Lori FC () was an Armenian football club based in Vanadzor, Lori Province. Originally founded in 1936, Lori has participated in the domestic football competition of Soviet Armenia. After retiring from professional football in 2002, the club was revived in 2017 winning the 2017–18 Armenian First League competition.
History The club participated in the first ever Armenian football competition after the split-up from the Soviet Union. After the regular competition, they did not qualify for the championship stage, but were forced to play in the relegation stage. Here they finished in the seventh position, which forced them to play in the Armenian First League (second level) for the 1993 season. In that season they finished first in their group (the league was split up into two groups) which gave them promotion to the Armenian Premier League. Lori then became a yo-yo team referring to their up-and-go history of promotion and relegation. In 2002 they played their last season in the Premier League before being disbanded.
The reestablishment of Lori FC was officially announced on 2 March 2017, by Tovmas Grigoryan; a native businessman of the city of Vanadzor. The club made its debut at professional football through the 2017–18 Armenian First League competition.
The club used the Vanadzor Football Academy as their training ground. The academy was temporarily being used as a home ground for their official matches in the Armenian First League competition, as the Vanadzor City Stadium was (currently) being reconstructed and set to be ready during summer 2019.
On 18 June 2019, David Campaña was appointed as the new manager of Lori on a contract until the summer of 2020. On 2 June 2020, Lori announced that manager David Campaña and his assistants Francisco Compan, Jorge Gomez, Agustin Perez and Enrique Gil had all left the club as their contracts could not be extended due to travel restrictions in returning to Armenia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later the same day, Armen Sanamyan was announced as Lori's caretaker manager. On 4 August 2020, Armen Sanamyan left Lori to become manager of Sevan, with Lori announcing Albert Solomonov as their new manager on 5 August 2020, with Solomonov signing a one-year contract.
Following a disagreement with the administrative decision to awarded FC Urartu a 3–0 victory over Lori due to Lori being unable to field a team for their match due to COVID-19, Lori walked off at the start of their match against Ararat Yerevan on 16 March 2021. Lori later submitted their resignation from the Premier League on 5 April 2021.
League and cup Lori FC league record since 1987:
Season League National Cup Top goalscorer Managers Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA Pts Name League1987Soviet Second League12301241431342819881238175164954391989642235146654511990185017102347594419912242125253298291992Armenian Premier League19229494563221/8 Final1993Armenian First League1201343467301/16 Final1994Armenian Premier League132856172265161/16 Final1995Armenian First League412606241618did not participate1995/9632212643316421/16 Final1996/9722215524213501/8 Final1997Armenian Premier League101801177761-1998Armenian First League22416624216541/8 Final19993169433210311/8 Final20003169253424291/8 Final2001Armenian Premier League12221219178351/8 Final2002122212191510051/8 Final2003Armenian First League10225017367415did not participate200414307617356824Preliminary round200511246018397718did not participate2006–2017 No Participation2017–18Armenian First League1272232741669did not participate Tinga Kofi Tei12 Armen Adamyan2018–19Armenian Premier League532111110424044Runner-up Jonel Désiré17 Armen Adamyan Artur Petrosyan Vahe Gevorgyan2019–2052810108353640Quarter-final Jonel Désiré12 David Campaña Armen Sanamyan 2020–218247215164423First Round Claudir3 Albert Solomonov2021-present No Participation
Last squad
Personnel Owner: Tovmas Grigoryan President: Robert Grigoryan Vice President: Vahan Danielyan CEO: Artur Hovhannisyan General Manager: Spartak Petrosyan Head coach: Albert Solomonov Assistant coach: Vitaliy Starovik Assistant coach: Sergei Chikishev Goalkeepers Coach: Slavik Sukiasyan Fitness coach: Roman Chupryna Doctor: Hovsep Petrosyan Physiotherapist: Arshak Tumanyan
Former players
Danny El-Hage
Managerial history Managers of Lori FC since the club revived in 2017:
NameNat.FromToPWDLGSGA%WHonoursNotesArmen Adamyan1 July 201713 December 2018Armenian First League (1)Artur Petrosyan25 December 20188 May 2019Vahe Gevorgyan8 May 201919 June 2019David Campaña30 June 20192 June 2020Armen Sanamyan 2 June 20204 August 2020Albert Solomonov5 August 2020
References