Gor, Karlen and Narek — three more newcomers to the Armenia national team

As Armenia national football team head coach Yeghishe Melikyan announced during a podcast, three more debutants will appear in the national team: goalkeeper Gor Matinyan, midfielder Karlen Hovhannisyan, and winger Narek Hovhannisyan.

Earlier we also wrote about two other debutants — forward Finn Geragusian and defender Junior Bueno, who will also join the national team.

All newcomers will be called up for the friendly matches against the United Arab Emirates (March 26) and Belarus (March 29).

Gor Matinyan, Karlen Hovhannisyan, Finn Geragusyan and Narek Hovhannisyan are players of the Armenia U21 national team. At the same time, Armenia U21 will play UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying matches against Poland (March 27) and North Macedonia (March 31). Therefore, new players are also expected to appear in the youth team.

Gor Matinyan has been part of the Armenia U21 team for three consecutive years and has played several outstanding matches at the international level. He is considered one of the most promising goalkeepers in the country, and Yeghishe Melikyan speaks very positively about him. In the upcoming matches, he will likely receive playing time with the main national team.

However, things have not been going as well for Matinyan at club level. Last season he played 6 matches in the Armenian Premier League for Urartu. He began the current season as the starting goalkeeper and also played 6 matches, but afterwards Alexander Mishiev started playing more frequently. Mishiev, by the way, is also a candidate for the Armenia national team and has Armenian roots. At the moment he has some issues with his documents.

Karlen Hovhannisyan is well known to Yeghishe Melikyan. It was Melikyan who made Karlen a starting player for Pyunik before becoming the national team head coach. This season the 20-year-old midfielder has played 13 matches in the league and one match in the UEFA Conference League. Karlen has been called up to replace the injured Ugochukwu Iwu in the defensive midfield position.

In the Armenia U21 team, Hovhannisyan was one of the leaders, recording 11 appearances and one goal.

For two consecutive seasons he performed successfully for BKMA before returning to Pyunik:

• 2024/25 season — 27 matches, 2 goals and 1 assist

• 2023/24 season — 23 matches

Thus, he already has three seasons of senior-level football experience. Karlen is not tall (170 cm), but he is a very tenacious midfielder capable of winning the ball and initiating attacks with passes of different ranges. He also possesses an excellent long-range shot.

19-year-old winger Narek Hovhannisyan still plays for BKMA and is having another very successful season for the second year in a row. Last season he played 30 matches, scored 5 goals and made 6 assists. This season he has 15 matches, 6 goals and 2 assists.

At the moment he has scored the most open-play goals among Armenian players in the Premier League. Only Karen Nalbandyan has more with 8 goals, but 5 of them were penalties.

Narek has been called up to the national team to replace Lucas Zelarayán, who will no longer play for the national side, and also to compete with Zhirayr Shaghoyan on the left wing of the attack.

The young footballer has very unusual technique and is capable of deciding moments on his own.

By the way, Narek Hovhannisyan has already attracted the attention of many foreign clubs. However, he cannot move to another team yet because he is currently completing his military service at BKMA. About half a season remains until the end of his service. Therefore, after successful matches for the national team, a transfer to a stronger league is quite possible.

It is likely that there will be other debutants in the national team whom Yeghishe Melikyan has not yet mentioned. The full list of players from the Armenian league called up to the national team will be published soon. So far, only the players performing abroad have been announced.