Hovhannes Zanazanyan

Born in Athens, Greece, where his father played professional football, Hovhannes Zanazanyan took up football in 1959. After playing with Spartak Yerevan and Ararat Yerevan youth teams, Zanazanyan made his senior début at the Soviet championships in 1965 with Lernagorts Kapan. The next season he played with Shirak Gyumri and from 1966-76 was with Ararat Yerevan. With Ararat, he won a Soviet title in 1973, silver at the Soviet championships in 1971, and the Soviet Cup in 1973 and 1975. He finished his career with Spartak Mosva in 1976, SKIF Yerevan 1976-77 and Karabakh Stepanakert 1978-79.

A midfielder, who also scored a lot of goals, Zanazanyan was capped six times with the Soviet national team and scored one goal, all those caps coming in 1972 before the München Olympics. In addition, he played 12 games with the Soviet Olympic football team in 1971-72 and scored four goals, including one during the Olympic tournament against Syria and helped the Soviets to win a bronze medal at the Olympics.

After finishing his sporting career, Zanazanyan worked as a football coach. After coaching numerous youth teams in Armenia in 1980s, he was head coach of Homenetmen Beirut in 1992-93 and the Armenian national youth team in 1994-95. From 2001-02, Zanazanyan was head coach of Spartak Yerevan and from 2003-05 was head coach of Banants Yerevan. From 1996-2002 he served as a board member with the Armenian Football Federation and from 2005 until his death he was the vice-president of Banants Yerevan. In 2009 Zanazanyan was appointed to the Public Council of Armenia, whose main purpose is policy-making carried out by the government, assuring that government activities remain in line with societal demands.