Moscow hosted the international charity children's mini-football tournament "Kubok Dobra-2020" with the participation of star artists.

Moscow hosted the international charity children's mini-football tournament "Kubok Dobra-2020" with the participation of star artists.

     On the 25th of January, 2020, the Lokomotiv Sapsan arena hosted an international mini-football tournament for children from 9 to 17 years old between teams from Russia, Great Britain, Nigeria, Cameroon, India, Japan, France and Israel, with the participation of teams of children with cerebral palsy aged 12-17 years.

   The organizers of the tournament are the Foundation "Pod flagom dobra". The founders of the Fund are: Sergey Lavrov, Alexander Zhukov, Arkady Dvorkovich, Andrey Sharonov, Dmitry Kharatyan, Ilya Averbukh, Vyacheslav Fetisov and other well-known organizers and participants of the event.

   Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov congratulated the children on the sports holiday. “Such competitions greatly contribute to the popularization of the "sport number one" and consolidation of young people from different countries on the basis of the values of a healthy style of life. - noted Sergey Lavrov in his address - “I am sure that the competitions will contribute to the development of the physical culture movement and strengthen mutual trust and understanding between nations.” The message of the Minister was transmitted through a representative of the Foreign Ministry of Russian Federation Andrey Volkov, Chief Adviser of the Department for humanitarian cooperation and human rights, which traditionally opens the tournament.

    “Mini-football for our children is much more than physical development. This is a source of incredible emotions, vital energy. This is new friends and the joy of communication." - joined the Minister’s congratulations Tatyana Batysheva, a Deputy of the Moscow state Duma.

    The event was opened by the inclusive jazz orchestra of children with mental disorders "Sunny notes" under the direction of T. N. Orekhova and conductor E. N. Saveleva.

    The first shot at the ball was made by a well-known theater and cinema actor, a regular participant of the All-Russian charity event "Pod flagom dobra" Ilya Glinnikov.

    Singers Mikhail Grebenshchikov, Anton Zatsepin and music critic Boris Barabanov joined the congratulations.

        Pierre Narcissus attended event to support his fellow countrymen-the national team of Cameroon and sang everyone’s favorite song "Chocolate Hare".

   Especially for the tournament, Mikhail Grebenshchikov wrote a song about football, which was performed by pupils of the school of A. B. Pugacheva: Ilya Glazunov and Denis Bunin. Artem Shmelkov, a sports commentator for the Match TV channel, Alexander Aleshkin, an actor, and Alexey Shiyanov, a Soviet and Russian football player, commented on everything what was happening on the field.

      The first place in the tournament was taken by the team of Israel, the second went to the team of Cameroon, and Nigeria closed the top three winners. The audience award was addressed to the Russian foreign Ministry's "Ambassadors of the World" team. The teams of children with CP disease : “Spartak-Moscow” and “Spartanets-Shchelkovo” also took part in the tournament.

     Dmitry Bulykin, a veteran of the Russian national Team and a three-time winner of the Russian Football Cup, also attended the event to award the winners. Nadia Tuktarova, the curator of social programs of the Russian Football Union, awarded memorable prizes to all children.

      During the tournament, the assistance was provided to 17 children, the patients of the Vel’tischev NICKI Pediatrics, for emergency heart operations in the amount of 5 million 721 thousand Rubles. Charity Fund “Tolko zhivi".

      The Embassy of Hungary in the Russian Federation provided a table for playing a techball on the territory of the stadium.

     The tournament ended with a friendly football match between the teams of the best players of the tournament and the team of the actors of the movie "Lev Yashin. Goalkeeper of my dreams " Andrey Klavdiev, Alexander Aleshkin, Igor Silchenko and Vasily Frolov, the grandson of the great athlete Lev Yashin.

     The Fund's managers expressed special gratitude to the volunteers. On Student’s day, 80 students of the College of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation and the Senkevich Institute of Tourism provided an invaluable assistance in organizing this sports event.

     The next tournament "Kubok dobra" will be held on 6th of June traditionally at the Lokomotiv stadium. We invite everyone to take part in charity programs for children!