Mkhitaryan in 2013. Aragats FC was the second football club that represented the city. However, the club was dissolved in 2002 due to financial difficulties. The Gyumri Football Academy of the Football Federation of Armenia was opened on 13 September 2014. It is home to four natural-grass and two artificial turf regular-sized football training pitches. Futsal Futsal is also very popular in Gyumri. Being one of the most successful Futsal teams in Armenia, FC Gyumri played at the Armenian Futsal Premier League. Starting from 2017–18 season, FC Gyumri became known as Shirak Futsal, representing the futsal branch of FC Shirak. The newly founded Sh.S.U. Futsal -representing the Shirak State University- will also participate in the domestic league competition. The futsal teams of Gyumri regularly play their home games at the Armen Sargsyan Sports Hall, located in the Ani district at the northwest of the city. Olympic individual sports Gyumri has made a major contribution to the sporting life of Armenia. Many Olympic and world champion wrestlers, weightlifters and boxers are from Gyumri. The city is notable for its worldwide champions in individual sports, such as Robert Emmiyan in long jump, Yurik Vardanyan and Nazik Avdalyan in weightlifting and Artur Aleksanyan in Greco-Roman wrestling. Many special sport schools are serving the young generation of Gyumri such as the Robert Emmiyan school of athletics, Levon Ishtoyan football school, Tigran Petrosian school of chess, Ludvig Mnatsakanyan school of winter sports, Artur Aleksanyan school of wrestling, Yurik Vardanyan school of weightlifting, Aleksan Haobyan school of tennis and table tennis, as well as other special schools for boxing, artistic gymnastics, sambo-judo, fencing, and chess. The city is also home to the Gyumri Swimming Complex. The National Federation of Black Belts of Aikido (NFBBA) is based in Gyumri since its establishment in 2012. The Gyumri State Sports College of Olympic Reserve and Gyumri School of Sport Masters are among the prominent sport schools in Armenia that produced many champions in several individual sports. Twin towns – sister cities Gyumri is twinned with: Alexandria, United States (1990) Ashfield, United Kingdom (1998) Białystok, Poland (2013) Créteil, France (2009) Domodedovo, Russia (2014) Glendale, United States (2015) Halle, Germany (2020) Mozdok, Russia (2011) Nardò, Italy (2013) Osasco, Brazil (2006) Petah Tikva, Israel (2019) Pitești, Romania (2012) Plovdiv, Bulgaria (2004) Tver, Russia (2022) Xi'an, China (2013) People Artur Aleksanyan, Olympic, European and world champion in wrestling Mourad Amirkhanian, opera singer (bass-baritone)