April 14, 2024
These diaries had previously reported nearly 30 times on the Women’s Belarus Premier League, but this would be the first time the Belarus Women’s national side had been covered. Men’s football in Armenia had been featured half a dozen times, but this was the first time Armenia’s women’s football would be included.
Belarus National Team
Belarus were currently 45th in the FIFA rankings, with their highest ever ranking being 37th in 2012.
Belarus came bottom of their group in the 2025 UEFA Nations League to be relegated to League C. They were able to play three 0-0 away draws, against higher ranked Serbia, Finland and Hungary, but lost their three “home” matches, which due to the sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were played behind closed doors and on neutral territory. A 0-2 defeat was suffered to Hungary in Serbia, 0-3 to Serbia in Italy, and 0-3 to Finland in Hungary.
Since then, Belarus had won 5 consecutive friendlies, beating Azerbaijan 2-0 and 3-0 at home, Malta 2-0 and 1-0 away, and 2-1 in Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1, before a 0-2 loss to Greece in a game also played in Bosnia.
Belarus Squad
The national squad used to be nearly all players from Dinamo-BGU Minsk, with a couple from FK Minsk, and one or two playing in Russia. However, since the sanctions on Belarus, which has reduced the financial strength of the domestic league, there had been an exodus of nearly all of the experienced players to play abroad, with the home-based players in the national squad now being virtually all youngsters in the early stages of their career.
Of the squad announced for the two matches this week, seven played in Russia, two played in Georgia, and there was one each in Turkey, Hungary and Portugal. Only three players were with Dinamo-BGU and two with FK Minsk, and in a sign of the times, three were with Dnepr-Mogilev and two with Dynamo Brest.
Among the former Dinamo-BGU players now in exile were full-back Yulia Slesarchik ( 58 caps ) and centre-back Arina Sitnikava ( 11 caps ) who now both played for Lusso in Georgia, midfielders Anastasia Shlapakova ( 41 caps ) and Anastasia Kovaleva ( 10 caps ) had signed for Dinamo Moscow, midfielder Anastasia Linnik ( 51 caps ) was playing for Lokomotiv Moscow and forward Karina Olkhovik ( 48 caps ) was now playing for Fenebache,
Ex-FK Minsk players in the squad included keeper Nataliya Voskobovich ( 53 caps ), who was now with Russian side Zenit St Petersburg, Melana Surovtseva ( 29 caps ), who scored 58 goals in 2023 was playing in Hungary for Puskas Academy, and defender Anna Kozyupa ( 58 caps ) was now with Lokomotiv Moscow. Midfield dynamo Valeria Belaya ( 22 caps ) had gone to be play in Hungary for Pecs, but returned to FK Minsk towards the end of last season.
Viktoriya Valyuk ( 25 caps ) had played for both Dinamo-BGU and FK Minsk and scored 35 times for FK Minsk last season but was now in Portugal with Guimares, whilst forward Elizaveta Sergeychik ( 4 caps ) was with Russian side Zvezda having started out at Neman Grodno.
Armenia National Side
Armenia were 150th in the FIFA rankings, with the only European nations below them being Andorra, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein. This represented the lowest they had ever been in the rankings, with their highest position being 83rd in 2003.
In the 2025 UEFA Nations League Tournament, Armenia achieved their highest ever victory in their history with a 6-1 home win over Liechtenstein, and a 2-0 home win was also record over Kazakhstan. However, there were two losses to Luxembourg ( H 1-3, A 0-2 ), a 2-3 defeat in Kazakhstan and a 2-2 draw in Liechtenstein, where an 89th minute equaliser prevented an embarrassing defeat.
In 2021, Armenia lost 0-21 to Belgium…….
The side’s nickname is Ararat, after the nearby mountain where Noah came to rest.
Armenian Domestic League
The Armenian Women’s Premier League consists of just four sides, who play each other 6 times for an 18-game season. Pyunik had won the last two titles, and at the time of writing were on course to retain their title, having won all 12 of their games played so far, and were 18 points clear of second placed Urartu.
The First League has 10 sides this season, with Noah currently having an 100% record after 13 matches, but Shirak were only 8 points behind having played one game fewer.
Although Armenia had the lowest UEFA co-efficient of countries that entered the 2025/26 UEFA Women’s Champions League, Pyunik beat Bulgarian side NSA Sofia 1-0 in a game played on neutral territory in North Macedonia, but then were eliminated 4-0 by North Macedonian champions Ljuboten.
Armenia Squad
Details of the Armenian squad were difficult to verify, with many sources on the internet appearing to be out of date, especially with respect to number of caps won and even the players’ current clubs.
Australian born midfielder Claudia Cholakian played for Actonians in the fourth tier in England, and German born captain Maral Artin has played for several sides in Germany and Spain, and now appeared to be with Motril CF in the 5th tier in Spain.
Several of the squad were playing in Russia, including keeper Alina Poghosyan ( Krylya Sovetov Samara ), centre-backs Svetlana Karagezyan and Liana Ghazaryan and wing-back Oksanna Pizlova ( all Rostov ), and midfielder Anna Dallakyan ( Ryazan ).
