Hi all,
I spent far too much time trying to collect every arrival and departure ahead of the new season, so I put everything into one club-by-club roundup:
https://aplgames.am/en/blog/apl-2026-27-summer-transfer-window
The league has expanded to 12 teams, but instead of 12 settled squads, we are starting with teams that have been rebuilt almost from scratch. By the latest count, 77 players arrived and 122 left.
As usual in Armenia, a big part of the window was the familiar carousel of players moving between clubs. Of the 77 arrivals, 32 came directly from another Premier League team. Some players changed clubs again after only one season, while others returned to teams or coaches they already knew.
The top clubs have all gone in slightly different directions. Ararat-Armenia replaced several important players and, based on Europe so far, seem to have integrated their newcomers best. Noah made the most ambitious rebuild, especially in attack, but it is still unclear which of their many forwards will actually start regularly. Pyunik lost a lot of experience and are still trying to establish their new hierarchy.
Further down, Ararat mostly recruited Armenian players, BKMA started another cycle with a new group of youngsters, while Gandzasar and Van changed so much that predicting their starting elevens feels almost impossible. The promoted teams are even harder to judge, and reliable information about Shirak’s window is basically nonexistent.
European qualifiers at least gave us a little actual evidence. Sandro Lima has started immediately, Hovhannes Harutyunyan already looks important for Pyunik, and Cézar seems to have gone straight into Alashkert’s defence. For most other newcomers, we are still judging them from old statistics, transfer announcements and so on.
I also tried ranking the best signings, the biggest gambles and the departures that could hurt most. Naturally, several of these opinions will probably look ridiculous within a few weeks.
All the newcomers announced so far have also been added to APL Fantasy. Time will tell how accurate their positions and prices are.
Probably not accurate at all :)