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Soccer: Pyunik drop first leg in Belgrade in Champions League qualifying

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The home team lost a player red-carded by the match official seven minutes before half-time. In a game of equal opportunities, Rabotnicki managed to score in the 87th minute to take a slim advantage to the match in Yerevan due on July 22.

Armenia’s longtime champion, FC Pyunik, too, retain chances for qualification when they host the second leg of their tie against Serbia’s champion FK Partizan on July 21. In their first match in Belgrade on Wednesday the Armenian team lost 1-3.

Mika and Pyunik remain Armenia’s only hopes for international club soccer coming to Yerevan this autumn when the main stages of UEFA competitions begin.

Earlier this month Armenia’s Banants and Ulis featured in the UEFA Europa League were eliminated in the first knockout round after losing to Anorthosis FC (Cyprus) and FC Bnei Yehuda (Israel), respectively.

Several Armenian clubs have been featured in summer preliminaries of UEFA competitions every year since Armenia joined international soccer as an independent nation in the mid-1990s. No Armenian club, however, has ever reached the main stages of European tournaments held on an autumn/spring basis.