Armenia U21 complete Euro 2027 qualifying campaign: 1 point, 32 players and eight promoted to the senior team

The Armenia U21 national team has completed its campaign in the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers. Armen Gyulbudaghyants’ side played 10 matches, collected one point and finished sixth in Group E.

Armenia earned their only point in the final round, drawing 1-1 with Montenegro in Podgorica.

Armenia U21 failed to record a victory during the qualifying campaign, finishing with nine defeats and one draw and a goal difference of 5:25.

Who scored for Armenia U21

Davit Hakobyan finished as Armenia’s top scorer in the qualifying campaign with two goals.

Armenia U21 goals:

• 2 — Davit Hakobyan

• 1 — Vyacheslav Afyan

• 1 — Edik Vardanyan

• 1 — Narek Hovhannisyan

Misak Hakobyan, Edgar Piloyan and Suren Tsarukyan each provided one assist.

32 players represented Armenia U21

The coaching staff used 32 players throughout the qualifying campaign, including three goalkeepers.

Only three players appeared in all 10 qualifying matches:

• Petik Manukyan — 10 matches

• Davit Hakobyan — 10 matches

• Hamlet Sargsyan — 10 matches

Edik Vardanyan and Misak Hakobyan both made nine appearances.

The large number of players used can also partly be explained by the fact that several members of the U21 squad were given opportunities with the senior national team during the campaign.

Eight players received a chance with the senior national team

Despite the disappointing results in the standings, one of the main objectives of the U21 team remains preparing players for the next level.

During the campaign, the following players were called up or promoted to the Armenia senior national team:

Artem Bandikyan, Karlen Hovhannisyan, Narek Hovhannisyan, Artur Askaryan, Finn Geragusyan, Araik Eloyan, Artur Garibyan and Gor Matinyan.

That means eight players who featured for Armenia U21 were given the opportunity to work with the senior national team.

Several of them have already become important members of the senior side. Artem Bandikyan, Karlen Hovhannisyan, Narek Hovhannisyan and Artur Garibyan are now regularly receiving playing time at senior international level.

Bandikyan started each of Armenia’s first three matches in the current Nations League campaign. Karlen Hovhannisyan has also changed clubs during this period, moving up to a higher level in the Russian Premier League, while becoming an important rotation option for the national team. He played the full 90 minutes against Cyprus and was one of Armenia’s best performers.

Artur Garibyan scored a goal in the victory over Latvia, while Narek Hovhannisyan, according to Armenia head coach Yeghishe Melikyan, is currently viewed as the senior national team’s first-choice right winger.

Importantly, all four players began this qualifying cycle with the U21 team and remained regular starters at that level until the winter of 2025. Their subsequent progression to the senior national team became one of the main positive outcomes of the campaign.

Armenian goalkeepers saved all three penalties

One of Armenia’s most unusual statistics during the qualifying campaign was the performance of their goalkeepers from the penalty spot.

Opponents were awarded three penalties against Armenia — and all three were saved.

Gor Matinyan made two of those saves. He denied Cher Ndour from the penalty spot against Italy and also stopped Roony Bardghji from scoring against Sweden.

The third penalty was saved by Hayk Ghazaryan. In the home match against Italy, he kept out Luca Koleosho’s spot kick.

Not all nine defeats were one-sided

Finishing the campaign with just one point is an extremely disappointing result, but Armenia had several matches in which they had genuine chances of taking points.

In Yerevan, Armenia narrowly lost 0-1 to Italy, with the decisive goal coming only in the 95th minute.

The matches against North Macedonia were also competitive, ending 0-2 and 1-2, while Armenia lost 0-1 to Sweden and 1-2 in one of their meetings with Montenegro.

Armenia’s heaviest defeats came against Poland and in the away match against Italy.

In the final round, however, the team finally ended a run of nine consecutive defeats and finished the campaign with a 1-1 draw against Montenegro. Davit Hakobyan scored Armenia’s second-half equaliser from Suren Tsarukyan’s assist.

Final Group E standings

1. Italy — 27 points

2. Poland — 27

3. Sweden — 13

4. Montenegro — 12

5. North Macedonia — 7

6. Armenia — 1

For Armenia, the qualifying campaign was unsuccessful in terms of results, but several players gained valuable international experience and moved closer to establishing themselves in the senior national team.