Gor Malakyan

Gor Malakyan
Personal information
Full name	Gor Shavarshevich Malakyan
Date of birth	12 June 1994 (age 30)
Place of birth	Yerevan, Armenia
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	FC Ararat Yerevan
Number	23
Senior career*
Years	Team
2011–2014	Pyunik Yerevan
2014	Alashkert
2015	Shirak Gyumri
2016–2018	Stal Kamianske
2018–2020	Ararat-Armenia
2020–2021	Pyunik
2021–	Ararat
International career‡
2010	Armenia U17
2011–2012	Armenia U19
2013–2016	Armenia U21
2016–	Armenia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 June 2024; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:44, 15 October 2019 (UTC)

Gor Malakyan (Armenian: Գոռ Մալաքյան; born 12 June 1994) is an Armenian professional footballer who plays for Ararat Yerevan and the Armenia national team.^[1]

Biography

Gor Malakyan was born on 12 June 1994 in Yerevan, Armenia. He is the younger brother of current teammate Edgar Malakyan, with whom he has also shared squad in FC Pyunik (2011/12), Alashkert FC (2014), FC Shirak (2015) and the Armenia national football team (2016-?). Despite Gor had originally started playing in more attacking positions, such as playmaker or secondary striker, his conditions and characteristics lead him to deeper and more defensive and balanced positions. By the time he got to FC Shirak, he had been playing central midfield - thus getting to a steady role as a defensive midfielder. After a great performance in 2015/16 UEFA Europa League playoffs, nearly qualifying for the group stage, FC Stal Kamianske (owned by another Armenian) decided to purchase his and his older brother's services.^[2] Since then, he has cemented himself as a regular member of the team's rotation system. In July 2018 he left the organized Stal Kamianske (Feniks Bucha) and returned to Armenia to join the newly created Ararat-Armenia.^[3] On 30 July 2020, Ararat-Armenia announced the departure of Malakyan after his contract expired.^[4]

Style of play

Malakyan currently is a defensive midfielder of playmaking pedigree.^{[clarification needed]}^{[citation needed]} Besides his tackling and marking (defensive IQ), he makes the difference mostly because of his passing and dribbling - more often than not making contact with the ball in the deep midfield, to either pass or dribble past defenders and give shape to the offense's first few touches.^{[citation needed]} Such resources could be for instance spotted easily in Armenia's epic^{[peacock prose]} 3–2 win over Montenegro for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, imposing his "touch and go" passing on his teammates. Technically gifted and in a position where there are not many Armenian players at his level, Malakyan is set to be one of Armenia's near future biggest talents.^{[citation needed]}^{[by whom?]}