Ground Capacity 15,000 Manager Mehdi dinvarzade Founded 1944 | Chairman Darvin avakian League Tehran Super League | |
Full name Football Club Ararat Tehran Owner Ararat Cultural Organization Grounds Ararat Stadium, Tehran, Iran | ||
FC Ararat (Persian: آرارات تهران) is an Armenian diaspora football team based in Tehran, Iran who play in the Tehran Province League. Ararat FC is the football club of the multisport Ararat Club in Iran.
Contents
Ararat has a policy of signing only players who have an Armenian heritage.
Establishment
The club was established in 1944 by a group of Armenian-Iranians. They named the club after the famous mountain of the same name. The club was run by an Armenian athletic organization and was one of few clubs in Iranian football to have its own private stadium and training facilities. The club has never had spectacular results, but has always provided talented players for Iranian football. It was heavily supported by the Armenian minority in Iran, but was also loved by many non-Armenian Iranians.
Drop to the lower leagues
The last time the club played in the top level of Iranian football was the 1995–96 season of the Azadegan League (current IPL). Due to the poor decisions of the club management, Ararat FC has spent most of the past few years playing in the 1st Division and 2nd Division of Iran's football leagues. Until recently the club had a policy of only employing Armenian staff and players, but with the team's poor form in the past few years, this decision has been overturned and non-Armenians have coached the team. The players though are all Armenian-Iranians. In the 2005–06 season the club came very close to promotion into the Azadegan League, but fell short in the last few weeks of the season.
In 2007–08 season they took the last place in their group and relegated to 3rd division but in July 2008, Iran Football Federation increased number of 2nd Division teams to 28 and Ararat still remained in 2nd Division.
A major changes heralded for Ararat in 2008, as the terrible state of the club's finances was revealed, they were unable to pay wages and had major debts. The club's owner, Armenian-Iranians, were able to raise some more money, but even this soon proved to be insufficient resources to sustain the club. They finished last in the 2nd Division (group A) standings of the 2008–09 season. Thus, being relegated to 3rd Division. After the club's relegation, Arrarat was dissolved by its owners.
Refounding
Arrarat was reopened on 9 October 2014 after a five years of absence. They also played a friendly match at the same day with Esteghlal XI which Ararat won 7–0 which showed their return. The club was placed in the Tehran Provincial League Division 1 and lost their first match 2–1. In 2015 the club was promoted to the Tehran Provincial League.
Season-by-season
The table below chronicles the achievements of Ararat in various competitions since 1965.
Current Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.