Mutual termination	11 January 2022[11]	3rd	Edgar Torosyan	25 January 2022[12]
Alashkert	Milan Milanović	Contract expired	13 January 2022[13]	5th	Aram Voskanyan	13 January 2022[13]
Noah	Viktor Bulatov	Contract terminated	21 March 2022[14]	6th	Igor Picușceac	25 March 2022[15]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Pyunik (C)	32	23	6	3	52	25	+27	75	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Ararat-Armenia	32	23	5	4	56	20	+36	74	Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
3	Alashkert	32	14	9	9	38	30	+8	51	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
4	Ararat Yerevan	32	13	7	12	47	36	+11	46
5	Urartu	32	9	13	10	37	32	+5	40
6	Noah	32	9	12	11	38	43	−5	39
7	Noravank	32	7	7	18	36	55	−19	28
8	Van	32	6	7	19	19	47	−28	25
9	BKMA (O)	32	4	6	22	25	60	−35	18	Qualification to the relegation play-offs
10	Sevan (D, R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegation to the Armenian First League[lower-alpha 2]

Source: FFA Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Matches won; 6) Goal difference; 7) Less red cards; 8) Less yellow cards ; 9) Fair-play ranking 10) Draw^[17]
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. The 2021–22 Armenian Cup winners, Noravank, did not obtain an UEFA license and was replaced.^[16]
2. Sevan was expelled from the league on 1 December 2021.^[2]

Fixtures and results

Round 1–16 Home \ Away ALA ARA AAR BKM NOA NOR PYU URA VAN Alashkert — 1–0 0–3 2–1 0–0 0–0 1–4 2–1 0–2 Ararat Yerevan 3–2 — 0–1 3–2 7–1 3–2 0–1 2–0 1–0 Ararat-Armenia 2–1 3–0 — 2–1 5–2 2–1 1–2 3–0 2–0 BKMA 0–2 0–2 2–3 — 1–2 2–0 0–4 1–2 1–0 Noah 0–1 2–2 0–1 5–0 — 2–1 1–2 1–1 3–0 Noravank 0–2 1–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 — 2–1 0–1 1–0 Pyunik 1–1 2–6 0–3 1–0 1–0 2–0 — 2–0 1–1 Urartu 0–0 1–1 0–0 5–0 0–1 3–0 0–2 — 1–0 Van 0–4 0–1 1–2 1–0 1–2 2–0 0–2 1–1 — Source: Soccerway Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Round 17–32 Home \ Away ALA ARA AAR BKM NOA NOR PYU URA VAN Alashkert — 2–1 0–1 3–1 0–2 3–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 Ararat Yerevan 0–1 — 0–1 1–2 1–1 4–0 1–2 0–0 1–1 Ararat-Armenia 1–1 3–1 — 0–0 0–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 BKMA 0–3 3–2 0–1 — 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–4 1–1 Noah 1–0 0–0 0–3 1–1 — 3–3 0–1 1–1 0–0 Noravank 1–1 0–1 0–2 3–2 3–1 — 1–2 3–2 7–1 Pyunik 3–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 2–1 3–2 — 1–1 2–0 Urartu 0–0 1–2 1–2 1–0 2–2 1–1 0–1 — 2–0 Van 0–1 0–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–1 0–3 — Source: Soccerway Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[18]
1	Serges Déblé	Ararat Yerevan Pyunik	22
2	Mailson Lima	Ararat-Armenia	18
3	Hugo Firmino	Pyunik	16
4	Shuaibu Ibrahim	Noravank	10
	Artur Miranyan	Urartu
6	Maksim Mayrovich	Noah	9
	Yusuf Otubanjo	Ararat-Armenia
8	José Caraballo	Pyunik	8
	Wilfried Eza	Ararat-Armenia
10	José Embaló	Alashkert	7
	Edgar Malakyan	Ararat Yerevan

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Yacouba Silue	Ararat Yerevan	Noah	6–1 (H)	2 August 2021	[19]
Jonel Désiré	Urartu	BKMA Yerevan	5–0 (H)	17 November 2021	[20]
Serges Déblé	Pyunik	Alashkert	4–1 (A)	21 February 2022	[21]
Shuaibu Ibrahim	Noravank	Noah	3–1 (H)	19 March 2022	[22]

