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López leaving Armenia post

Oscar López is stepping down from his roles as coach of Armenia and FC Pyunik.

Oscar López will step down as coach of Armenia and FC Pyunik, the Armenian Football Federation (AFF) has announced.

Salary demands
López will not return to Armenia following the winter break after the AFF, who shared the cost of his wages with Pyunik, announced it would not be able to meet his pay demands. The Argentinian had been seeking a salary increase to €25,000 a month. López's assistant coach, Rubén Flota, will also have his contract terminated, but fitness trainer Rubén Britez has returned to Armenia and has already started working with the Pyunik players.

Champions League success
López won a clean sweep of honours in 2002 with Pyunik, and also took the club past the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history. He also was in charge of the Armenia national team, but only for two matches, a 2-2 home draw with Ukraine, and a 2-0 defeat by Greece in Athens, both UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifiers.

French connection
Armenia now have little time in which to find a replacement coach ahead of their next Group 6 matches against Northern Ireland on 29 March and Spain on 2 April. Press reports suggest that former France and Morocco coach Henri Michel is involved in negotiations with the AFF for the position.

President takes charge
Pyunik, in the meantime, will be heading to the Commonwealth Cup in Moscow with club president Khoren Hovhannisyan temporarily carrying out the duties of head coach. There was not word on who might replace López at the club.