Khoren Oganesian

Oganesian grew up playing football in a nearby yard with his older brother. In 1969, he joined the team of Ani Yerevan and won the All-Union neighborhood teams tournament Leather Ball and scored one of the goals in the final meeting. Oganesian later engaged in a sports school, after which he entered the Armenian State University of Economics, specializing in state planning. At that time, he was invited to try out for the youth football teams in Armenia, where he was noticed by the head coach of the Soviet Union national under-21 football team, Yevgeny Lyadin. Lyadin wrote a letter of recommendation to the leadership of the local club Ararat Yerevan, where Oganesian was taken into in 1973. He played as a second for two years. His debut match in Ararat took place on 19 March 1975 in the quarterfinals of the 1974–75 European Cup against Bayern Munich. The match ended in a 1–0 victory for Ararat Yerevan. He debuted in the Soviet Top League national championship a month later on 16 April in Yerevan. In a match of Ararat Yerevan vs. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Oganesian came in at the 75th minute of the match, replacing Sergei Bondarenko. The match ended in 3–0 victory. Oganesian was scoring a lot from the first matches of the Top League. He had the ability to hit accurately with his left leg, was a skilled organizer, and had precise percussive attacks. Ararat Yerevan won the Soviet Cup in 1975. In the following year, the club made it to the finals of the 1976 Soviet Top League in the…

While still a player, in 1991 Oganesian managed to get a coach position on Tavriya Simferopol. The head coach at the time was Anatoliy Zayaev, but the whole training process was taken care of by Oganesian. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Oganesian moved back to Armenia. Here, along with some of his friends who also participated in football, he decided to found a club. This club was named ADCC, meaning (literal English translation) Armenian General Athletic Union. In Armenian, the club name was abbreviated HMNM, or Homenetmen. Oganesian, already a veteran of football, continued his playing career. In the newly formed club's first season, it became the 1992 Armenian Premier League champion, which was the first ever Armenian Premier League, and the finalist of the 1992 Armenian Cup, also the first of its kind. Later he moved to Lebanon, where he coached the capital Armenian-Lebanese club Homenetmen Beirut. In his first year with the team, they took 5th place in the Lebanese Second Division. In the second year, they took third. After a short absence, he returned to Armenia, where he led the home team of his birthplace. During a time Oganesian briefly left to coach the Armenia national football team, the club had at that time changed its name from Kilikia Yerevan to Pyunik Yerevan. The following season, Oganesian returned to the Yerevan club. Oganesian, at this time, was a player-coach for the club. With the second return of Hovhannisyan also came some important…

In 1975, Oganesian joined the Soviet Union under-21 national team, coached by Valentin Nikolayev. He was a part of the Soviet youth team when it won the UEFA Euro 1976 U-21. Oganesian's skill were noticed by the coaches of the Soviet Union national team, which he started playing for in 1979, when the team was managed by Konstantin Beskov. The following year, as part of the Soviet Union Olympic football team, the USSR squad won bronze at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Oganesian scored twice at the Olympics. His first goal was in a dominant 4–0 victory over Venezuela in the group stage. The Soviet team advanced to the semifinals, where they were defeated 1–0 by East Germany. Oganesian did not play because of a concussion received in the quarterfinals. In the following bronze medal match against Yugoslavia, Oganesian came off the bench and scored his second goal and the winning goal at the 67th minute. Sergey Andreyev also scored a goal, leaving the final score 2–0 for the Soviet Union. The Soviet national team participated in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Oganesian became the first Armenian player to take part in the World Cup. Oganesian scored one goal in the second group stage against Belgium. The goal proved to be decisive, as the final score was 1–0. Though the USSR tied with Poland 0–0, the Polish team advanced to the knockout stage instead due to total goal difference, as they had defeated the Belgians 3–0 with a hat-trick from Zbigniew Boniek. Oganesian concluded…

Khoren Oganesian was born in an Armenian family on 10 January 1955 in Yerevan, Armenian SSR in a family of sportsmen. His father was a weightlifter, and later an honored coach of the Armenian SSR. His mother specialized in gymnastics. Khoren's older brother played football and his younger brother became a weightlifter and later received the Master of Sport of the USSR title.