Clean sheets

As of match played 16 March 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Valerio Vimercati	Ararat-Armenia	13
2	Ognjen Čančarević	Alashkert	8
3	Stanislav Buchnev	Pyunik	7
	Vsevolod Yermakov	Ararat Yerevan
5	Arsen Beglaryan	Urartu	5
6	David Yurchenko	Alashkert Pyunik	4
7	Grigori Matevosyan	Noah	3
	Arman Meliksetyan	Van
	Arman Nersisyan	BKMA Yerevan
10	Dusan Cubrakovic	Noravank	2

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Manager of the Season	Yegishe Melikyan[23]	Pyunik
Player of the Season	Hugo Firmino[24]	Pyunik

References

1. "Կայացավ ՀՖՖ Գործադիր կոմիտեի հերթական նիստը. VBET Հայաստանի Պրեմիեր Լիգայի նոր մրցաշրջանին կմասնակցի 10 թիմ". ffa.am/ (in Armenian). Football Federation of Armenia. 9 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
2. "ԱՐՁԱՆԱԳՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ N 12" (PDF). ffa.am (in Armenian). Football Federation of Armenia. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
3. "We are happy to inform that from now on Noah will hold its home matches in Armavir city stadium, which seats 3,100 spectators". facebook.com/noah.footballclub. FC Noah. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
4. "ՊԱՇՏՈՆԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՅՏԱՐԱՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ". facebook.com/FCAlashkert/ (in Armenian). FC Alashkert Facebook. 22 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
5. "Մեծ ուրախությամբ ցանկանում ենք հայտնել, որ նախորդ օրերի ընթացքում բարելավվել է Ալեքսանդր Գրիգորյանի կնոջ առողջական վիճակը". facebook.com/FCAlashkert/ (in Armenian). FC Alashkert Facebook. 31 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
6. "Արմեն Շահգելդյանը հեռացավ "Սևանից"". facebook.com/SevanFCArmenia/ (in Armenian). Sevan FC Facebook. 8 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
7. "Պամբոս Քրիստոդուլուն գլխավորեց "Սևանը"". facebook.com/SevanFCArmenia/ (in Armenian). Sevan FC Facebook. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
8. "Շնորհակալություն և հաջողություն հետագա կարիերայում, Վիտալիչ". facebook.com/FCAlashkert/ (in Armenian). FC Alashkert Facebook. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
9. "ՊԱՇՏՈՆԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՅՏԱՐԱՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ". facebook.com/FCAlashkert/ (in Armenian). FC Alashkert Facebook. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
10. "АРСЕН ПЕТРОСЯН ПРОДОЛЖИТ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ В АКАДЕМИИ УРАРТУ". fcurartu.am. FC Urartu. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
11. "Official statement. Vardan Bichakhchyan". fcararat.am/. FC Ararat Yerevan. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
12. "Official statement: Edgar Torosyan". fcararat.am/. FC Ararat Yerevan. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
13. "ԱՇՏՈՆԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՅՏԱՐԱՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ". facebook.com/FCAlashkert/ (in Armenian). FC Alashkert Facebook. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
14. "Noah terminated contract with the head coach Viktor Bulatov by mutual agreement". facebook.com/noah.footballclub/. FC Noah Facebook. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
15. "We are pleased to announce that Igor Picusciac is returning to Noah". facebook.com/noah.footballclub/. FC Noah Facebook. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
16. "Կայացավ ՀՖՖ Ակումբների արտոնագրման կոմիտեի նիստը". ffa.am (in Armenian). Football Federation of Armenia. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
17. Article 14.02 Regulations
18. "VBET Premier League - Top Scorers". soccer24.com. Soccer24. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
19. "Ararat Yerevan 6-1 Noah". soccer24.com. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
20. "Urartu 5-0 BKMA Yerevan". soccer24.com. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
21. "Alashkert 1-4 Pyunik". soccer24.com. 21 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
22. "Noravank 3-1 Noah". soccer24.com. 19 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
23. "Yeghishe Melikyan is the best coach of VBET Armenian Premier League season 2021/2022". ffa.am. Football Federation Armenia. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
24. "Hugo Firmino is the best player of VBET Armenian Premier League season 2021/2022". ffa.am. Football Federation Armenia. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.

External links

• Official website