Robert Zebelyan (; born 31 March 1984) is an Armenian former 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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Early life

Born in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, Zebelyan played different sports as a child, including tennis, before focusing more on football.

Club career

Youth

As a youth player, Zebelyan joined the youth academy of

Zhemchuzhina Sochi FC Zhemchuzhina-Sochi () was a Russian association football club based in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai founded in 1991 and dissolved in 2012. History Zhemchuzhina Sochi was founded in 1991 and named after a hotel which was one of the founders. Zhemchuzh ...

, before joining a sports boarding school in Krasnodar, where he stayed for over a year.

Senior

Zebelyan started his career with

, where he made sixty-two appearances and scored nine goals. His first stint for Zhemchuzhina Sochi was only a few years after the club's only spell in the

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 ...

. After that, he signed for Sochi-04, where he suffered unpaid wages. In 2006, Zebelyan signed for Kuban Krasnodar with a contract expiring at the end of 2008. Zebelyan scored 23 goals for Kuban Krasnodar, becoming the club's top scorer that season and one of the top scorers of the league that season. However, during the 2007 season, he made significantly less appearances for Kuban Krasnodar due to the manager (

Pavlo Yakovenko Pavlo Oleksandrovych Yakovenko () – or Pavel Aleksandrovich Yakovenko (; born 19 December 1964), is a Ukrainian former footballer who played as a midfielder. He represented the USSR national team at international level. Playing career Yakov ...

) trusting him less as the 2007 season began, even after he scored during preseason friendlies. Kuban Krasnodar were initially reluctant to let him play for the Armenia national team due to the congestion of fixtures in the Russian second tier but they eventually let represent Armenia internationally. During the middle of the 2000s, Zebelyan was considered a consistent goalscoring threat in the Russian second tier. In 2007, he signed for

Khimki Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...

, where he mainly appeared as a substitute. In 2008, Zebelyan signed for Baltika Kaliningrad, where he wore the number ninety-nine shirt, a number considered by some to be unusual for a footballer. That year, he suffered an injury which caused him to receive treatment. In 2009, he returned to Zhemchuzhina Sochi. Zebelyan dropped a division to return to Zhemchuzhina Sochi with the aim of resurrecting the club's fortunes, but the club dissolved a few seasons later. Before the 2011 season, Zebelyan signed for Dinamo Minsk, where he failed to completely establish himself as a starting player. He scored his first goal for Dinamo Minsk during a 1–0 win over Dnepr, the club's first win in four matches and the first goal his team scored after a goalless streak of 403 minutes, and temporarily eased the pressure on then Dinamo Minsk manager Oleg Vasilenko. In total, he made nine league appearances and scored two goals for Dinamo Minsk. In 2011, Zebelyan signed for Tobol Kostanay, debuting in the Champions League against Slovan Bratislava, but suffered an injury which caused him to get treatment in Armenia.

International career

Youth

Zebelyan has represented Armenia at youth level. He was eligible to represent Russia, having been born there.

Senior

Zebelyan made seven appearances for the Armenia national team from 2006 to 2008. He debuted for Armenia during a 1–0 loss to Finland. He participated in the

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

qualifying matches. In 2011, he was recalled to a training camp for the Armenia national team but did not make another appearance for them.

Post-playing career

After retirement, Zebelyan worked in real estate.

Style of play

As a youth player, Zebelyan initially operated as a defender before starting to operate as a striker.

Personal life

Zebelyan's father had to buy his transfer rights so he could play for

. Zebelyan has a wife and son.

References

External links

*
Profile at championat.ru
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zebelyan, Robert Living people 1984 births Footballers from Sochi Russian sportspeople of Armenian descent Armenian men's footballers 21st-century Armenian sportsmen Russian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Armenia men's international footballers Russian Premier League players Russian First League players Belarusian Premier League players Kazakhstan Premier League players FC Zhemchuzhina-Sochi players FC Kuban Krasnodar players FC Khimki players FC Baltika Kaliningrad players FC Dinamo Minsk players FC Tobol players Armenian expatriate men's footballers Armenian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Armenian expatriate sportspeople in Belarus Expatriate men's footballers in Belarus Armenian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan 21st-century Russian sportsmen