Henrikh Mkhitaryan

His contributions and achievements in football earned him the ‘Honorary Citizen of Yerevan’ title. He visited the Republic of Artsakh for charitable causes and received the Prime Minister’s medal.

He was born on January 21, 1989, in Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union, to Hamlet Mkhitaryan and Marina Taschyan.

His father, Hamlet, was a famous Soviet and Armenian footballer, who played for the Armenian national team, the Armenian Premier League club ‘Ararat Yerevan’ and the CFA 2 club ‘ASOA Valence’ as striker. Hamlet is counted among the best players of the ‘Soviet Top League’ of the 1980s. He moved his family to France in early the 1990s.

Mkhitaryan was passionate about football since childhood and looked up to his father for his valuable advice on the game. He lost his father to brain tumour at the age of just seven, however Hamlet left a great impression on the little boy who followed him into football. Many believe that Mkhitaryan’s playing style closely matches that of his father.

The national teams department in the ‘Armenian Football Federation’ is headed by his mother.

His elder sister Monica works at the UEFA headquarters.

He made his professional debut with ‘FC Pyunik’ in 2006. He made 70 appearances and scored 30 goals in his four seasons with the first team of the club, and the club won the ‘Armenian Premier League’ in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009; the ‘Armenian Super Cup’ in 2007 and 2008, and the Armenian Cup in 2009.

In 2009, he joined Ukrainian professional football club ‘Metalurh Donetsk’ and made his UEFA Europa League debut on July 16, 2009, scoring a goal in a 3–0 win over ‘FC Partizan Minsk.’ He made his ‘Ukrainian Premier League’ debut on July 19, 2009, against ‘Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk’ and scored the first league goal on July 26 that year against ‘Karpaty Lviv.’

On July 14, 2010, he became the youngest captain of ‘Metalurh Donetsk’ in the club’s history.

He moved to the Ukrainian professional football club ‘Shakhtar Donetsk,’ sealing a $7.5 million deal on August 30, 2010. He made his debut with the club on September 10, against ‘Obolon Kyiv’ and scored his first goal for the club on the 19th of that month in a 4–1 win over ‘Tavriya Simferopol.’

During his stay with ‘Shakhtar,’ the club won the ‘Ukrainian Premier League,’ the ‘Ukrainian Cup,’ and the ‘Ukrainian Super Cup’ during the 2010-2011 season.