Football belongs to fans - FAF 

ArmInfo. The First Armenian Front (FAF) fan movement issued a statement in connection with the detention of 9 Armenian football fans who were holding a peaceful  protest demanding the resignation of the president of the Football  Federation of Armenia (FFA).

As reported by FAF, the incident occurred during the Pyunik -  Ararat-Armenia match, during which fans took to the field demanding  the resignation of the FFA leadership. The protesters expressed their  readiness to leave the field and meet with FFA representatives, but  their proposal was categorically rejected. As a result, law  enforcement agencies began using excessive force.

"We call for the immediate release of those detained. Football  belongs to the fans, our will is unwavering.  Resignation is  inevitable," the FAF movement said in a statement.

In connection with the incident, Gegham Manukyan, a member of the  Armenian parliament from the opposition faction "Armenia", visited  the Yerevan pretrial detention center where the detainees are being  held. He noted that the videos that were distributed clearly show the  peaceful nature of the action. "Their government is afraid of any  complaints and demands for resignation. I met with everyone who was  in the detention center, some of them were interrogated in the  Shengavit pretrial detention center. They are confident in their  actions and know that they were right. Each of them is an experienced  specialist in their field. This is a new disgrace for the "bastion of  democracy", "the oppositionist wrote. 

As the FFA recalled, the Federation had previously issued a statement  that the behavior of some groups of fans during the UEFA Nations  League match between Armenia and the Faroe Islands led to the Vazgen  Sargsyan Republican Stadium, the only one in the country that meets  the high international standards of UEFA, being placed under special  monitoring. According to the statement, in case of further  violations, the stadium could be disqualified, which would negatively  affect the possibility of hosting the World Under-20 Championship in  Armenia together with Georgia in 2029.

"We condemn such behavior of fan groups, seeing in it a tendency to  harm Armenian football. We call on you to refrain from such actions  and focus on supporting our teams during matches," the FFA statement  noted.

Earlier, immediately after the national team's defeat by the team of  North Macedonia, the team's head coach Aleksandar Petrakov was  dismissed, but fans began to demand the resignation of the FFA  president, expressing dissatisfaction not only with the insufficient  results of football teams of different age groups, but also with the  activities of the federation as a whole. However, the leadership of  the Football Federation of Armenia responded to the statement by  refusing to resign.