Vadim Kostyuchenko: "Leather Ball" is a wonderful project that creates a solid foundation for the development of mass football in Ukraine "

16.08.2018 17:46

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

From August 27 to 29, 2018 in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, at the Energia Stadium, the final tournament among the teams of players of the U-14 age group of the All-Ukrainian tournament "Leather Ball - Coca-Cola Cup" will take place. Its participants will be the eight best teams that managed to win a ticket to the finals of more than six thousand children's teams in this age group:

1. NVK # 2 (Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region)
2. Secondary school № 16 (Vinnytsia)
3. Secondary school № 9 (Myrnohrad, Donetsk region)
4. Academic Lyceum (Ivano-Frankivsk)
5. NGO No. 6 (Kropyvnytskyi)
6. Gymnasium (Mirgorod, Poltava region)
7. NEC No. 26 (Rivne)
8. Secondary school № 1 (Krolevets, Sumy region)

The program of the finals will start on August 27 at 17.00 competitions in the elements of the game of football, and at 18.30 will start the matches of the group stage. The lineups will be announced on August 27 following a team meeting and a draw.

The start of the final game is scheduled for 11.00 on August 29.

As always, gifts and awards prepared by the Football Federation of Ukraine and the Association of Amateur Football of Ukraine together with the partners of the competition will be given to each child participating in the final tournament. The best players in each team will be awarded. Teams will receive sets of football uniforms and soccer balls.

Vadym Kostyuchenko, FFU's first vice-president, said: "Leather Ball" is a great project that creates a solid foundation for the development of grassroots football in Ukraine, and introduced two years ago, competitions in the age group among 14-year-old children provided a great opportunity to continue football life on the all-Ukrainian arena for children who did not get into the teams participating in the DUFL competitions of Ukraine ".

It will be recalled that this year's final tournaments in other age groups took place: 11-year-old participants in Slavuta, Khmelnytsky region, 12-year-olds in Ivano-Frankivsk, and 13-year-olds in Vyshneve, Kyiv region.

"Leather Ball" is the most popular football competition among school teams, held jointly by the Football Federation of Ukraine and the Amateur Football Association of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and included in sports programs of Ukrainian schools . The tournament is the successor of the football competition for the prizes of the club "Leather Ball", which has its history since 1965. Competitions at the national level resumed in 1998. From that time until today, the tournament is headed by a veteran of Dynamo Kyiv, the best football player of the USSR in 1966, Honored Master of Sports Andriy Biba.