FC Alashkert
Also written as Alashkert.
The club
FC Alashkert were founded in 1990 in Martuni, in Armenia's Gegharkunik Province. The club struggled after relegation in 1992 and folded altogether in 2000. It was revived in late 2011 by the businessman Bagrat Navoyan, a Martuni native, and won the Armenian First League in its first season back, 2012-13. The name comes from Alashkert, the historic Armenian town in what was Western Armenia and is now Eleşkirt in Turkey; there is no other football club of the same name, and no ambiguity with any other Armenian or regional side was found in the sources read here.
In February 2013 the club relocated from Martuni to Yerevan after its ownership bought the Nairi Stadium, which was renamed the Alashkert Stadium. Capacity is 6,850. Because that ground falls short of UEFA's requirements for European competition, Alashkert have played their continental home fixtures at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium and, more recently, at the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium. The club's nickname is "The Yellows" (Դեղինները), after their yellow and black home kit; the away kit is white and navy. Ownership is shared between Bagrat Navoyan and Anton Zingarevich. The head coach is the Armenian Vahe Gevorgyan.
Recent seasons
Alashkert finished fifth in the Armenian Premier League in 2023-24, 45 points from 36 matches, 13 wins, 6 draws and 17 defeats, 54 goals scored and 56 conceded. The following season, 2024-25, was much worse: ninth of ten, 26 points from 30 matches, 6 wins, 8 draws and 16 defeats, only 24 goals scored against 52 conceded. They recovered sharply in 2025-26, with 53 points from 27 matches, 16 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats, 42 goals for and 23 against; sources read here disagreed on whether that was good enough for third or fourth place, but it was enough to send Alashkert into 2026-27 European qualifying behind Noah, who entered the Champions League, and Ararat-Armenia, who entered the Conference League at the second qualifying round.
Honours and landmarks
Alashkert have won the Armenian Premier League four times, in 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2020-21. They won the Armenian Cup once, in 2018-19, and the Armenian Supercup three times, in 2016, 2018 and 2021. Their only lower-division honour is the Armenian First League title in 2012-13, won in their first season after the 2011 revival.
The club's landmark European achievement came in 2021-22, when they became the first club from Armenia to reach the group stage of a UEFA club competition, qualifying for the Europa Conference League group stage after beating Kairat of Kazakhstan 3-2 after extra time in the third qualifying round. In the group stage that followed they took a point off Maccabi Tel Aviv, the first group-stage point won by an Armenian club in UEFA competition.
Notable scorelines
The club's biggest recorded win is 6-0 at home to FC Artsakh in 2018, and its heaviest defeat is 9-2 away to Gandzasar Kapan in 2013. The highest attendance for an Alashkert match was 59,047, away to Celtic in 2018. In Europe, Alashkert's heaviest defeat is 0-6 on aggregate to Celtic in the 2018-19 Champions League first qualifying round, including a 0-3 defeat in Glasgow. Their best European aggregate wins include 7-2 over Arsenal Tivat of Montenegro in the 2023-24 Conference League first qualifying round and 6-1 over Makedonija GP of North Macedonia in the 2019-20 Europa League first qualifying round.
European record
Alashkert's European history began in 2015-16, when they drew 2-2 on aggregate with St Johnstone of Scotland in the Europa League first qualifying round and went through on away goals, before losing 2-4 on aggregate to Kairat of Kazakhstan in the second round. In 2016-17 they beat Santa Coloma of Andorra 3-0 on aggregate in the Champions League first qualifying round before losing 1-3 to Dinamo Tbilisi. The following season followed the same pattern: past Santa Coloma again, 2-1 on aggregate, then out 2-4 to BATE Borisov.
2018-19 brought a heavy Champions League exit to Celtic, 0-6 on aggregate, before a switch to the Europa League saw them beat Sutjeska Nikšić of Montenegro 1-0 on aggregate and then lose 0-7 to CFR Cluj of Romania in the third qualifying round. In 2019-20 they beat Makedonija GP 6-1 on aggregate before losing 3-5 to FCSB of Romania, and in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign they went out in the first qualifying round, 0-1 to Renova of North Macedonia.
2021-22 was the club's best European season. They beat Connah's Quay Nomads of Wales 3-2 on aggregate in the Champions League first qualifying round, including a 1-0 extra-time win at home, before losing 1-4 to Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova. Dropping into the Europa League, they beat Kairat 3-2 after extra time in the third qualifying round, the result that sent them into the play-off round, where they lost 0-1 on aggregate to Rangers. That relegated them into the Conference League group stage, where they finished bottom of their group behind LASK, Maccabi Tel Aviv and HJK Helsinki but took a home draw off Maccabi Tel Aviv, 1-1.
In 2022-23 Alashkert lost 2-4 on aggregate to Ħamrun Spartans of Malta in the Conference League first qualifying round. In 2023-24 they beat Arsenal Tivat 7-2 on aggregate, including a 6-1 win away in Montenegro, before losing to Debrecen of Hungary on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw.
Head-to-head notes
No head-to-head pattern against a repeated European opponent was established from the sources read here; Alashkert have not faced the same club twice in qualifying since their run of Champions League ties against Santa Coloma in 2016-17 and 2017-18, which they won both times.
Quotes
No directly quoted material was confirmed from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Vahe Gevorgyan remains head coach. Alashkert entered the 2026-27 Conference League in the first qualifying round, drawn against Yelimay of Kazakhstan. The first leg at the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium on 9 July 2026 finished 1-1, Davit Terteryan equalising for Alashkert in the 86th minute after Arsen Ashirbek had put Yelimay ahead on 60 minutes; Vlatko Ilioski refereed in front of 1,264. The second leg, at the Spartak Stadium in Semey on 16 July 2026, went to extra time. Momo Touré put Alashkert ahead in the 4th minute, but Akmal Bakhtiyarov levelled for Yelimay in the 11th and Hrvoje Ilić put the home side 2-1 up on aggregate with a 96th-minute penalty, before an own goal in the first minute of second-half extra time, credited to Alashkert, made it 2-2 on the night and 3-3 on aggregate. Aleko Aptsiauri refereed in front of 7,900. Alashkert won the shootout 6-5 to advance.
The second qualifying round brought CFR Cluj of Romania. The first leg at the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium on 23 July 2026 finished 1-1, Rafael Santana scoring for Alashkert in the 35th minute before Andres Sfait equalised for CFR Cluj just after half-time, in the 46th; Eldorjan Hamiti of Albania refereed. The return at the Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium in Cluj-Napoca on 30 July 2026 was won 3-0 by CFR Cluj, who went through 4-1 on aggregate; Vilhjálmur Þórarinsson of Iceland refereed. The scorers and attendance for that second leg were not established from the sources read here. Alashkert's elimination puts them out of Europe for 2026-27; whether there was any consolation route into a lower competition was not established from the sources read here.
Domestically, Alashkert sit third in the Armenian Premier League after four rounds of 2026-27, with three wins and one defeat, nine goals scored and one conceded. The full run of results, Armenian Cup progress and the club's summer transfer business were not confirmed from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Alashkert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Armenian_Premier_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_phase_and_play-off_round https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_(first_and_second_round_matches) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alashkert
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.