The final of the city stage of the tournament “Leather Ball” in Kazan was opened by the unified-match

The inclusive football match with the participation of city officials ended in a draw.

(KZN.RU, May 18, Ekaterina Vislavskaya). Today, the final of the city stage of the All-Russian tournament of young footballers “Leather ball-2018” started in Kazan. At the opening of the championship, a football unified-match, designed to help people with disabilities to socialize, was held at the stadium “Tasma”.

The tournament “Leather Bal” has been held since 1964 on the initiative of Lev Yashin, the legendary Soviet goalkeeper. It takes place in three age categories. Only non-professional athletes can take part in competitions, pupils of ordinary general schools or yard teams. The first stage runs from March to May, the second from May to June. Final competitions will be held during 3 summer months in Anapa, Smolensk, Rostov-on-Don, Tuapse, Volgograd, and Salavat, depending on the age group and gender of the players.

“There is no doubt the “Leather ball” is the most popular football tournament of our country. Lev Yashin entered the world football history not only as a famous goalkeeper but also as the initiator of this tournament, which every year gathers more and more children”, said Damir Fattakhov, the first deputy head of the Kazan Executive Committee, during the opening of the final games of the city stage. “Just in Kazan, more than 200 teams and more than 4 thousand of our young players take part in it this year”. Now, there is a “special guest” in the city and at the children's tournament, the original cup of the FIFA World Cup. Kazan takes part in the tour of this sporting trophy from 17 to 19 of May. Next two days, everyone can take a look at it and take a picture on the Millennium Square.

The event was opened by the performance of pupils of the specialized children's and youth sports school of the Olympic reserve in rhythmic gymnastics “Privolzhanka”. Leila Fazleeva, the deputy prime minister of the RT, Irek Zinnurov, a two-time Olympic prize-winner, State Duma deputy of the Federal Assembly of the RF, Svetlana Vostrikova, the chairperson of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports of the Kazan Executive Committee, and Denis Kupriyanov, the head of the department for interaction with state authorities in the Central and Southern region Coca-Cola HBC Russia, also attended the opening ceremony of the tournament. They greeted the beginning athletes and then removed the velvet cover from the showcase, in which the cup is located.

Another item of the program was the Unified Tournament. Its concept is that athletes, representatives of government bodies, business, culture, and other spheres come out on the field with children with special needs. Such matches have already been held as part of the World Cup in Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Sochi, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, and Samara. However, the Kazan game was different from the previous ones since it was played by the rules of classical football. Each team had 11 players. Usually, unified matches take place with the participation of only 7 players from each side and according to the rules of futsal. “Today an important match will be held at this stadium. It once again demonstrates that children, regardless of the limitations of their capabilities, have no restrictions”, said Damir Fattakhov.

Teams in white and red T-shirts came to the field. First one included Egor Timofeev, the deputy head of the Department for Language Development and Interaction with Public Organizations of the Executive Committee of Kazan, Alexey Klimkin, the director of the Public Relations Department of the All-Russian Football Federation of Persons with Cerebral Palsy, Anatoly Mastrov, a veteran of the football club “Rubin”, students of Kazan School №142 Emil Karymov, Oleg Bondarev, and Artem Chechkanov, students of the Mamadysh boarding school for children with disabilities Anatoly Osipov, Alexey Novoselov, and Igor Bazhenov, and others. The second one included Evgeny Varakin, the head of the Kazan Executive Committee, Aidar Ahmetzyanov, the chief specialist of the protocol department of the Organizational Department of the Kazan Executive Committee, Marsel Tukhvatullin, a veteran of the football club “Rubin”, students of the Kazan school №142 Adel’ Karymov, Alexey Petrov, and Tagir Talipov, students of the Mamadysh boarding school for children with disabilities Alexander Marchenko, Pavel Sergeev, and Dmitry Nikitin, and others.

The game had 2 times of 15 minutes each and ended in a draw with a score of 3:3. Then the awarding of participants and guests took place. The honorary certificates of the Mayor of Kazan for conscientious work and significant contribution to the development of physical culture and sports in the city were given to the veterans of the football club “Rubin” Ilgizar Gainutdinov, Vitaly Nikitin, and Anvar Murtazin.

At the end of the unified-match, Kazan schoolchildren started to fight for the right to represent Kazan at the national stage of the tournament “Leather Ball”. The winner will be determined within a week.

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18.05.2018 11:59