Armenia international Vahan Bichakhchyan joins Poland’s Pogoń Szczecin

Pogoń Szczecin and MŠK Žilina have reached an agreement on the final transfer of Armenia international Vahan Bichakhchyan. The midfielder has signed a 3.5-year contract with the club.

Born on July 9, 1999 in Gyumri, Bichakhchyan started his career in the local club Shirak. At the age of 16, he made his debut in the highest league in Armenia. Before his 17th birthday, he had his first adventure with his club in the then UEFA Cup and scored the first goal in European competitions. For two seasons he won the silver and bronze medals of the national championship with Shirak and won the Armenia Cup. In the summer of 2017, he moved permanently to the Slovak MŠK Žilina and represented the club’s colors for 4.5 years.

He played 60 matches in the Slovak league, scoring 18 goals. He ended the previous season with 11 goals and 5 assists, and in the halfway point of the current season he has 6 goals and 7 assists. His achievements in the current season include a great campaign in the UEFA Europa Conference League, where in he scored 4 goals in 8 games, to which he added one assist.

Bichakhchyan debuted for the Armenian national team in September 2020, shortly after his 21st birthday. So far, he has played 11 matches for the Armenian national team (5 in the Nations League, 4 play-off matches and 2 friendly games), in which he scored 1 goal and added 1 assist.

“We have been working to sign Vahan for a very long time,” said Dariusz Adamczuk, the head of the sports division of Pogoń Szczecin.

“We watched him live several times during his matches at the previous club, we were interested in him even before he extended his contract with Žilina. I am very pleased that we have managed to close the negotiations and finalize this move. Vahan has a lot of football quality. I keep my fingers crossed for him to show as much of his skills as possible. It certainly has everything to strengthen the competition immediately and become an important link in the team,” he added.

Nominally, Bichakhchyan plays the role of a central, offensive midfielder. In the club and the national team, however, he also played on both wings, or in the middle of the field.

The footballer starts training with the new team today. On Thursday, he will fly with Pogoń to a camp in Belek, Turkey. He’ll be playing with number 22 on his back.