The team’s rise to prominence has been meteoric — they finished second in the Armenian First League in their inaugural 2017-18 season, earning promotion to the Armenian Premier League.
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Despite a disappointing 8th-place finish in their first top-flight season, the club’s fortunes changed dramatically following a change of ownership and the rebranding in 2019.
Noah’s first major trophy came in the 2019-20 season, when they won the Armenian Cup, defeating Ararat-Armenia on penalties.
This marked the beginning of their European journey, as it meant they qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League for the first time.
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They were knocked out in the first qualifying round in the 2021-22 season, losing 5-1 on aggregate to Finish club Kuopion Palloseura.
The side finished second in the Armenian Premier League in 2023-24, meaning they qualified for Europe’s third-tier tournament once again.
Making history
The 2024-25 season has been a landmark year for FC Noah.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca lauds Cole Palmer as the type of player supporters ‘pay to see’
They made history by becoming the first club in history to enter the Conference League qualifiers in the first round and successfully navigate all four rounds.
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Their impressive run included victories over Shkëndija, Sliema Wanderers and Greek powerhouse AEK Athens, before a nail-biting 4-3 aggregate win against Ružomberok in the play-off round.
They continued their hot streak run into match-day one of the competition on October 3, 2024, beating Czech First League outfit FK Mladá Boleslav 2-0 at Armavir City Stadium, their home ground.
Key players
Currently managed by Rui Mota, Noah boasts a diverse squad filled with both local talent and players from around the world.
Key players include Gonçalo Gregório from Portugal and Brazilian Matheus Aiás in attack.
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In midfield there’s Gustavo Sangaré from Burkina Faso and local lad Gor Manvelyan.
The side boasts experienced defenders in Hovhannes Hambardzumyan from Armenia, as well as the Icelandic left-back Guðmundur Þórarinsson.
Stadium
The team’s home ground has changed several times since their inception.
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After initially playing at various stadiums in Yerevan, including the Mika Stadium and Alashkert Stadium, FC Noah moved their home games to the Armavir City Stadium in February 2022.
Upcoming Chelsea fixture
FC Noah’s European adventure continues with a highly anticipated match against English giants Chelsea in the UEFA Conference League on November 7, 2024.
This fixture represents a David vs Goliath encounter, pitting the Armenian underdogs against one of Europe’s most successful clubs of the past two decades.
The match against Chelsea will undoubtedly be the biggest in the club’s short history.
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Chelsea’s Europa Conference League matches
Here are the Blues’ Europa Conference League fixtures in 2024:
Thursday, October 3 Chelsea vs Gent Kick-off: 8pm
Thursday, October 24 Panathinaikos vs Chelsea Kick-off: 5.45pm
Thursday, November 7 Chelsea vs FC Noah Kick-off: 8pm
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Thursday, November 28 Heidenheim vs Chelsea Kick-off: 5.45pm
Thursday, December 12 FC Astana vs Chelsea Kick-off: 3.30pm
Thursday, December 19 Chelsea vs Shamrock Rovers Kick-off: 8pm.
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – Pedro Munhoz will look to halt the momentum of rising bantamweight Aiemann Zahabi.
Munhoz (20-9 MMA, 10-9 UFC) meets Zahabi (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 246 (ESPN+) featured prelim at Rogers Place. Munhoz has only one win in his past six outings, but the perennial contender is not discouraged by his recent results.
“It is not good and not bad,” Munhoz told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 246 media day. “It is what it is. Every time that I step in the octagon, I’m always on the night my best version. Saturday night is going to be my better version than all the other fights that you guys have seen before.
“I get to train at the best gym in the world, American Top Team, and train with the best fighters. So, that’s a tool that helped me always to see what I’ve done wrong in the past and always to be a better fighter.”
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Munhoz is on a two-fight losing skid. Zahabi has won his past four in a row.
Although there’s a big difference in their level of competition, with Munhoz having fought the likes of former champions Sean O’Malley, Aljamain Sterling, Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo, Cody Garbrandt, and Frankie Edgar, he won’t take the Tristar Gym prospect lightly.
