Albert Agadzhanov, the goalkeeper of Armenia’s national futsal team, started playing sports professionally only at the age of 27. Now, he has made history in Armenian sports by helping the national team qualify for the EURO for the first time.
In an interview with the press service of the TZMS club, he spoke about Armenia’s historic achievement, his career, and his life journey.
On Qualifying for EURO 2026:
"I had never experienced anything like this in my life, especially in the last match against Kazakhstan. I realized that, at this moment, it was the most important match of my career. Before the game, I was literally shaking, my hands were trembling, but we pulled ourselves together and won.
We celebrated, we marked the moment—this is an achievement for the entire Armenian nation. For the first time in any sport, an Armenian national team has qualified for the EURO in a team competition. We made history as the first Armenian futsal team to reach the EURO. It’s an indescribable feeling. We have an excellent team, and from the very first match, we set our goal and worked towards it. Now, we are all looking forward to the EURO."
On Scoring a Crucial Goal Against Kazakhstan:
Agadzhanov scored one of the goals in the decisive game and admits he loves scoring:
"I love scoring goals. When I played big football as a kid, I was both a central midfielder and a forward. Then I switched to futsal, and in some tournaments, I even played as an outfield player. As you may have noticed from the games, I like joining the attack and taking a shot. And I love scoring!"
On His Armenian Heritage:
"My father is Armenian—my biological father—so that’s how I ended up here. When I went to the embassy, I showed my birth certificate, and in it, my father’s nationality was listed as Armenian. That’s how I ended up in the team, through my ethnic origin.
Our last name was Agadzhanyan before World War II, but after the war, it was changed to Agadzhanov. So, I am completely… well, not completely—50% Armenian, because my mother is Russian."
On His Late Start in Professional Sports:
"I started playing futsal when I entered university. We had a strong futsal team at the State Maritime University. We competed at the Krasnodar regional level and in the Russian Transport Universities Spartakiad. For 14 years, the Moscow Aviation University team had won, but we managed to break their streak once.
After graduating, I worked as a logistics supplier, but every weekend, I played amateur football. One day, a guy from Syktyvkar noticed me and asked if I wanted to try out for the Super League.
At that time, I was already 26, almost 27. I said, 'Of course, I do!' On January 5, 2021, I arrived at "Novaya Generatsiya" for a trial, signed a six-month contract, and after two months, I played well enough to get a full three-year deal. Then I played for "Generatsiya," moved to "Rostov," then to "Sibtransit" for 1.5 years, and later joined TZMS.
I made my national team debut two months later. I started my professional futsal career at 27, and now I’m in my fifth season."