On August 26 and 27, the ambassadors of the Russian Football Union and the stars of the Media Football League, at the invitation of Norilsk Nickel, visited the village of Nikel in the Murmansk region. The visit coincided with the celebration of Miner’s Day and became part of the Gastro Industry Fest, a street festival that is celebrated these days in the Arctic.
Euro 2008 bronze medalists Andrei Arshavin and Roman Shirokov, European Youth Championship winner Alexei Gasilin, as well as players from the popular media clubs Amkal and 2DROTS went beyond the Arctic Circle to play a true football marathon together with the people of Nikel. But first the guests took a tour of the Norilsk Nickel fleet.
The first stop was the arctic container ship Zapolyarny. The ship impressed soccer legends not only because of its size (almost 200 meters in length), but also because of its filling. A surprise to many was the swimming pool, gym and sauna located on board the ship.
Then all the participants went to the icebreaker “Dudinka”, on which the former player of the St. Petersburg “Zenith” Alexei Gasilin faced Andrei Arshavin. The players competed on precision and impact power. Special containers were installed on the shore, and the attack had to be carried out from an icebreaker through passing rolling stock. Both players coped with the task, surprising the assembled team members with their skill.
“In Murmansk we were warmly received and we studied the northern fleet. The scale is impressive, I am very happy to see everything live, ”she shared after the challenge. Alexei Gasilin. “And we even got to play soccer on the boat! We managed to show a good reception of the ball thanks to a masterful pass from Roman Shirokov”.
“Murmansk is a port city where I played at -30 degrees. This is the lowest temperature I needed to play an official match”, he admitted Andrey Arshavin.
The next day, the inhabitants of the Arctic region were looking forward to a real football holiday. For the youngest athletes, the guests taught soccer lessons. The training participants were delighted with the opportunity to fulfill their dream and learn from the masters of their trade.
“I have been playing football for about three years, sometimes I play for school,” he said. Victoria Boltruchuk from Polar. “I was looking forward to this festival! My idol is Arshavin, playing with them on the same pitch is great.”
As is tradition, the highlight of the visit was a series of fan matches in which the stars of the RFU took to the pitch alongside the local teams. Three teams of production workers from the Pechenga and Monchegorsk district and a team of Murmansk residents from the transport branch of Norilsk Nickel in Murmansk participated.
“I have been playing soccer for about 15 years. Stars of such a level as Roman Shirokov and Andrei Arshavin are examples of the development of our football. Even though we opened an account, we still lost. Although it is not a shame to lose against the stars, and such a game itself is great, “he shared Rustam Bagirov from the MTF team.
At the end of the day, famous athletes held a photo and autograph session for fans and an open talk for football fans, where they presented a super prize after a special competition for Norilsk Nickel employees – a trip for two to the Russian Cup Superfinal in 2024.
“We were recently in Norilsk and now we have visited Nikel, another polar city. There are about 10,000 inhabitants here, but the atmosphere is very cool. Today we play with local children: schoolchildren and adult teams. It’s great to see people interested and loving football,” said the RFU ambassador. Alexei Gasilin.
In July of this year, the legends visited the Norilsk metallurgists, where they also held master classes for children and played with local amateur teams, as well as taking part in game challenges at the Bear Creek quarry. And in May 2022, football stars held in Monchegorsk a large sports parade with young football players, including students of sports schools of the Pechenga district.
