YEREVAN: Federal MP Mr. John Alexander and the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) have raised their desire to see Armenia’s national football teams playing against Australia’s in Sydney, during a Yerevan meeting with Mr. Armen Melikbekyan, who is the General Secretary and Vice-President of the Football Federation of Armenia.
Mr. Alexander - the Federal Australian Member for Bennelong and a former World No.8 ranked tennis champion - and ANC-AU’s Mr. Haig Kayserian were well-received by Mr. Melikbekyan, who agreed it was a good idea, and explained the roadmap to make it a reality.
“Armenian-Australians eventually want to see the Armenian national team and Henrikh Mkhitaryan lining up against the Socceroos at one of Sydney’s major stadiums,” said Kayserian.
“This is our medium-term goal, and the primary hurdle we will need to overcome to try and encourage Australia’s football federation to consider such a proposal is Armenia’s schedule with ongoing European Championships qualifiers. We will remain in communication with Mr. Melikbekyan until the schedule is more clear.”
Kayserian added: “In the meantime, we will look to see if we can help organise an international friendly between one of Armenia’s junior national teams against their Australian equivalents in Sydney.”
Mr. Melikbekyan, Mr. Alexander and Mr. Kayserian also discussed the state-of-the-art Avan Football Academy in Armenia and its potential uses to Australian football, as well as new initiatives in Armenian football, including next year’s introduction of a women’s national team.
“Eligible Armenian-Australians of excellent quality are encouraged to trial for Armenia’s new women’s team, which they hope will one day be as good as our world-beating Matildas,” said Kayserian.
