From 11 to 13 November, a football tournament was held in Rome as part of the VI International Interuniversity Championship. In the competition Russia was represented by two teams – the members of the elite A group of the National Student Football League: Saratov State University as the winner of the tournament in 2018 and the current Russian champion – V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (Simferopol).
The rivals of the Russian footballers were student football teams from the Czech Republic, Great Britain, France, Slovakia, Italy, and Spain. Our players confidently overcame the group stage and made it to the playoffs from the first places.
SSU became the first in the group, defeating ESSCA School of Management (Paris) – 9:0, the second team of the University of Exeter (England) – 12:0, and tied with Comenius University (Bratislava, Slovakia) – 0:0. In the quarter-finals, the team turned out to be stronger than the best football players of the University of Exeter – 6:0, in the semi-finals they beat the students from Marseille (France) – 3:0, in the finals they defeated Czech Technical University (Prague) with the same score.
The team of Saratov University included 21 active participants. The champion team included the Sokol midfielders Dmitrii Borisov and Mikhitar Zakharyan as well as the goalkeeper of the main regional team Ivan Belyaev, who received the prize of the best player of the tournament saving two penalties in the final. Thus, the SSU team became a two-time winner of the International Interuniversity Championship.
Saratov University had already become the WIUC in 2018. The current success shows the high level of training, the great will to win, and the professionalism of the coaching staff.
As Director of the Institute of Sports and Physical Training Nailya Brilyonok said, ‘I sincerely congratulate our university on another significant victory. Our national football team has confirmed the title of the world university champion without losing a single game or conceding a single goal. The guys showed their firm character and will; despite some difficulties associated with restrictive measures around the world, they were able to adequately achieve the set goal!’
On November 16, at 7.55 a.m., the winners will arrive to Saratov by train, where relatives, friends, fans, and all the teams who are not indifferent to their success will be eagerly awaiting them. On the same day, the football players will meet with the university leadership and share their impressions on the tournament.
The VI International Interuniversity Championship is a large-scale sports festival that includes, in addition to football, such kinds of sports as volleyball, rugby, handball, futsal, basketball, badminton, cheer sports, and swimming.