Forward Veronika Asatryan had played in Estonia for FC Ararat but was now back in Armenia with Urartu, whilst Canadian born Lara Kazandjian now seemed to be playing in Italy for Serie B side Res Donna Roma. Midfielder Isabella Nersesian was playing in Poland for KKP Warszawa and defender Sophie Harutunian was playing in the USA.
World Cup Qualification
The 2027 Women’s World Cup will be hosted by Brazil and contested by 32 teams. The 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup was the qualification process for Asia, and had already provided 6 direct qualifiers and the two sides to enter the inter-continental play-offs.
The qualification process from UEFA for the 2027 World Cup had only recently started and is extremely complicated. Teams were first allocated based of rankings from the 2025 UEFA Nations League, with the top 16 forming four groups in Group A, the next 16 into four divisions in Group B, with the rest into 6 groups in Group C.
The four Group A winners will qualify directly for the Finals, whilst 32 sides will compete in a series of play-offs to determine the 7 other sides to qualify for the Finals, and one country to enter the Inter-continental play-offs.
Group C will provide 8 countries for the play-offs, the six group winners and the two best runners-up.
Belarus and Armenia had been drawn in a group together with Kazakhstan. Two matches were played last month, with Kazakhstan playing their two home games, beating Armenia 3-0 but falling to a 0-1 defeat to Belarus thanks to a goal from Dinamo-BGU Minsk’s Anna Sinyavskaya 20 minutes from time.
Matchday Information
The match was being played at the 14,303 capacity Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, which is more commonly simply referred to as the Republican Stadium. It is all-seater, has a grass pitch and is home to FC Pyunik and FC Ararat-Armenia, as well as the National teams.
The weather at the 16.00 local time kick-off ( 13.00 UK ) was sunny and 12 degrees.
Armenia made three changes from the side that lost in Kazakhstan, with Poghosyan replacing Sofine Kevorkian in goal. Cholakian and Pyunik striker Tatev Khachatryan replaced Marianna Vardanyan and Isabela Nersesian, who were both amongst the substitutes.
Belarus made just one change from the side that was victorious in Kazakhstan, with Elizaveta Sergeychik replacing Karina Olkhovik up front
The referee was Sarah Telek from Austria.
The was shown live on the Belarus Football Federation YouTube channel. Bet365, who also live streamed the match had Belarus as 2/25 favourites, with Armenia at 16/1 and the draw at 10/1.
Armenia were playing in an all-red kit with the players’ names written in Roman script rather than Armenian script, whilst Belarus were in all pale green with no names on the back of their shirts.
Match Report
Armenia almost got off to a dream start. The Belarus defence looked uncomfortable in dealing with Artin’s ball into the area from the left, and the ball fell kindly to Khachatryan, whose modest shot struck the arm of Kozyupa. However, the referee deemed the arm to be in a natural position and waved play on.
That was virtually the only time Armenia posed a threat, as they were unable to register a shot on target during the whole game, and Belarus were soon dominating possession.
A minute later, after Pizlova could only partially clear a cross from the left wing, Slesarchik’s shot from the edge of the area went high and wide, and in the 6th minute Shlapakova ran into the Armenian area but her shot was pushed around the post by the diving Poghosyan for a corner.
After being pinned in their own half for several minutes, Armenia were able to work their way forward and won their first, and only corner of the game in the 10th minute. However, Artin’s delivery was headed away by Surovtseva.
Slesarchik was released to the right byline, but her cross was headed off for a corner by Karagezyan at the near post.
The Belarus pressure eventually told. After a corner was cleared, Linnik’s square pass invited left-back Zarina Kapustina, who now plays for Dnepr Mogilev, to run at the Armenian defence. After getting past Khachatryan and Dallakyan, Kapustina shot from just inside the angle of the penalty area. Karagezyan stuck out a leg in an effort to block, but only succeeded in deflecting the ball past the wrong-footed keeper. 0-1 after 17 minutes.
Just before Armenia could restart, the referee mysteriously showed a yellow card to Shlapakova, with the Belarus player baffled as to what the offence was. It may have been she had left the field without permission ?
However, Shlapakova shrugged off this set-back and was becoming increasingly influential in driving Belarus forward, and after one flowing move, Sergeychik flashed a ball across the goal-mouth but off for a goal-kick. Shlapakova then managed to get on the end of a cross from Kapustina from close to the corner flag, but the glancing header was well off target.
In the 28th minute, a short corner was played to Linnik, who crossed to beyond the far post, but Shlapakova’s header was an easy save for Poghosyan.
In a rare foray into the Belarus half, Artin showed good skill to get away from Shlapakova and found Pizlova raiding down the left wing, but the cross was poor and an easy catch for Voskobovich.
Shortly after Armenia attempted to build out from the back from a goal-kick but Ghazaryan’s back pass was under hit, forcing Poghosyan to dive bravely at the feet of Surovtseva.
Sergeychik then made a good run down the left-hand touchline to get to Linnik’s incisive through ball, and passed to the under-lapping Kapustina, whose low cross from byline reached Surovtseva with her back to goal. The Belarus centre-forward turned, but her left footed shot from 6 yards deflected off Karagezyan and bobbled a few inches wide of the far post.
