Yura Movsisyan

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Movsisyan Today
At the conclusion of an illustrious career, everyone’s beloved Yura Movsisyan currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Married to Marianna Safaryan, the Movsisyans have three children - a son, Arman (b. 2009), daughters, Aida (b. 2012), and Rita (b. 2016).
The post-professional Movsisyan dedicates his time mentoring young people to success in sports and in life.
Today, everyone views Yura Movsisyan as a great family-man, a leader, a mentor, and an ambassador of Armenian Soccer.

Humble Beginnings
Yura movsisyan, born on August 2nd, 1987, to parents Sergey Movsisyan and Aida Sahakyan, was the second of 3 boys. Who knew that 17 years later Yura would be on his legendary path to become one of the most beloved Armenian athletes ever. At the tender age of 12, young Movsisyan moved with his family to Los Angeles, California. Yura started his journey to become a professional soccer player, many years later he will be known as the Best Ever Armenian Forward in history. After impressive showings at his Pasadena High School and one semester at Pasadena City College, with the support of his head coach Cherif Zein, Yura got invited to the 2006 Major League Soccer Combine. Movsisyan would not only be one of the few youngest players at the draft at 18 years old but he was also the biggest surprise of the 2006 MLS Superdraft. Yura Movsisyan became the youngest player in Major League Soccer history to be picked 4th overall in the Superdraft by the Kansas City Wizards. Movsisyan had finally reached his dream of becoming a professional soccer player and being able to give his family a better life. 

CLUB CAREER

Kansas City Wizards
Movsisyan signed a Generation Adidas contract and became the surprise of draft day, with the Kansas City Wizards (now known as Sporting Kansas City) selecting him with their fourth overall pick, the highest in MLS history for a player straight from community college, while not being a U.S. youth international. Movsisyan made his debut against D.C. United on 13 May 2006, he became a regular player in the first team by the end of his first professional season and proved to be a scoring weapon and a valuable asset for the Wizards. After scoring all of his 6 goals coming in as a substitute, Yura had all the right to want to be a regular starter on the team. After many conversations with the coaching staff and management, Yura asked to be traded to Real Salt Lake.

Real Salt Lake
In September 2007, Young Movsisyan was traded to Real Salt Lake in a deal involving MLS SuperDraft picks and an international roster spot. Movsisyan made his debut on 17 September 2007 in a 2–2 draw against Los Angeles Galaxy and setting up a goal for Carey Talley. In the last game of the season, Movsisyan received a red card, for the first time in his career, in a 1–0 loss to the Houston Dynamo. The following season, Movsisyan would score in a 4–3 loss against Houston Dynamo on 16 August 2008. On September 6th, 2008, Movsisyan scored and set up a goal for Will Johnson in a 2–2 draw against Los Angeles Galaxy, followed by scoring a brace in a 3–2 win over San Jose Earthquakes. Movsisyan scored Real Salt Lake's first-ever MLS Cup Playoffs goal, a game-winner on November 1st, 2008 at Rio Tinto Stadium when the Utah side beat Chivas USA. At Real Salt Lake, Movsisyan was on top goalscoring form. On 6 July 2009, Movsisyan signed a pre-contract with Danish club Randers FC, with an agreement to join the club following the conclusion of the 2009 MLS season. Having helped Real Salt Lake win their first-ever MLS Cup championship that season after beating Los Angeles Galaxy 5–4 on penalties, Movsisyan left the club and joined Randers on 1 January 2010.

Randers FC
Movsisyan made his debut for Randers FC on the opening game of the season in a 0–0 draw against Esbjerg fB on March 7th, 2010, and scored braces twice in a 3–1 win over Silkeborg IF, and a 2–0 win over Midtjylland in the same month. By the end of the season, Movsisyan had made 13 appearances and scored 7 goals in impressive form despite only playing in the second half of the season. Also during that season, Movsisyan scored twice and provided an assist, in a 6–1 win over Dudelange in the first round of Europa League and won 7–3 on aggregate to advance to the next round. Also in the Europa League, Movsisyan scored a brace in a 3–2 loss against Lausanne-Sport His club was eventually eliminated after a 1–1 draw, in which Movsisyan scored the lone goal. Movsisyan replaced the previous season's top scorer Marc Nygaard's for the sought-after title. In Denmark Mosvisyan established himself as a powerhouse, playing a major role in saving Randers FC from relegation from the Danish Superliga. His performances led to strong interest from the Russian side Rubin Kazan and the Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv.

