Armenia lose to Cyprus in Nations League and drop to third in the group

The Armenia national team suffered a defeat in the third round of the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League. Yeghishe Melikyan’s side lost 2-0 away to Cyprus in Nicosia.

The hosts largely decided the outcome of the match in the first half. Konomis opened the scoring in the 19th minute, before Kakoullis doubled Cyprus’ advantage in the 31st minute.

The situation became more favorable for Armenia after the break, as Kostas Pileas was sent off in the 52nd minute, leaving Cyprus with ten men. Armenia spent most of the remainder of the second half on the attack and put the hosts under pressure, but failed to create enough clear-cut chances in front of Fabiano’s goal.

Armenia’s task was made even more difficult by personnel problems. Artem Bandikyan suffered an injury during the match, while Artur Garibyan was injured during the warm-up and was unable to take part in the game.

After Artur Miranyan was substituted, Armenia effectively finished the match without a recognized centre-forward. Gor Manvelyan, Narek Oganesyan and even defender Georgiy Harutyunyan took turns playing through the middle in attack. Despite having a numerical advantage and needing to come from behind, the coaching staff had virtually no attacking options left on the bench.

In addition, Edgar Sevikyan received a yellow card and will be suspended for Armenia’s next match.

Line-ups

Armenia (5-2-3): Beglaryan — Bandikyan (52, Terteryan), Simonyan (63, Iwu), Piloyan, Harutyunyan, Tiknizyan — K. Oganesyan, Spertsyan — Sevikyan (46, Grigoryan), Manvelyan (78, N. Oganesyan) — Miranyan (63, Nalbandyan).

Cyprus (4-4-2): Fabiano — Konomis, Kyprianou, Panayiotou, Pileas — Loizou (68, Tzionis), Kastanos (84, Artymatas), Andreou, Edwards (68, Neofytou) — Kakoullis (54, Malekkidis), Pittas (84, Georgiou).

In the other Group C2 match, Montenegro defeated Latvia 2-1 and moved onto a perfect nine points after three rounds.

Group C2 standings after three matches

1. Montenegro — 9 points

2. Cyprus — 4

3. Armenia — 3

4. Latvia — 1

Armenia’s next match will take place on October 5 in Podgorica against Montenegro.