Nair Oganesovich Tiknizyan (; ; born 12 May 1999) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for Serbian club

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. Born in Russia, he plays for the Armenia national team.

Club career

CSKA Moscow

Tiknizyan made his debut for the main squad of

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

on 20 September 2017 in a Russian Cup game against Avangard Kursk. He made his second appearance on 10 October 2018 in a Russian Cup game against

Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura ( ...

. On 9 January 2019, CSKA Moscow announced that Tiknizyan had signed a new contract with the club until the summer of 2022. He made his

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

debut for CSKA on 25 August 2019 in a game against Akhmat Grozny, as a 89th-minute substitute for Ivan Oblyakov. On 20 January 2020, Tiknizyan moved on loan to Avangard Kursk until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 11 September 2020, Tiknizyan extended his contract with CSKA until the end of the 2024–25 season.

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 4 August 2021,

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

announced the signing of Tiknizyan on a five-year deal.

Red Star Belgrade

On 22 June 2025, Tiknizyan signed with

in Serbia.

International career

Tiknizyan represented Russia at the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association ...

and scored a goal in their opening group stage 4–1 victory against Iceland. Russia lost two remaining games and was eliminated at group stage. In March 2023, Tiknizyan was called up to the Armenia national team. Tiknizyan made his international debut for Armenia on 25 March 2023 in the

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

, against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He played the entire match. He scored his first goal for Armenia on 19 June 2023 against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Personal life

Official sources such as

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

list his first name as Nayair (). The clerk who issued his birth certificate made a mistake which has been perpetuated in all official documents since. Tiknizyan himself said he can not find the time to officially petition for a change of name.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Armenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tiknizyan goal.''

Honors

CSKA Moscow *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiknizyan, Nayair 1999 births Living people Footballers from Saint Petersburg Armenian men's footballers 21st-century Armenian sportsmen Armenia men's international footballers Russian men's footballers 21st-century Russian sportsmen Russia men's youth international footballers Russia men's under-21 international footballers Russian sportspeople of Armenian descent Men's association football defenders PFC CSKA Moscow players FC Avangard Kursk players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Red Star Belgrade footballers Russian Premier League players Russian First League players Serbian SuperLiga players Armenian expatriate men's footballers Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia