Ireland and Armenia, as nations that share long and often tragic histories, also share the fact that emigration, often forced and not chosen, has become a defining characteristic of their national stories. This has meant that you can often spot a member of the Irish or Armenian diaspora finding sporting success with other nations many miles from Dublin or Yerevan.

Armenia are justifiably proud of the success of athletes like tennis player Andre Agassi, World Cup winners Youri Djorkaeff and Alain Boghossian, or legendary basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, all from Armenian backgrounds. However, one of the greatest figures in Armenian football was born on the shore of the Caspian Sea in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan and moved the other direction, finding fame and success in Yerevan.

Eduard Markarov, from a family of ethnic Armenians, was born in Baku in 1942 when it was part of the Soviet Union, at a time when they were engaged in fierce fighting after a massive German offensive in World War Two. Eduard’s father, Artyom had been a footballer and coach and often brought his young son to the local stadium to watch training.

Eduard developed as a skilful forward, first for Torpedo Armavir in what is now Krasnodar Krai in modern Russia, before a return to Azerbaijan with Neftchi Baku in 1961. This was a time of significant success for Neftchi, who competed in the highly competitive Soviet Top League against the footballing powerhouses of Moscow and Kyiv, finishing as high as third in 1966. Even by his second season with the club Markarov was one of the stars of the Top League, scoring sixteen goals for Neftchi and finishing as the league’s second top scorer.

He’d also made the Soviet Union national team and featured as part of the squad that reached the semi-finals at the 1966 World Cup, although such was the competition for places that he only won three caps in total.

1971 was to be a pivotal year for Eduard, approaching thirty he had endured a poor season for Neftchi and made the momentous move to his ancestral lands when he signed for Ararat Yerevan. The fans of Neftchi were outraged, even going so far as to throw stones at his house, but the move gave Eduard’s career a second wind. He was paired with some great talents like Arkady Andriasyan as well as Sergey Bondarenko, a player beloved and famous for his powerful shot and array of spectacular long-range goals.

Ararat were coached by the legendary Nikita Simonyan, who was also of Armenian heritage. Simonyan had been a star striker for Spartak Moscow and had moved into coaching and led them to further success. He repeated the trick with Ararat, winning an amazing Soviet League and Cup double in 1973 and winning the cup again in 1975, altering his coaching methods to better indulge the skilful and more individualistic traits of his Armenian players. Markarov played a decisive role in these victories, including scoring the decisive winning goal in the 75 cup final as well as finishing the 1974-75 European Cup campaign as the competition’s joint top-scorer alongside Gerd Muller, with Ararat reaching the quarter final stage of the competition.

1975 was his last season as a player but Markarov swiftly moved into management, taking the helm at Ararat Yerevan. When the Soviet Union collapsed and amid the turmoil the newly independent Armenia came into existence and set about the business of creating an international side there was only one man to turn to as their first head coach, Eduard Markarov despite the new Football Association only being able to offer him a small salary. Markarov stayed involved in football even after leaving the national team job in 1994, coaching in both Armenia as well as Lebanon.

Originally published in the Ireland v Armenia match programme in October 2025