FC Krasnodar
In the winter of 2011, Movsisyan was sold for €2.5 million to FC Krasnodar. He made his debut in an opening game of the season on the 12th of March 2011 in a 0–0 draw against Anzhi Makhachkala and scored his first goal in a 2–0 win over Spartak Nalchik in the next game. After fighting injury early in the season, Movsisyan became a top producer on the team and netted 14 goals, including a brace against Volga (that win would keep the club safe from relegation) and a goal and an assist in a 2–2 draw against Amkar Perm. At the end of the season, Movsisyan was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the Year for 2011 by the club. During the 2011–12 season, Movsisyan was named the top 10 best new foreign players. In the opening game of the season, Movsisyan scored a brace in a 2–1 win over Rubin Kazan and scored another and provided an assist for Joãozinho in a 3–1 win over Lokomotiv Moscow. He would score twice in a 2–2 draw against Amkar Perm and another goal and an assist for Dušan Anđelković in a 6–1 win over against Mordovia Saransk. His goal-scoring made him linked with various clubs. But this did not stop Krasnodar from offering him a new three-year contract. However, according to Manager Slavoljub Muslin, the club couldn't match his salary offer. Exiting Krasnodar, Movsisyan stated that the Club would always be dear to him and expressed gratitude to Krasnodar FC president Sergey Galitsky.

Spartak Moscow
Movsisyan completed a move to Spartak Moscow on the 8th of December 2012 for a reported €7.5 million and signed a contract for 4.5 years with a salary of €1.5 million a year, making him the 7th most expensive transfer in Spartak history. On 10 March 2013, Movsisyan made his debut for the new club in a home game against Terek Grozny. Movsisyan had an immediate impact by scoring a hat-trick, leading Spartak to a 3–1 win. Movsisyan became the first Spartak player to score a hat-trick in his debut. His next goal came in a 2–0 home victory over Amkar Perm. Movsisiyan then sustained an injury in a 2–2 derby draw against CSKA Moscow and missed the next three games. At the end of the season, his team finished 4th which means they qualified for the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League. The next season started perfectly for Yura, he scored a goal in the first match of the season from a penalty, in a 2–1 victory over Kryliya Sovetov.

Spartak legends Nikita Simonyan and Alexander Mirzoyan personally sent well wishes to Movsisyan in connection with his becoming a Spartak player. Mirzoyan wished Movsisyan success and gave Movsisyan an autographed photo of him. Simonyan wrote to Movsisyan, "Dear Yura, I hope that you win more titles at Spartak than I. I wish you success!" Movsisyan replied, "It will be difficult to exceed Simonyan's achievements—[both] as a player and a coach. Thank you very much for such valuable support. I know of Simonyan and Mirzoyan as the greatest players, and I am proud to be an Armenian just like them. I have not seen them play, but I know that they have done a lot for Spartak. I am not even close to them [in terms of accomplishments]. [But] I certainly do have plans. I want to score goals and achieve wins. [And] when things are successful, I will only enter into history at that time."

Return to Real Salt Lake
On January 15th, 2016, Real Salt Lake announced that it had signed Movsisyan as a Designated Player on loan from Spartak. Real acquired his rights permanently on 10 October 2016.

Djurgårdens IF
On 25 March 2018, it was confirmed that Djurgården had signed Movsisyan on a 6-month long loan with a possible extension of another 6 months. He made his debut in a 2–0 loss against city rivals AIK, coming on as a substitute in the second half. After 16 minutes of play, he was handed a straight red card. On 10 May 2018, he appeared for Djurgarden in a 3-0 victory over Malmö FF in the Swedish Cup Final. After sustaining a thigh injury that kept him out of the squad for several weeks, he left the club to continue his rehabilitation in the USA.

Chicago Fire
On 14 September 2018, Chicago Fire announced that they had acquired.

INTERNATIONAL CAREER
Movsisyan joined the Armenian national team in August 2010 and made his debut in a friendly against Iran on 11 August 2010. Yura played a very crucial role in changing Armenian Football. He was one of the most prolific attacking players in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, netting four goals and providing five assists. After being named the best-ever forward in Armenian National Team history, Movsisyan decided to hang up his boots at the very young age of 32. Yura totaled 14 international goals for Armenia.

Yura Movsisyan is currently the official Ambassador of Armenian Football to North America.
 

Achievements and Awards

• The MLS Cup (2009).

• Winner of the MLS Eastern Playoff Conference (2009).

• Multiple player of the game, player of the week, and player of the month awards.

• "Fan Favorite Award" of the Armenian Football Federation (2010).

• Russian Premier League Golden Boot (2012-2013).

• 2018 Swedish Cup with Djurgårdens IF