Nicholai Kazaryan was one of the leading football players of the “Ararat” football club in the mid-1960s and 1970s. A high-speed, short forward, he was a dread to the defense of the strongest clubs in the USSR. Master of Sports, one of the best scorers in the Armenian football, he is a champion of the USSR of 1973, USSR Cup winner in 1973 and 1975, silver medalist of USSR championships in 1971 and 1976.
Kazaryan was born in 1947 in Baku in a family originating from Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1959 his family moved to Yerevan, where he began playing football under the guidance of Armo Durgaryan. Throughout his career, he played for Yerevan “Ararat.” In the late 1960s he was a member of the youth and Olympic teams of the USSR. He graduated from the High School of Coaches in Moscow, worked for two years in Ethiopia as a trainer and consultant of the national team. Back in Yerevan, he became the head of the Football Department of the Sports Committee of the Armenian SSR. In 1992-1994, he was the first president of the Football Federation of Armenia. Later he returned to coaching.
Due to health problems, the famous Ararat football player is not able to play for the veteran team. VK correspondent met with Nicholai Kazaryan in Yerevan and talked about the past and present of the Armenian football.
- Nicholai Andranikovich, what do you think was the secret for success of the Yerevan "Ararat" in the mid-1970s?
- The formation of the stellar team began already under Artem Grigorievich Falyan, who had been the coach of "Ararat" from 1965 to 1967. It was a vigorous and uncompromising man, utterly devoted to football. And he demanded the same from others. With his help "Ararat" returned to the big league and started laying the groundwork for future victories in the mid-1960s. Fortunately our team united great players under the leadership of Nikita Simonyan, who managed to unite a team of bright individuals. Talented and dedicated players worked in the team, patriots in the true sense of this word. After we became masters of sport, many of us received invitations to well-known clubs, but nobody left "Ararat". We had a very strong team spirit.
Our fans played a very important role. How they supported us! We were ready to die on the field to put up a good show. They were the real "twelfth" player of "Ararat." We had a good psychological climate in the team. After the match players and coaches spent time "debriefing" everyone’s play and we all could express our views and share experiences. This introspection helped us a lot. We did not dwell on mistakes and were constantly growing.
- At that time "Ararat" was in fact a national team of Armenia. What can you say about the current national team?
-When in August of this year, the Armenian team lost to Lithuanians in a friendly match with 0:3 I took the setback calmly just as I accepted the spring defeat in a meeting with Georgia (1-2). They lost, but worked with great commitment. We felt that sooner or later everything will be okay. There were good players, a battle-worthy team which was growing with every game. The coach of the Slovaks, Vladimir Weiss said that Armenia was showing the most aggressive combinational football game in our qualifying group for a reason. If back then some people took his words with skepticism, after the match in Zilina all doubts have disappeared.
Praising a team, you must always appreciate the work of its mentor. Vardan Minasyan made kids believe in themselves. This is not an easy task, but the young specialist managed to solve it. Let us not forget about the work of the Football Federation of Armenia. There are no trifles in football. Often, success depends on the most at first glance insignificant details. A great deal depends on the level of business organization.
- The team is growing in front of our eyes, but the championship remains weak. Why is it?
- Certainly, it is a touchy question. The number of teams is very small (the first league tournament in fact consists of farm-clubs). Nowadays some stadiums are abandoned; there are only few youth schools. With no football in the region it is very difficult to talk about the progress of local football. There are almost no teams from there, although in the past there was a completely different situation. Clubs must supply the national team with players, but we often have to invite citizens from abroad. There is nothing wrong about it, but this situation shows how weak our football is at the moment.
Our businessmen are still reluctant to invest in football. Or invest small money. Perhaps they are used to quickly make a profit, but it does not happen this way football. The national championship is a very special commercial product and you have to know how to promote it. We should invite strong players and interest the public. Hopefully, with time serious money will begin to be invested in the Armenian football, and the situation will change for the better. The federation leadership is making efforts, but it takes time.
- You were the first president of the Football Federation of Armenia. Were the first steps very difficult?
- They were difficult and we had to start much from scratch. At that time the country had only three professional teams - "Aratat", "Kotaik" and "Shirak". We were able to increase their number, to create the top and first league. Due to financial problems it was difficult to maintain the teams. Real pain, but we tried to keep up with world football. The legacy of the Soviet football school was there to help us.
- Today, Armenian clubs are unsuccessful at European competition. And there was a time when “Ararat” could compete with the formidable "Bavaria" ...
- I will never forget those meetings. It was the European Champion Clubs' Cup of the 1974/75 season. We met with the future winner at one fourth of the final. At that time "Bavaria" had several world champions of 1974 playing for it, including the great Franz Beckenbauer. This team had been winning the European Cup for three consecutive years from 1974. At that time, we had to compete with the strongest club in the world. In Munich, we lost with the score 0:2. I think our coach Viktor Maslov made a mistake. He was a great coach, but blundered in that game by choosing a closed defense strategy with five defenders. Ishtoyan and Makarov were forwards, while I remained in reserve. During the game, the Germans were close to our gates. Maslow was asked to introduce new blood, it was me and Nazar Petrosyan. We were speedy players and could catch the Germans on the counterattack, or at least move the game from our gates. Maslov did not obey, he wanted to retain the zero score. And in the end we got two goals in our gates.
In Yerevan we played beyond all praise. Until now, I cannot forget the atmosphere of the crowded stadium "Razdan" on March 19, 1975. In the first half of the game I gave a scoring pass to Arcadia Andreasyan. We just did not have enough simple sports luck for the second goal. I had two good moments, but goalkeeper Meyer reacted very well. In the second half, I was replaced by Khoren Oganesyan, who made his first steps in "Ararat." It is a pity a full recording of the match did not survive. We did not have enough physical strength in the end of the game, the speed given in the first minutes of the game was too fast.
At that Champions Cup "Bavaria" lost only once – to "Ararat." I remember we came to the locker room of the Germans after the game to exchange shirts, and they sat there with their heads bowed, despite the fact that they passed to the next round. The head coach of the Munich team, Dittmar Cramer said that "Bavaria" has no moral right to celebrate the victory during the post-match press conference. Indeed, there were times!
- Have you been invited to other clubs?
- I had an invitation from Moscow "Spartak" and Odessa "Chernomorets". I was even invited to work abroad, in the French "Olympic" and German "Kaiserslautern", but back then we could not even think about leaving the country. We had a different education. I even could not leave "Ararat", because the patriotism was not a mere word to us. Almost all the players had promising invitations, but no one left.
- What was the distinctive trait of football player Kazaryan at the football field?
- My main advantage was the speed. I had very high results according to the tests used for major leagues of the USSR, almost the best. I certainly would have not conceded to the today’s youth.
- What would you like to wish the current team on the eve of the final match of the qualifying tournament for Euro 2012?
- Let no one forget that the people believe in them. All are willing and waiting for a victory. One should play one’s heart out at the field. Many will never again have such a chance. At the same time one should not whip up the excitement, because then young players can simply burn out on the field. Let them play freely and relaxed and show all they can. Then everything will be okay.
Interview by Sergey Mkrtchyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for VK
