Portuguese football legend Luís Figo attended events hosted by Armenian football club FC Noah, where the club presented its new training base and unveiled its stadium design and broader “Noah Park” development concept.
Figo, a 2001 Ballon d’Or winner and former Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Inter Milan star, serves as an advisor to the club, a role he has held since the early stages of its current project. Club president Vardges Vardanyan has previously said Figo was among the first to back his vision for Noah’s transformation.
On May 18, FC Noah held the official opening ceremony of its new training base in Etchmiadzin.
The new center has become one of the club’s most significant infrastructure projects and an important development for Armenian football.
Over the past year and a half, the club has constructed a modern facility designed for the first team, coaching staff, support personnel, and administrative departments, meeting high European standards.
The complex includes modern dressing rooms, recovery rooms, medical and massage facilities with advanced equipment, a spacious gym, hotel rooms for training camps, a library, dining areas, meeting rooms, offices, and recreational spaces, including table tennis and gaming areas.
The ceremony brought together representatives of the Government of Armenia, the football community, media, and club partners. It was attended by FC Noah President Vardges Vardanyan and Luís Figo.
“A new beginning toward excellence and toward all the goals FC Noah continues to pursue with unwavering determination,” the club said in a press release describing the opening.
On May 19, FC Noah unveiled the design of its new stadium and presented the large-scale “Noah Park” development concept in Armavir Province.
The ceremony was attended by Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office Arayik Harutyunyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, FC Noah President Vardges Vardanyan, Luís Figo, and other officials and football figures.
Alongside the training base on Margara Highway, the club presented the “Noah Park” project planned for Vagharshapat. The 15,000-seat venue, planned as a UEFA Category 4 facility on a 23-hectare plot, anchors a broader ecosystem and is valued in the tens of millions of dollars.
The concept envisions a modern football and community ecosystem integrating a stadium, football academy, public recreational spaces, and multifunctional infrastructure designed for both match days and daily use.
The project is based on long-term development, territorial integration, and contemporary architectural principles, aiming to build a comprehensive football infrastructure model.
“Our goal is to develop youth football and introduce European football standards. Over the past 2.5 years, we have done a significant amount of work. Thanks to these years of effort, we already have something to show. I believe that with this step by Noah, other clubs will also invest in infrastructure and youth football,” said FC Noah President Vardges Vardanyan. He has elsewhere called the club’s current investment unprecedented in the history of Armenian football.
The investment lands at a high point in the club’s trajectory. Founded in 2017 as FC Artsakh and rebranded as FC Noah in 2019, the club is the current Armenian Premier League champion, a three-time Armenian Cup winner, and a Super Cup winner. In the 2025-26 season, Noah became the first Armenian club to qualify for the main stage of a European club competition in consecutive years, and the first in Armenian history to reach the playoff stage of a European tournament.
