A Football Match Was Held Within the Framework of KazanForum with the Participation of Rubin Legends and Diplomats of the OIC Countries
A Football Match Was Held Within the Framework of KazanForum with the Participation of Rubin Legends and Diplomats of the OIC Countries
16 May
On 16 May, the “Molodaya Gvardia” Camp hosted an exhibition match between the “Legends” and “Diplomats” teams as part of the International Forum “Russia – Islamic World”.
The “Legends” team includes former FC “Rubin” players of different years: Sergey Ryzhikov, Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Turkey), MacBeth Sibaya (South Africa), Alexander Bukharov, Andrey Fedorov, Rustem Khuzin, Andrey Knyazev, Evgeny Balyaikin, Dmitry Blagov, Ildar Minvaleev. Among the Legends of the club were the President of the Board of FC “Rubin” Marat Safiullin, ex-players of the Russian national team, RFU ambassadors Alexander Mostovoy and Ruslan Nigmatullin, as well as bloggers from Egypt and Malaysia Ahmed El Badawi and Chi Hove.
The Diplomats team was represented by employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, together with their foreign colleagues – diplomats from Bahrain, Belarus, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Iran, Morocco, Oman, and Turkmenistan.
The match ended with the victory of “Legends” with a score of 7:4. The stands were attended by children participating in the football tournament “Eastern Cup”.
Marat Safiullin, President of the Board of FC “Rubin”, captain of the “Legends” team:
“Football is a game that unites countries and religions. Football is a language that everyone understands. The game with legends and diplomats gave me incredible emotions. I got great pleasure and was charged with positive emotions. I want to tell everyone to play football. I would like to express my gratitude to Rustam Minnikhanov, Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, for supporting our initiative to hold this Tournament. I hope that the Tournament will become a good tradition and will be held annually. There are already offers from other countries that would like to host this Cup. We will see. That is great when children play football. Playing football distracts our children from gadgets and is much more pleasant when children play real football, not virtual. We try to create a national idea of football in the Republic of Tatarstan through sports results (“Rubin” performs quite well in our country), through popularisation.
After the match, the children participating in the “Eastern Cup” tournament, which takes place these days in Kazan, presented the teams with commemorative medals and cups. Marat Safiullin, MacBeth Sibaya and Sergey Ryzhikov made a speech of gratitude after the game.MacBeth Sibaya, two-time champion of Russia as part of FC “Rubin”:
“International children’s tournaments are a great experience. It would be great if children had the opportunity to visit other countries – for example, South Africa, Europe, America. Once in professional football, they will have to play against players from these countries. Therefore, it is important to gain experience now. I really liked the game itself, I played without substitutions and scored. I think I’m still in good shape (laughs)”.
Evgeny Balyaikin, two-time champion of Russia as part of FC “Rubin”:“Incredible sensations when you meet with those with whom you once played and won titles. It is a great honour to play on friendly matches that unite several nations. It is also great that there were children in the stands and perhaps future players of the national teams who see friendly matches where there are no tasks to win, and you just need to catch the pleasure of football. A good idea and a celebration of sports!
The “Legends” team includes former FC “Rubin” players of different years: Sergey Ryzhikov, Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Turkey), MacBeth Sibaya (South Africa), Alexander Bukharov, Andrey Fedorov, Rustem Khuzin, Andrey Knyazev, Evgeny Balyaikin, Dmitry Blagov, Ildar Minvaleev. Among the Legends of the club were the President of the Board of FC “Rubin” Marat Safiullin, ex-players of the Russian national team, RFU ambassadors Alexander Mostovoy and Ruslan Nigmatullin, as well as bloggers from Egypt and Malaysia Ahmed El Badawi and Chi Hove.
The Diplomats team was represented by employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, together with their foreign colleagues – diplomats from Bahrain, Belarus, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Iran, Morocco, Oman, and Turkmenistan.
The match ended with the victory of “Legends” with a score of 7:4. The stands were attended by children participating in the football tournament “Eastern Cup”.
Marat Safiullin, President of the Board of FC “Rubin”, captain of the “Legends” team:
“Football is a game that unites countries and religions. Football is a language that everyone understands. The game with legends and diplomats gave me incredible emotions. I got great pleasure and was charged with positive emotions. I want to tell everyone to play football. I would like to express my gratitude to Rustam Minnikhanov, Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, for supporting our initiative to hold this Tournament. I hope that the Tournament will become a good tradition and will be held annually. There are already offers from other countries that would like to host this Cup. We will see. That is great when children play football. Playing football distracts our children from gadgets and is much more pleasant when children play real football, not virtual. We try to create a national idea of football in the Republic of Tatarstan through sports results (“Rubin” performs quite well in our country), through popularisation.
After the match, the children participating in the “Eastern Cup” tournament, which takes place these days in Kazan, presented the teams with commemorative medals and cups. Marat Safiullin, MacBeth Sibaya and Sergey Ryzhikov made a speech of gratitude after the game.MacBeth Sibaya, two-time champion of Russia as part of FC “Rubin”:
“International children’s tournaments are a great experience. It would be great if children had the opportunity to visit other countries – for example, South Africa, Europe, America. Once in professional football, they will have to play against players from these countries. Therefore, it is important to gain experience now. I really liked the game itself, I played without substitutions and scored. I think I’m still in good shape (laughs)”.
Evgeny Balyaikin, two-time champion of Russia as part of FC “Rubin”:“Incredible sensations when you meet with those with whom you once played and won titles. It is a great honour to play on friendly matches that unite several nations. It is also great that there were children in the stands and perhaps future players of the national teams who see friendly matches where there are no tasks to win, and you just need to catch the pleasure of football. A good idea and a celebration of sports!
