Moscow has hosted the UTLC Cup, a traditional international youth football tournament organized by UTLC ERA JSC. This year teams from Turkey and Serbia took part in the tournament for the first time. For the Belgrade players, the trip to Moscow was especially successful - they beat Dynamo Moscow in the final on penalties.
Today the UTLC Cup is an annual event founded by OTLC ERA JSC joint-stock company in cooperation with Lokomotiv Football Club. Russian Railways is an official partner of the project. The tournament is open for players born not later than 2008.
This year's Cup was special, its organizers say. "For the first time after a three-year break, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we again met with foreign teams on the pitch. The international situation didn't prevent it either," notes Alexey Schepinov, General Director of GAME LLC (the organizer of the UTLC Cup).
The composition of the teams is also unique. Thus, according to Alexei Grom, General Director of UTLC ERA JSC, for the first time teams from Turkey and Serbia took part in the tournament, while the leading teams from Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus were its traditional guests.
All in all eight teams competed for the UTLC Cup - 2022: Moscow-based Lokomotiv, Dynamo and CSKA, Crvena Zvezda from Serbia, Turkish Alanyaspor and Fatih Karagumryuk as well as Astana from Kazakhstan and Dynamo Minsk.
The Serbian team Crvena Zvezda and Dynamo Moscow met in the finals held on August 21 at the Russian Railways Arena. In this decisive game both teams played well in defense, and the main time ended 0-0.
The outcome of the tournament was decided by a penalty shootout with great performance of goalkeeper Matej Stankovic, who saved two shots. As a result, the Belgrade players won 4:2.
According to Marko Petrovic, the head coach of Crvena Zvezda, this tournament will be a great motivation for the boys in their future careers.
"They saw that with serious work and diligence, you can go to a stadium like this not once in your life, but every week, becoming a professional football player," he is sure.
"The prize for which the teams competed is a copy of the FIFA World Cup," says Alexey Shchepinov. "We are sure that this trophy will motivate young athletes to play in the Mundial".
As a reminder, the first UTLC Cup football tournament was held in 2017.
"Five years ago we, as representatives of a sports marketing company, proposed to the management of UTLC ERA JSC to organize a tournament that could bring together young boys from different parts of the world. The company supported this idea and signed a contract with us to organize this football tournament," says Alexey Shchepinov.
You can watch recorded tournament matches on The Game Agency Pro sports marketing channel on YouTube.
Anastasia Baranets
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