Argishti Petrosyan made his debut for Armenia at the age of 33: a journey from the First League and Lebanon to the national team

Yerevan BKMA centre-back Argishti Petrosyan has taken an unusual path to the Armenia national team. He was never considered one of the leading talents of his generation, was never valued at a large transfer fee, never played in one of Europe’s top leagues, and spent most of his career with Armenian clubs.

But at the age of 33 years and 11 months, Petrosyan finally received his chance with the national team — and took advantage of it.

The defender made his Armenia debut in the opening round of the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League against Latvia. After the break, he replaced the injured Julio Bueno and helped the team keep a clean sheet as Armenia won 2-0.

Three days later, the story continued. In the match against Montenegro, Petrosyan made his first start for the national team and played the full 90 minutes. Armenia lost 2-3, but the defender himself produced a solid performance.

Petrosyan had a difficult task against Montenegro’s powerful striker Nikola Krstović. At around 182 cm tall, the Armenian defender does not have outstanding physical size for a centre-back. Nevertheless, he compensated for that with his positioning, speed and huge work rate.

Against Montenegro, Petrosyan made 10 clearances — more than any other player in the match, won four aerial duels and, together with Jirair Shaghoyan, recorded the highest top speed among Armenia players — 33.4 km/h.

For a 33-year-old centre-back, that is a particularly impressive figure.

He was not considered a major talent and never played for the U21 national team

Argishti Petrosyan’s career is very different from the path taken by most players who eventually debut for the senior national team.

He was not a star of youth football and never established himself with Armenia U21. At youth level, Petrosyan made three appearances for the U19 national team.

In his generation, the centre-back position featured Varazdat Haroyan and Taron Voskanyan, both of whom established themselves at a high level much earlier and went on to become long-serving players for the senior national team.

Petrosyan had to take a different route.

According to specialised football databases, his market value never exceeded approximately €175,000. Today, he is valued at around €150,000. The defender does not even have his own Wikipedia page — another small detail that underlines just how unexpected his national-team debut was.

Banants and the only European matches of his career

Petrosyan began his professional career with Yerevan club Banants, now known as Urartu.

He was unable to establish himself in the first team, but it was during this period that he gained his first — and so far only — experience in European competition.

In the 2011/12 season, Petrosyan played two UEFA Europa League qualifying matches against Georgian club Metallurgi Rustavi.

In the first leg, the 18-year-old defender came on after the break, while in the return match he was already included in the starting line-up and played the full 90 minutes. Petrosyan has not played in European competition since.

After Banants came a spell at Ulisses, but once again the defender was unable to fully establish himself as one of the team’s key players.

It seemed that his career was gradually following a familiar path in Armenian football — moving between domestic clubs with little prospect of ever reaching the national team.

Two almost forgotten years in Lebanon

One of the more unusual chapters in Petrosyan’s career came in Lebanon.

In 2014, the defender joined Beirut-based Homenetmen, a club representing the Armenian community that competed in the country’s second division.

Petrosyan spent two seasons in Lebanon.

In the 2014/15 campaign, Homenetmen finished third and missed promotion to the top division by just one point: the team collected 37 points, while second-placed Al-Hikma finished with 38.

The following season, Homenetmen finished fourth.

That period is rarely remembered today, even though Petrosyan spent two full years playing outside Armenia.

Return to Armenia and a goal against Esteghlal

In 2016, Petrosyan returned home and joined Yerevan club Ararat.

It was there that he finally began receiving consistent playing time. In the 2016/17 season, the defender made around 26 appearances in all competitions and became a regular starter.

In the summer of 2017, Petrosyan even scored a rare goal for a centre-back.

In a friendly against one of Iran’s most famous clubs, Tehran-based Esteghlal, Argishti scored Ararat’s only goal. The Yerevan side lost 1-2.

Petrosyan later played for Artsakh, which was subsequently renamed Noah, as well as for Yerevan FC.

The Armenia national team still seemed a long way away.

The First League at 27 and a new stage of his career

In the 2019/20 season, Petrosyan found himself in the Armenian First League, playing for Van.

For a footballer approaching the age of 30, such a move hardly looked like a step towards the national team.

Yet it was in Charentsavan that his career began to rise again.

Petrosyan helped Van win promotion to the Premier League before spending several more strong seasons with the club in the top flight.

But the most unusual chapter of his career was still ahead of him.

BKMA changed Petrosyan’s own career

At the age of 29, Petrosyan joined BKMA.

The army club traditionally builds its squad around young Armenian footballers who complete their military service at the age of 18-20, while the experienced defender was given a special role — not only to play himself, but also to help develop his younger teammates.

For Petrosyan, it was a new challenge. He had to remain an example for players who were significantly younger than him: maintaining a professional approach to training, staying in strong physical condition and demonstrating a high level of discipline.

In the end, this approach benefited not only the younger players but Petrosyan himself.

During his years at BKMA, he developed into a consistent and reliable defender, while age had little visible effect on his physical condition.

Alongside Petrosyan, future Armenia internationals Styopa Mkrtchyan and Erik Simonyan came through BKMA’s defence, while several other young defenders progressed to the national youth teams: Petik Manukyan, Poghos Krmzyan, Mark Avetisyan and Andranik Hakobyan.

