EURO-2008 bronze medalists Dmitry Sychev, Roman Shirokov, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, as well as the 2013 European youth champion, player of the “Amkal” media football club Alexei Gasilin came to the Arctic to take part in the traditional football festival. for residents and guests of Norilsk.
The football festival was organized by Norilsk Nickel and the Russian Football Federation and was timed to coincide with three holidays: Metallurgist’s Day, Enterprise Day and the anniversary of Norilsk. A year and a half ago, Russian football stars already flew here – they managed to catch the polar night. This time, the guests from the northern city were surprised by the endless daylight hours.
The legend of the Moscow “Locomotive” Dmitry Sychev came to Norilsk for the second time. “I remember the previous trip to Taimyr well. Then we visited the Komsomolsky mine, and they even let me work in special teams at a depth of 500 meters, driving piles. I am sure that the new journey will be no less interesting for us and for the neighbors, ”he said.
Photo author: Anna Shamina
This time, famous football players were invited to the Bear Creek youth academy. At the beginning, the guests enjoyed a short historical reading and a visit to the observation deck, from where they could watch the miners at work. Then the entire entourage went down to the quarry, almost 450 meters. There, footballer-bloggers in the media hoped that the stars of the RFU would participate in an unusual penalty challenge together. Instead of grass there is a quarry soil, and instead of a gate there are huge BelAZ trucks that amazed all the guests.
“Of course, I did not expect such a scale of work as the one we have just shown,” Diniyar Bilyaletdinov admitted. “Bear Creek” is a great project. I thought that everything was somehow more compact. The race has been around for many decades, but according to plan, it will still develop. colossal work. Male, heavy. It is good that here, in large work processes, there is a place for football. We arranged a challenge: we installed BelAZ trucks, we hit penalties right from the stones. It’s a little heavy on the boots, but it’s still a lot of fun.”
Photo author: Anna Shamina
Roman Shirokov set off to try one of the working professions of Norilsk Nickel on the show “A Completely Different Thing.” He was lucky enough to briefly become a mining excavator operator.
“The scale was very impressive, especially the technique – how powerful and how big it is,” Roman said. “I had the unique opportunity to learn about the huge excavator and how it is operated. Despite the size, it is very comfortable inside. We understand that the boys work in difficult conditions. And we are here in the summer. And in winter, temperatures calmly drop even below -40. The cabin is warm, but the 11-hour shift is not easy.”
At the end of the first day of the visit, prominent athletes held a meeting with fans, where they answered questions, took pictures and signed autographs for fans. And the authors of the best questions also received memorable awards from the organizers of the public talk.
Photo author: Anna Shamina
The next day was a real holiday marathon. Early in the morning, the Match TV presenter Ilya Trifanov, who came to Norilsk to celebrate a football festival, celebrated … his own marriage from him! When a job offer was received beyond the Arctic Circle, Ilya and his fiancée decided not to postpone the wedding date and moved places. Now in the documents of the newlyweds there is a mark of the Norilsk registry office, and in the piggy bank of memories – the first adventure as spouses.
Meanwhile, a football festival began at the Ayka sports center: legends of the Russian Football Union held master classes for 50 young athletes, students of sports schools in Norilsk. And the bloggers and media players who came with the RFU team organized interesting challenges for all the participants.
The main event of the second day was a series of exhibition matches. Before the start of the games, Dmitry Sychev greeted the spectators and participants of the football festival: “It is becoming a good, good tradition – our arrival in your city. You have a wonderful atmosphere, thank you for the warm welcome. We are all united by sport and the love of football. I congratulate you on the upcoming Day of the Metallurgist, Day of the City and Day of the Enterprise! Let’s enjoy the holidays and play real football!
Photo author: Anna Shamina
As many as 12 Norilsk Nickel teams played against the RFU team, 7 minutes each. The Norilsk first team managed to prove themselves against legendary football players who could not find their game right away. However, the rest of the teams, despite the defeats, were able not only to appreciate the skill of eminent rivals, but also to enjoy the process.
“Great experience. Very cool party. God forbid that football players come every year, they give us so many emotions. This, one could say, is a childhood dream, because in childhood we watched their game, we admired them” , Sultanbek Jidzalov, a player of the Gornyak team from the Oktyabrsky mine, shared after the matches.
During the breaks between the games, the festival organizers and their partners – RFU, Norilsk Nickel, NordStar and Rosbank – delighted the audience. Souvenirs, branded T-shirts, certificates for a free flight and even tickets to the Superfinal of the Russian Football Cup-2023/24 – all this was taken by the luckiest visitors to Aiki. But the main reward was a great game, which ended with a score of 19:9 in favor of the legends and vivid impressions of the football extravaganza.
Photo author: Anna Shamina
The bronze medalist of the 2008 European Championship, the former player of the English “Tottenham” Roman Pavlyuchenko spoke very warmly about the atmosphere in the sports hall and praised the level of play of the Norilsk team. “We knew we had to move, we prepared ourselves, but even so the game was tense. All the teams are playing, all are moving well. Actually everything went very well. I would like to thank the fans, those who came out and supported me today. Noise given today! Thank you so much! Next year we will definitely not refuse to come back!” promised the player.
