{"id":1698,"date":"2019-06-02T11:17:44","date_gmt":"2019-06-02T10:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2021-08-05T12:22:18","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T11:22:18","slug":"the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/","title":{"rendered":"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Author: Olaf Jensen; Image credit: Gevorg Ghazaryan<\/em><\/p>\n

There was no clearer sign of how much the small, mountainous Republic of Artsakh has embraced the CONIFA Sportsbet.io<\/a>\u00a0European Football Cup 2019 than at the opening ceremony. The whole of Stepanakert, the capital city, was alive with activity, the way to the stadium packed with families, officials, soldiers and visitors, and the grass verges overlooking the stadium thronging with Artsakhians eager to take part in the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Inside the stadium there was already a party atmosphere, but the crowd was given an extra lease of life by the energetic warm-up act (even the government figures took part in the Mexican wave) and a dramatic performance by singer Vardan Bardalyan, accompanied by the \u2018We Are Our Mountains\u2019 dance ensemble.<\/p>\n

But first, the formalities. All eight competing teams marched down the running track \u2013 here, it was obvious how proud the people of Artsakh are to welcome these athletes to the their countries \u2013 but the biggest cheers were predictably reserved for Western Armenia and Artsakh themselves.<\/p>\n

President of the Republic of Artsakh, Bako Sahakyan, spoke of \u201can important event in the life of Artsakh\u201d, praising the \u201crigorous and hard work\u201d of the tournament organisers and volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball,\u201d he said, \u201cunites people, builds friendship [and] fosters humanitarian contact.\u201d There was a sense of immense pride from the entire stadium when he expressed his hope that the Artsakhian athletes taking part could be a source of inspiration for the entire country.<\/p>\n

And on a night on which the footballing world\u2019s attention was fixed on the UEFA Champions\u2019 League final in Madrid, CONIFA President Per-Anders Blind had a different perspective: \u201cTonight the capital of Europe is Stepanakert\u201d \u2013 a sentiment echoed by CONIFA\u2019s Europe President, Alberto Rischio.<\/p>\n

Then the festivities truly began. The ceremony was a real celebration of Artsakhian culture and identity, and the country\u2019s shared heritage with Armenia, characterised by a blend of modernity and tradition.<\/p>\n

And of course, a celebration of football. The CONIFA official anthem was a crowd-pleaser, but even more so was the young boy performing keepy-uppies in the centre circle for the entire duration.<\/p>\n

Then we had traditional Armenian and Artsakhian instruments, the young piano maestro Anahit Arushanyan, a tribute to French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour by Oxana Baburyan, and Armenia\u2019s answer to the Gipsy Kings, Manolo and the Gipsy Gitanes, putting in a rousing performance of\u00a0Bambol\u00e9o<\/em>, all held together by trilingual banter between the three hosts, representing Artsakh, Armenia, and the huge diaspora around the world.<\/p>\n

But the highlight was undoubtedly Sirusho, one of the most famous and popular Armenian-language singers \u2013 and the country\u2019s representative at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Her set, rapturously received by screams and cheers, blended Armenian religious and historical themes with contemporary modern pop.<\/p>\n

Closing the ceremony was Artur Grigoryan, the legendary Armenian singer and pianist, joined by percussionist Erna in a composition written specially for the tournament, simply titled\u00a0Artsakh.\u00a0<\/em>And as the fireworks began to unfold over the stadium, it was a fitting end to an incredible night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Olaf Jensen; Image credit: Gevorg Ghazaryan There was no clearer sign of how much…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global"],"yoast_head":"\nThe CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert | CONIFA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert | CONIFA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Author: Olaf Jensen; Image credit: Gevorg Ghazaryan There was no clearer sign of how much...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CONIFA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-02T10:17:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-05T11:22:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ml4e0gjyxzna.i.optimole.com\/cb:uNHV~1ab15\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/yoast-social-sharing-icon-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"President\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"President\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"President\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93fc278a1d8e43915a9dc17d2521992c\"},\"headline\":\"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-02T10:17:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-05T11:22:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Global\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/\",\"name\":\"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert | CONIFA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-02T10:17:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-05T11:22:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"CONIFA\",\"description\":\"Confederation of Independent Football Associations\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CONIFA\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/www.conifa.org\\/en\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2021\\/06\\/conifa-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/www.conifa.org\\/en\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2021\\/06\\/conifa-logo.png\",\"width\":243,\"height\":59,\"caption\":\"CONIFA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.conifa.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93fc278a1d8e43915a9dc17d2521992c\",\"name\":\"President\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b9ed77c5bacde487eaa170a37d02dec121529fd39d5942d27553a77399d8fb93?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b9ed77c5bacde487eaa170a37d02dec121529fd39d5942d27553a77399d8fb93?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b9ed77c5bacde487eaa170a37d02dec121529fd39d5942d27553a77399d8fb93?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"President\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert | CONIFA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert | CONIFA","og_description":"Author: Olaf Jensen; Image credit: Gevorg Ghazaryan There was no clearer sign of how much...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/","og_site_name":"CONIFA","article_published_time":"2019-06-02T10:17:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-05T11:22:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":627,"url":"https:\/\/ml4e0gjyxzna.i.optimole.com\/cb:uNHV~1ab15\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/yoast-social-sharing-icon-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"President","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"President","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/"},"author":{"name":"President","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/93fc278a1d8e43915a9dc17d2521992c"},"headline":"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert","datePublished":"2019-06-02T10:17:44+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-05T11:22:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/"},"wordCount":521,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Global"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/","url":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/","name":"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert | CONIFA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-06-02T10:17:44+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-05T11:22:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/the-conifa-sportsbet-io-conifa-european-football-cup-2019-opens-in-style-in-stepanakert\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The CONIFA Sportsbet.io CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 opens in style in Stepanakert"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/","name":"CONIFA","description":"Confederation of Independent Football Associations","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#organization","name":"CONIFA","url":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ml4e0gjyxzna.i.optimole.com\/cb:uNHV~1ab15\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/conifa-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml4e0gjyxzna.i.optimole.com\/cb:uNHV~1ab15\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/conifa-logo.png","width":243,"height":59,"caption":"CONIFA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/93fc278a1d8e43915a9dc17d2521992c","name":"President","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9ed77c5bacde487eaa170a37d02dec121529fd39d5942d27553a77399d8fb93?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9ed77c5bacde487eaa170a37d02dec121529fd39d5942d27553a77399d8fb93?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9ed77c5bacde487eaa170a37d02dec121529fd39d5942d27553a77399d8fb93?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"President"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1699,"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions\/1699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}