While BKMA’s young players were gradually making their way into national teams at various age levels, Petrosyan himself unexpectedly progressed all the way to the senior national team.

In the current Armenian league season, he has played all eight of BKMA’s opening matches without being substituted. In previous seasons, Petrosyan also remained one of the army club’s regular starters.

As a result, at the age of 33, the defender — who had seemingly long passed the usual age for a first national-team call-up — reached the best level of his career.

Petrosyan is one of Armenia’s oldest-ever debutants

Argishti Petrosyan’s debut at the age of 33 years and 11 months is one of the latest in the history of the Armenia national team.

However, most players who first represented Armenia after turning 30 made their debuts in the first half of the 1990s, when the national team was only being formed following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

At that time, the age of debutants had a completely different meaning: older Armenian players simply had no opportunity to represent an independent Armenia earlier in their careers.

Roman Khachatryan — almost 35

The oldest debutant in Armenia national-team history remains defender Roman Khachatryan.

In 1994, he made his first appearance for the national team at approximately 34 years and 11 months. Moreover, Khachatryan immediately wore the captain’s armband in a friendly against Malta. Armenia won 1-0. The defender went on to make four more appearances for the national team.

Before Armenia established its own national team, Khachatryan had played for the Soviet Union youth team and spent most of his club career with Yerevan’s Ararat. He finished his career in France with Armenian community club AS Ararat Issy, from where he received his first call-up to the Armenia national team.

Garnik Avalyan — 34 years old

Another well-known example is Garnik Avalyan. The then-Krylia Sovetov forward made his Armenia debut in 1997 at around 34 years and eight months.

Avalyan’s first match came against Ukraine and ended 1-1. In total, the striker made seven appearances for the national team and scored two goals — in victories over Albania and Andorra.

Der Zakarian and Assadourian

Among Armenia’s older debutants were also representatives of the French-Armenian diaspora.

Michel Der Zakarian made his Armenia debut at approximately 33 years of age and went on to play five matches.

Eric Assadourian debuted after turning 30, made 12 appearances for the national team and scored three goals.

In the more modern era, late debuts have more often involved players who obtained Armenian citizenship or had previously spent their careers abroad.

Examples include goalkeepers David Yurchenko, Stanislav Buchnev and Aram Hayrapetyan, as well as forwards Ishkhan Geloyan and Lucas Zelarayán.

Gevorg Hovhannisyan debuted at 33 and played one match

A case much closer to Petrosyan’s story is that of defender Gevorg Hovhannisyan, because until recently it was very rare for footballers in Armenia to continue playing past the age of 30 if they were not being called up to the national team.

In 2016, Gevorg Hovhannisyan of Shirak made his Armenia debut at the age of 33.

Moreover, his debut did not come in a friendly but in a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Denmark. The defender played the full 90 minutes as Armenia lost 0-1.

That match remained his only appearance for the national team.

Artak Grigoryan showed how a late opportunity can change a career

But perhaps the most interesting comparison with Petrosyan is Artak Grigoryan.

Technically, the midfielder made his national-team debut back in 2010 at the age of 23, but on that occasion he spent only around a minute on the pitch. He became a genuine regular for Armenia much later — at around the age of 29.

Following problems in the national team’s defensive midfield position, caused in part by Karlen Mkrtchyan’s injuries and changes in the squad, Grigoryan received his chance and unexpectedly established himself in the team for many years.

He eventually made 51 appearances for Armenia and scored one goal. That lone goal was particularly memorable: Grigoryan scored in the famous match against Montenegro in 2016. Armenia were trailing 0-2 but came back to win 3-2.

Grigoryan was never regarded as a player who stood out for his technique or speed. His main strengths were character, work rate, discipline and the enormous amount of work he performed on the pitch.

With him in the team, Armenia won their UEFA Nations League group in 2020, competing against North Macedonia, Georgia and Estonia.

Grigoryan played the full 90 minutes in five matches during that campaign and came off the bench in one more.

His story showed that even a chance received late in a player’s career can completely change his future with the national team.

How many more matches will Petrosyan play for Armenia?

Repeating Artak Grigoryan’s path will not be easy for Argishti Petrosyan.

His national-team call-up coincided with several personnel problems in central defence. Due to injuries, Sergey Muradyan and Styopa Mkrtchyan were unavailable, while Julio Bueno was injured during the September international window.

It was precisely after Bueno’s injury that Petrosyan was given the opportunity to make his debut.

Once his competitors recover, the battle for a place in the squad will become significantly tougher. In addition, Petrosyan is already almost 34, so the national team is unlikely to build its long-term defensive line around him.

But that is no longer the most important thing. Argishti Petrosyan waited for a chance that only a few years ago seemed almost impossible.

His journey took him through the Banants bench, Ulisses, Lebanon’s second division, clubs from the lower half of the Armenian league table, the First League and the role of an experienced mentor to BKMA’s young players.

And more than 15 years after his first matches in professional football, he finally wore the shirt of the senior national team.

And he did not simply come on for a few minutes. In his first match, he helped Armenia protect their winning scoreline, and in his second, he played the full 90 minutes, made more clearances than any other player and reached a top speed of 33.4 km/h.

Sometimes the road to the national team does not begin at the age of 20. Argishti Petrosyan had to wait until he was almost 34.