The presentation of the book “Ararat 73: The Golden Age of the Armenian Football” took place in an exciting, friendly, and nostalgic aura (photos)

For the first time in the history of Armenian football, “Ararat 73” became the USSR Cup winner. Suren Baghdasaryan reported the reports of Ararat's “Golden 1973” matches on Armenian television and radio. And those enormous materials became the reason for writing a book.

“By God's providence, I started my career as a commentator with the Ararat championship. Unfortunately, we did not have any victories before and after “Ararat 73”. The head coach Nikita Simonyan was an idol for all of us, he was an extraordinary person. Nikita's speech was very important for the boys. He was a supporter of cognitive discipline. He was an exceptional person who was able to unite Armenians. It was a dream team, it was a fairytale team. Ararat competed with the USSR national team because most of the players of Ukrainian Dynamo played there as well”.

On the day of the presentation of the book “Ararat 73: The Golden Age of the Armenian Football”, Suren Baghdasaryan admits that he is more excited today than ever. “Today is an exciting day. It's the first time I'm approaching the microphone and I'm so excited. This is a special day. These are difficult days in our history. We even thought of postponing the presentation, then we decided not to kneel, but to win. Ararat's victory was not a sports victory. It is one of the special victories of our nation. I was in the kitchen, I witnessed the so-called Ustanovkas, and that's when I started looking at football from a different perspective”.

The entire process of publishing the book was coordinated by Suren Baghdasaryan's grandson, Davit Martirosyan. Also, it was his idea that his grandfather's stories should be read and familiarized by all generations. “We worked long and hard because this is the story that is a classic example for everyone. Being the grandson of Suren Baghdasaryan, I constantly heard how we achieved success, and I regretted that it was not recorded anywhere. This book is about victory, and it has a message: if Armenians unite, they will achieve victory”.

The book was edited by Gnel Nalbandian, the chief editor of the publishing house. “In these difficult times, it is important for us to talk about our victories. We need it, we need to talk. There will be victories in the future, we will publish books about those victories. This book is a fundamental work not only of a commentator, and journalist but also of a novelist. This book is an important achievement in literature dedicated to Armenian sports. In the book you will find numbers, events, and interesting facts, the author has collected everything here. This is the story of a legend created by society, the state, and the football community. This book will become a milestone”.

“Ararat 73” football players were also present at the presentation. People who were able to prove that victory is possible if you are united. Sergey Bondarenko, football player of “Ararat 73”: “I sincerely congratulate “Ararat 73's” glorious, unseen hero. Today is the day to receive that trophy. Today is the day that we have seen nothing but joy and happiness. We are grateful to the Armenian people that even after 50 years they approach us in the store and on the street and say good words. They tell me that if you were a foreign football player, you would be a millionaire, but when we were playing, 75,000 spectators were dancing with joy. That was our million”.

According to Sergey Bondarenko, although they had hard and responsible games, they left priceless memories. Phenomenal victories are not just given. “I can't help but say sad words. The guys who put a lot of effort into “Ararat 73” are not with us. Alyosha Abrahamyan, Sanasar Gevorgyan, Suren Martiorsyan, Alexander Kavalenko, Hovhannes Zanazanyan, Hovhannes Abrahamyan, assistances of Nikita Pavlovich. Artur Soghomonyan called me once and said, “I have a surprise” and gave the phone to Nikita Pavlovich. I was in the store when I got mixed up. I said, “Dear man, you are a holy man”.

Suren Baghdasaryan had been planning to publish the book for more than a decade, but the work was delayed, and it was possible to publish this memoir only on the 50th anniversary. Publishing work was entrusted to Newmag. According to Artak Aleksanyan, the CEO of the publishing house, the main message of this book is that the victory of Ararat was the result of a long journey of an entire state and institutions. It was not a desire, but a goal, it was not a dream, but an ambition.

“The book about “Ararat 73” was as natural as the victory itself, and we are happy that Newmag was trusted. Davit Martirosyan made a great contribution to this work. We were very impressed so much, and we decided that Davit Martirosyan would be the head of Newmag's sports series. There will be books about the world and Armenian stars. Today we need emotions, and prototypes of historical victories so that we can wake up in the morning, believe in the future again, believe that we have given a world champion, and that we have the right to new victories. The book “Ararat 73” is the documentation about that request. We won, we are not winning now, but we will win again”.

The memoir was published with the support of Artur Soghomonyan, Arman Sahakyan, “Footbol+” newspaper, and “to.sport” radio. The profit generated from the sale of the book will be transferred to forcibly displaced compatriots from Artsakh.