Ricardo Dionisio Appointed as New Head Coach of Yerevan’s Ararat

Yerevan’s Ararat has officially announced the appointment of Ricardo Dionisio as the club’s new head coach.

The 43-year-old Portuguese specialist has solid international experience. In the 2023–2024 season, Dionisio was in charge of Swiss club Stade Lausanne Ouchy, which is owned by Ararat co-owner Vartan Srmakesh. His most recent job was at Brazilian side Botafogo, where he worked as an assistant head coach. Previously, Dionisio was also part of the coaching staffs of well-known clubs such as Benfica, Porto, Braga, and several other teams.

Alongside Ricardo Dionisio, Ararat’s coaching staff will include Ecuadorian Marco Duran Montenegro, Gevorg Poghosyan, and goalkeeping coach Erik Khachatryan.

Dionisio replaces Albert Safaryan as head coach. The Portuguese specialist has become Ararat’s first foreign head coach since 2020. The last foreign coach to work at the Yerevan club was Russian manager Igor Kolyvanov.

After 15 rounds of the current Armenian championship, Ararat sits at the bottom of the table in 10th place with just 3 points. The new head coach faces a difficult challenge to lead the team out of crisis and improve results in the second half of the season.