This year the following youth teams from 24 countries of Europe and Asia will compete in the Tournament: RAPID (Austria), BATE (Belarus), Standard de Liege (Belgium), Ludogorets (Bulgaria), Dream-Legend (China), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Sparta Praha (Czech Republic), Taverny (France), Tokyo (Japan), Schalke 04 (Germany), MTK Budapest (Hungary), Lazio (Italy), Kairat (Kazakhstan), Double Dutchies (the Netherlands), Varsovia (Poland), Zenit (Russia), Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Slovan (Slovak Republic), Maribor (Slovenia), Atletico Madrid (Spain), Zurich (Switzerland), Galatasaray (Turkey), Volyn (Ukraine), Chelsea (the United Kingdom).
Thus China will be represented at the International Street Soccer Tournament by the united team involving players, selected at the especially arranged competitions, held in different places of the country. The organizers were in particular impressed by Runqi Cui, young goalkeeper who has been playing football since he was 4 years old, currently plays for the Figo Football Academy team in Beijing and is personally trained by the famous Portuguese goalkeeper Vitor Valente.
The founder of the Chinese team ‘Dream-Legend’, popular TV-host and football commentator Lu Dong said: “I am very glad that this year China has joint the FOOTBALL FOR FRIENDSHIP programme that uses football as a tool to foster such important values as friendship, tolerance and mutual respect. The programme sparked huge interest in our country. We received a lot of applications from young footballers from all over the country. And we hold a serious four-stage competition to form our united team. We had strict criteria of selection: a player had to demonstrate not only his brilliant skills but also capacity to play in the team, trust other players and find a common language with them. Finally our Chinese united team was formed with the strongest and most talented football players in their age group. Now the boys are training and looking forward to the Tournament”.
Besides Chinese team, the third season of the FOOTBALL FOR FRIENDSHIP programme welcomes another mixed team – Double Dutchies. This is the united team of the Netherlands involving boys and girls who represent all twelve provinces of the country, each player from each province plus one young journalist.
“Our team is an example of friendship beyond limits. We are a real map of our country as we all come from different provinces but we already became friends and found lots of common interests. Last year the Double Dutchies also took part in the FOOTBALL FOR FRIENDSHIP Forum and in the Street Soccer Tournament. The team also consisted of both boys and girls from different cities. They performed well and I hope that we will play as well as they did and maybe even better. I am looking forward to meeting the teams from other countries, watch them play, make new friends and learn new things”, – Francis Vliek, 14 years old, captain of the Double Dutchies 2015.
Background
The Football for Friendship international children’s social project is implemented by Gazprom within the Gazprom for Children program. The project is aimed at developing the youth football game, fostering tolerance and propagating friendship among children from various countries. The key values supported and promoted by the participants include friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory and traditions. World football legend Franz Beckenbauer is the global Ambassador of the project.
The annual Football for Friendship international children’s forum is the major event of the project, bringing together 12- to 14-year-old players from top football clubs. The key project principles were outlined by young delegates from 8 European countries during the first Forum held in London on May 25, 2013. The second Forum uniting the representatives from 16 countries took place in Lisbon between May 23 and 25, 2014.
During the Football for Friendship Forum young footballers have a chance to communicate with their peers from other countries as well as famous athletes and cultural figures. At the end of the Forum the participants traditionally visit the UEFA Champions League Final.
Gazprom is a global energy company. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.
Gazprom views its mission in reliable, efficient and balanced supply of natural gas, other fuels and their derivatives to consumers. The Company takes leading positions in the Russian energy sector and is one of the top Russian oil producers.
Gazprom holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves. Its share in the global and Russian gas reserves makes up 17 and 72% respectively. Gazprom accounts for 13 and 73% of the global and Russian gas production output accordingly. At present, the Company actively implements large-scale projects aimed at developing gas resources of the Yamal Peninsula, the Arctic shelf, Eastern Siberia and the Far East, as well as hydrocarbon exploration and production projects abroad.
Together with the active business development, Gazprom pays much attention to social projects. In particular, the Company provides support to a number of sports organizations and events of both international and all-Russia scale. Gazprom is the official partner of the UEFA Champions League, offering support to the UEFA Super Cup, as well as a whole range of world’s famous football clubs – German Schalke 04, British Chelsea and Serbian Crvena Zvezda.
Gazprom is a permanent sponsor of the Zenit FC, the SKA hockey clubs (St. Petersburg) and the Avangard (Omsk Region) hockey clubs, the Zenit-Kazan volleyball club, the St. Petersburg Open tennis tournament. The Company annually co-finances rhythmic gymnastics, volleyball, chess, biathlon and other sports competitions. Across its operation areas Gazprom conducts the Adult and Children’s Spartakiada Games on a regular basis.
