Former professional soccer player Yura Movsisyan took an unconventional route to the highest levels of the sport — one built on self-belief, trusted mentors and a willingness to choose opportunity over convention.
In a Summer of Soccer conversation with Inclusive Voices Media host Silva Harapetian, Movsisyan reflected on his journey from Armenia to the United States, his surprising path through Pasadena City College and the professional career that eventually took him through Major League Soccer, European football and the Armenian national team.
“I think I was just born with it,” Movsisyan said of his love for soccer. “Ever since I was a kid, that’s all I know. That’s all I remember.”
From Armenia to the United States
Movsisyan moved with his family from Armenia to the United States in 2000, when he was about 12 or 13 years old.
Soccer had already become a defining part of his life, but as a child, he said, it was difficult to know whether his dream of playing professionally would actually become reality.
“I think it’s very difficult as a child to understand that, yes, you’re going to make it,” Movsisyan said.
What he did have was belief — both his own and the encouragement of coaches, family and friends who told him that if he continued working, an opportunity could come.
“You just do what you’re told, you just do what you love and hope for the best,” he said.
That opportunity arrived sooner than most could have expected.
Movsisyan turned professional as a teenager after being selected fourth overall in the first round of the 2006 MLS SuperDraft.
But the path that took him there was anything but conventional.
Choosing Pasadena City College Over the Traditional College Route
Coming out of high school, Movsisyan said he had opportunities to play Division I college soccer. Instead, he chose Pasadena City College.
His reasoning was simple: His ultimate goal wasn’t to build a college soccer career. He wanted to become a professional.
“My mindset was only, I want to be a pro,” Movsisyan told Harapetian. “What is the fastest route to becoming a pro?”
A trusted coach helped provide an answer.
Movsisyan’s former high school coach encouraged him to play at Pasadena City College and challenged the young striker to score 15 goals. If Movsisyan delivered, his coach would help him get an opportunity to be seen by Major League Soccer.
Movsisyan accepted the challenge — and exceeded the goal.
His performance helped him earn the attention necessary to reach the MLS combine and eventually the SuperDraft.
The decision required Movsisyan to trust his coach, but it also required a remarkable degree of confidence in his own ability.
“I knew I was going to score my goals,” Movsisyan said. “I believe that’s what I was born for, to score goals.”
From MLS to Europe
Movsisyan began his Major League Soccer career in Kansas City before moving to Real Salt Lake.
With Real Salt Lake, he won the 2009 MLS Cup, defeating a Los Angeles Galaxy team featuring David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
His career then took him overseas.
Movsisyan played in Denmark before moving to Russia, where his career included time with Krasnodar and Spartak Moscow. Later stages of his career brought additional stops in the United States and Europe.
But among the clubs, championships and countries that defined his professional career, one experience carried particular significance.
Representing Armenia.
Movsisyan told Inclusive Voices that playing for the Armenian national team is what he is “most proud of.”
For an athlete who left Armenia as a young teenager and built his professional career across countries and continents, wearing Armenia’s colors on the international stage brought his journey full circle.
A Lesson in Betting on Yourself
Movsisyan’s story arrives at a moment when soccer’s visibility in the United States continues to grow and a new generation of young players is imagining what might be possible for them.
His journey offers a particularly relevant lesson for those athletes.
There is no single route to success. Movsisyan says, the most prestigious opportunity is not always the right opportunity. The traditional path is not necessarily the fastest one. And sometimes a young athlete needs someone else to recognize their potential before the rest of the world does.
But mentorship alone isn’t enough.
At some point, the athlete has to deliver.
For Movsisyan, that meant accepting a challenge, believing he could score the goals necessary to get noticed and trusting that his performance would create the next opportunity.
That self-belief helped take him from Armenia to Pasadena, from community college soccer to MLS, and eventually onto fields around the world.
Yura Movsisyan on Why Soccer Is Booming in America | Youth & Women Drive the Growth