“He’s well rounded, training with a good team, they have a good coach,” Munhoz said on Zahabi. “I know he’s going to be ready to face me Saturday. Watching some of his previous fights, my coaches also, we got to be aware of everything he can present.
“He’s a dangerous fighter, he fights calm, he’s been around a lot of fighters that have fought in these type of caliber events and fights so, not underestimating him, and I know it’s going to be a tough fight.”
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As for his game plan? Munhoz points to specific attributes that will help him prevail.
“Pressure, skills, and my desire to get the victory Saturday night,” Munhoz responded.
His family noticed “subtle changes” in his memory and mood, which they originally put down as a form of grief after his mother died.
Speaking previously, Whymark’s son, Craig, said: “It’s really touching that people still remember dad and with such fondness.”
Since his death football fans have flooded social media with tributes to the former star, with one describing him as a “brilliant, underrated striker and lovely, unassuming man”.
One described him as an “unsung” hero of the Robson era.
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A Grimsby Town fan said it was a “privilege” to see him wear the “black and white stripes”.
The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) said: “Everyone at the PFA is deeply saddened by the passing of Trevor Whymark.
“Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with Trevor’s family, friends and loved ones.”
Lando Norris believes that Max Verstappen knows “deep down” that he was in the wrong during the Mexican Grand Prix, and that the three-time Formula 1 champion should know what to change in future.
Verstappen collected two 10-second penalties for a pair of 10th-lap incidents with Norris in Mexico, one for running Norris out of road at Turn 4 and another for leaving the track at Turn 7 and gaining an advantage by passing the McLaren driver.
In the aftermath, Norris reiterated his respect for Verstappen but was dismayed by the championship leader’s approach during the race – having noted that his only job was to stop his rival from outscoring him in races.
Norris said that he still hadn’t spoken to Verstappen about the race, and that it was not up to him to encourage the Dutchman to change his ways.
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“We’ve not spoken and I don’t think we need to,” Norris said. “I’ve got nothing to say.
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“I still have a lot of respect for Max and everything he does – not respect for what he did last weekend, but respect for him as a person, and also what he’s achieved.
“But it’s not for me to speak to him. I’m not his teacher, I’m not his mentor or anything like that.
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“Max knows what he has to do. He knows that he did wrong, deep down he does. And it’s for him to change, not for me.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
He added: “Max is probably one of the most capable drivers on the grid, if not the most. He knows what he can and can’t do and where the limits are. So, he knows the changes he has to make.”
Norris explained that he was not going to change his approach when it came to racing Verstappen, and felt that he was good at keeping his nose clean during contentious moments on track.
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He admitted that he might have “paid the price” for lacking aggression in certain scenarios, but that the points from keeping it clean in races have nonetheless added up.
“I think something I’ve done well in my whole career is staying out of trouble and keep the car in one piece. All those little things add up over a championship and over a season, especially in a cost cap season as well,” Norris contended.
“I’ve always had the mentality to want to race fair and clean. I think I probably said it last weekend, I’ve been maybe too kind, whether I was attacking or defending. But I think I’ve always made good decisions from that side.
“Sometimes I’ve paid the price for not being aggressive enough, but the rest of it is not up to me. Even when you don’t realise it, there are times when you have to avoid a potential crash and maybe you don’t see it on the TV.
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“There are more times that people realise that you go through those certain scenarios. And I think those are some of the challenges we have every now and then.
“But I’ll come into this weekend with a new expectation of hopefully having clean, fair racing. And I think that’s what we should expect.”
Josh Rock won his third PDC ranking title of the year as he edged Jonny Clayton to claim the Players Championship 30 in Leicester.
The Northern Irishman earned a hard-fought 8-7 win after a 118 checkout in the deciding leg.
The 23-year-old has had a fine terrific ProTour campaign, clinching his maiden European Tour title with victory over Clayton in May’s Dutch Darts Championship.
Rock followed that up with Players Championship 17 glory in August and now this title in Leicester, which was the final event of the season.
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He raced into a 3-0 lead after a slow start from Clayton, only for the two-time World Cup winner to land a superb 132 combination.
