YEREVAN, October 8. / ARKA /. A friendly match between Armenia’s major league Shirak FC, based in the second largest town of Gyumri and its new sponsor – the Russian-owned VTB Bank (Armenia) on Wednesday ended 4: 1.

Shirak’s midfielder Aghvan Davoyan was quoted as saying in a bank’s press release that the team is grateful to the bank for cooperation.

“We hope it will last long and will contribute to the new successes of the club. We have been playing with the logo of the bank on our shirts for about a month," he said.

VTB Bank (Armenia) football team was founded in 2009. It consists of employees from different departments. In 2011, the team won the 10th mini-football competition of local banks and credit organizations. The team also participates in various tournaments organized by the subsidiaries of Russian VTB Group.

Shirak FC owner Arman Sahakyan said this cooperation is encouraging as VTB Group is one of the most active partners of football worldwide. He expressed confidence that this cooperation will help Shirak to reach new successes.

Shirac FC was founded in 1958. It is a 4-time champion of Armenia (1992, 1994, 1999, 2012/2013), winner of Armenia Cup (2011/12), 4-time winner of the Super Bowl of Armenia (1996, 1999, 2003, 2013). In 2010, the club was bought by Arman Sahakyan, the owner of Sovrano group of companies.

VTB Bank (Armenia) is a 100 percent subsidiary of Russian VTB Bank. It runs 67 branches across the country.

The bank's assets as of July 1, 2014 stood at 312.5 billion drams, the liabilities – at 268.5 billion drams, its credit investments – at 230.3 billion drams and its capital – at about 44 billion drams. -0-