Turkmen footballer of Armenian descent Artur Gevorkyan is the strongest player with whom Uzbek defender and former captain of “Andijan” and “Alai” Ildar Mamatkazin has ever played. The 37-year-old athlete stated this in an interview with Eurasia Football.

Mamatkazin played alongside Gevorkyan at “Nasaf” Karshi.

"Artur Gevorkyan is from “Nasaf”," Mamatkazin responded to a question about his best teammate in a quick poll.

The defender also named the toughest opponent of his career – legendary Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto'o. "I played against him in the match against Anzhi," Mamatkazin noted.

Gevorkyan was born on November 22, 1984, in Ashgabat. He played for the Turkmen clubs “Nisa”, “Shagadam”, and “Ashgabat”, the Kazakh club “Yesil-Bogatyr”, and the Uzbek clubs “Shurtan”, “Pakhtakor”, “Nasaf”, “Lokomotiv”, and “Kyzylkum”. With “Nasaf”, he won the AFC Cup in 2011 and was named the tournament's most valuable player. In 2013 and 2014, he was named the best foreign player and most valuable player of the Uzbekistan Championship, twice finishing second in goalscoring (2013) and top scorer (2014), with 18 goals in each season. He was also “Nasaf's” captain.

Gevorkyan also played for the Turkmenistan national team. In his debut match on October 28, 2007, against Cambodia, he scored two goals. He played five matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifying tournament, scoring a free kick in one of them against Oman. Between 2007 and 2016, he played 16 matches for the national team, scoring three goals. He also played for the Turkmenistan national futsal team at the 2006 AFC Futsal Championship.