All the play was now in the Armenia half, and Belarus won another corner when a long-range effort from Slesarchik deflected well wide off Ghazaryan. Linnik’s set-piece bounced into the near post side netting.
With half-time approaching Surovtseva ran onto Sinyavskaya’s ball down the right-hand channel and crossed from the right, but brave defending by Harutunian cleared the ball as Sergeychik clattered into her on the 6-yard line. However, Sergeychik came out worst from the collision and had to leave the field on a stretcher to be replaced by Kovaleva.
At the interval, Belarus’ one goal lead didn’t reflect their dominance, but their only goal had been a deflection and they had created very few clear-cut chances.
Armenia nearly shot themselves in the foot almost immediately after the start of the second as the home side tried to pass around the back four but Ghazaryan’s wild clearance went high in the air, but Surovtseva’s first touch let her down, and the chance was gone as Ghazaryan recovered from her mistake.
The game’s slightly controversial moment occurred in the 52nd minute. Kapustina floated a left footed chip towards the 6-yard line, which was headed away under pressure by Ghazaryan. Belaya was first onto the loose ball, and her first time shot deflected off the keeper to Surovtseva who turned and steered the ball past the three defenders between her and the goal-line. However, the goal was disallowed, although it wasn’t exactly clear why ! It wasn’t offside, so it could have been the referee thought Ghazaryan had been fouled in making the defensive header, but any contact was minimal ? Alternatively, there may have been a handball as Surovtseva controlled the ball ?
It didn’t take long for Belarus to score a second legitimate goal though through a lovely worked move. Kapustina played a ball down the left-hand channel which Kovaleva kept in play with a first time cross towards the penalty spot. The on-rushing Shlapakova reacted the quickest and took one touch before lashing the bouncing ball left-footed past the helpless keeper from 8 yards. 0-2 after 56 minutes.
Armenia’s response saw Khachatryan do well to run down the touch-line to the by-line but her cross was cut-out at the near post.
Belarus substitute Lia Tikhomirova looked to make an early impact following her introduction, but her 20-yard effort flew a few feet over the bar.
Substitute Valyuk then teed up Tikhomirova after receiving a throw-in but the shot was blocked by Asatryan, and Linnik’s follow-up was also blocked. When the loose ball rolled to Kapustina, the shot from her weaker right foot went harmlessly wide.
With 65 minutes on the clock, Tikhomirova did well to win possession and fed Valyuk inside the Armenian area, who beat one defender, but Harutunian averted the danger with a sliding tackle to concede a corner. Three minutes later the lively Tikhomirova played a pass into Valyuk inside the Armenian area, this time on the left-hand side, but after again beating one defender, this time it was Karagezyan was covering to put the ball out for a corner.
In the 73rd minute Belaya passed to Tikhomirova, who played a give and go with Valyuk, to be clear with only the keeper to beat, but Poghosyan made a good close range save diving to her left, and Ghazaryan hoofed the loose ball to safety.
Belarus wrapped up the game with a third goal, which came from a free-kick mid-way inside the Armenian half. Linnik shaped up to take the free-kick but ran past the ball and the defensive wall and received the pass from Kovaleva, and then squared to Valyuk, who took a touch and then finished from 8 yards. 0-3 with 78 minutes on the clock.
The closing stages of the game mostly fizzled out, although Kovaleva shot over the bar from the edge of the area after a neat passing build up, and there was still time for Pizlova to receive a yellow card after a shirt-pull on Kolaleva, and Poghosyan needed to come smartly off her line to dive on a through ball to deny Kovaleva.
Asatryan collapsed with cramp whilst in possession, leading to the referee stopping play for treatment to be given, but Asatryan had to be replaced.
As the game moved into the 4th added minute, the hard-working Harutunian went on a strong run towards the byline but was chopped down by Kapustina just before she could get into the Belarus penalty area, and Kapustina became the third player in the game to see yellow.
Artin played the free-kick short to Kazandjian, but her shot was blocked by Dynamo Brest’s Olga Kapysha, and when Armenia reworked possession Ghazaryan’s 40 yard attempt sailed harmlessly high over the bar.
At the final whistle Belarus moved to the top of the group with two wins from two, and a win on Saturday over Kazakhstan, which is being played in Gori in Georgia, would assure Belarus a place in the play-offs. Whilst not mathematically eliminated, Armenia now have little chance now of qualifying.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXbbOjIFe6A
Armenia : Poghosyan – Harutunian, Karagezyan, Ghazaryan, Pizlova – Dallakyan ( Nersesian ), Cholakian ( Martirosyan ), Kazandjian, Asatryan ( Badalyan ) – Khachatryan ( Sayadyan ), Artin
Belarus : Voskobovich – Slesarchik, Kozyupa, Sitnikova, Kapustina – Shlapakova ( Kapysha ), Belaya, Linnik ( Cherlenok ), Sinyavskaya ( Tikhomirova ) – Sergeychik ( Kovaleva ), Surovtseva ( Valyuk )
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