After falling 6-2 behind, the Welshman again fought back to level after legs of 11, 13, 14 and 14 darts.
Clayton managed to force a decider, but he did not get the chance at a match-winning opportunity as Rock finished with 118 to claim success.
It meant Rock came seventh in the Players Championship, before the Players Championship Finals in England next month.
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His attention will now turn to preparing for the Grand Slam of Darts which begins on 9 November.
That appears to be the case at least on Lewis’ side as the veteran heavyweight cast Cormier in a negative light at Wednesday’s media day ahead of his fight with Jhonata Diniz at UFC Edmonton this Saturday. Lewis was asked what fight in his lengthy career he’d want to run back and “DC” was the name that came to mind.
“Probably DC,” Cormier said. “Because that’s still not sitting right with me, I don’t know. Do people really like DC like that?
“I told DC in his face, that guy a piece of shit. He’s a piece of shit, scumbag. F*ck DC.”
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Lewis and Cormier met in the main event of UFC 230 in November 2018, with Cormier defending his heavyweight championship against “The Black Beast.” Cormier recorded his first and only successful heavyweight title defense, submitting Cormier in the second round.
“DC know why,” Lewis said. “Everyone know why, too, he disrespect that Popeyes chicken, but other than that, he’s a piece of shit.”
Lewis’ comments made the rounds on social media, though it remains unclear how serious the often sardonic fighter intended to be.
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During an episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Wednesday, Helwani gave Cormier an impromptu call to sort out the situation, with the conversation arguably only raising more questions.
“I haven’t seen him for a while, but I was pretty hard on him about retiring because he had lost a couple of fights and I was kind of telling the truth and he seemed mad at me, but I haven’t seen him,” Cormier said. “I’m going to see him this weekend and I’m going to kind of ask him, ‘Yo, are you mad at me?’”
Lewis has seen mixed results in his past eight fights, with just three wins during that stretch, including a third-round knockout of Rodrigo Nascimento in his most recent outing this past May. In Cormier’s role as an on-air analyst and podcaster, he’s required to give his honest opinion on how fighters are performing and he believes he might have said something that rubbed Lewis the wrong way.
It’s important to note that Cormier was yet to see the clip of Lewis’ comments himself when discussing the matter with Helwani, so he was basing his response strictly on second-hand accounts. Still, real or not, Cormier sees no reason to reignite their former feud.
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“It sounds like it may be a little underlying, he might be a little pissed at me because of the way I talked about him,” Cormier said. “I don’t know what fight it was where it he didn’t look great, but then he knocked the last guy out and I was like, ‘I’m glad he’s back.’ So I don’t know. My opinions go with their performances and I think maybe that’s what it is, but in terms of anything else, Derrick and I don’t really have many things that we do together outside of the Popeyes thing and then our fight.
“But we can’t be mad at each other, we already fought. It’s settled.”
Tensions flared again when the Dutchman was left out of the squad for United’s 4-0 win over Charlton on the last game of the season.
He previously told the Overlap podcast: “I started pre-season but you knew he was moving on without me and putting the future of the club into other players so that was clear.”
Despite making 219 appearances for United and scoring 150 goals over five years, Van Nistelrooy admitted it was strange to find himself in the role Ferguson fulfilled when he was playing.
He told a press conference on Thursday: “My team talk, I’m standing in front of the team, telling them about what Manchester United is all about.
“What it is to play at Old Trafford, what songs are being sung by the fans and why.
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“You try to transmit that lovely feeling of playing for this club. It’s a proud moment to do that and to share that with players.
“And what they were transmitting on the pitch and the way it interacted with the supporters towards m.
“It was unbelievable support and it only strengthens me to do the utmost, especially short-term, for Chelsea on Sunday.”
Ruben Amorim is ‘Mourinho 2.0’ who turned Sporting from ‘walking dead’ into Portuguese champs… he can revive Man Utd
WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.
Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.
But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.
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Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.
He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers.
The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.
And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.
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Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.
Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.
United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”
And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.
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For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.
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