Raymond Zarpanelian
French football coach (1933–2011)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Raymond Zarpanelian (17 May 1933 – 29 March 2011) was an Armenian-French football coach who was last known to have been based at Al-Ansar in Saudi Arabia.[2]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 17 May 1933 | ||
| Place of birth | Paris, France | ||
| Date of death | 29 March 2011 (aged 77) | ||
| Place of death | Paris, France | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1993–1994 | Sierra Leone[1] | ||
| 1997 | ASF Bobo Dioulasso | ||
| Al-Ansar | |||
Career
Sierra Leone
In 1993, he was appointed manager of Sierra Leone.[3]
Assisted by Sam Obi Metzger, Zarpanelian guided Sierra Leone to a 4–0 defeat to Ivory Coast and a 0–0 stalemate with Zambia at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations, causing him to step down as coach and go back to Paris.[4]
Burkina Faso
Working with ASFA Yennenga in early 1997, the Franco-Armenian took charge of ASF Bobo Dioulasso by summer of that year, driving them to a runners-up position in the league and a national cup trophy.[5]
Uganda
Visited Uganda with French journalist Frank Simon to watch the 2000 CECAFA Cup and observe East African football.[6][7]
Personal life and death
The former Sierra Leone mentor was said to have been a magnanimous person.[4]
Diagnosed with kidney cancer, Zarpanelian died at a hospital in Paris at the age of 78 in 2011 and was buried on 6 April.[8] Previously, he was linked with the Central African Republic technical director position.[6] The Raymond Zarpanelian Trophy was launched in 2014 to honor an African-based French football technician each year,[9] with Pascal Janin getting the award for his achievements with Stade Malien.[10][11]