YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: The captain of the Armenian national football team, Henrikh [(Heno)] Mkhitaryan, will not participate in the upcoming matches of the national team; the reason is that Heno is not in good shape.

Although he has not left the Armenian national team, they say that his non-participation in the upcoming games has a specific reason and message. And this is not so much his "bad shape" as much as the conflict with the president of the Football Federation [of Armenia (FFA)], Armen Melikbekyan, whose election [to this position] was called a "disgraceful show" by Mkhitaryan's mother, former member of the FFA Executive Committee, Marina Tashchyan.

At that time, a campaign started against Tashchyan, and Mkhitaryan, they say, decided not to participate in the national team games for now—officially explaining with his bad shape—first of all, for his mother's honor.

Those who criticized Melikbekyan's candidacy at the time had predicted that Armenian football would decline further, but the halls of power decided to put a loyal man [as the FFA president], even with the prospect of losing Heno and, ultimately, failing [Armenian] football.