After the autumn international football festival Trophy of Novi Sad ended on Sunday, friendly clubs said goodbye today with a show match of 11-year-old boys between FK Vojvodina and Nizhny Novgorod, and a solemn ceremony in the premises of FC Vujadin Boškov.
Novi Sad Trophy is a tournament in which 10 teams from seven countries participated, and in addition to the hosts of Vojvodina, the guests were Nizhny Novgorod (Russia), Borac Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Osijek (Croatia), Ferencvaros (Hungary), Sparta Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Vardar (Northern Macedonia), Budva (Montenegro), Old Airport Podgorica (Montenegro) and Partizan (Serbia).
The first place was won by Vojvodina, for which the following players participated in this tournament: Filip Bjeljac, Vuk Kesić, Uroš Aničić, Dragan Pavlović, Mihajlo Kresoja, Jagoš Kaluđerović, Pavle Ilić, Danilo Kovač, Uroš Basta, Filip Janković, Petar Čakar, Uroš Blizanac, Vukašin Ramić, Jovan Škrbić, Vuk Bjelić, Vukašin Micanović, Dušan Simić and Dušan Cupara, and they were led by coach Vasa Tepšić.
The second-placed was Nizhny Novgorod B, while the third-placed was Partizan. As for individual awards, Dušan Cupara from Vojvodina was chosen as the best player, Fyodor Syusko from Nizhny Novgorod was the best scorer, and Filip Bjeljac from Vojvodina was the best goalkeeper.
This festival was another part of the important cooperation and unbreakable connection between Novi Sad and Nizhny Novgorod, twin cities, within which at the end of the summer this year the boys from the Youth Academy Ilija Pantelić visited Russia and played several friendly matches with their peers.
Today, the representatives of Vojvodina and Nizhny Novgorod cordially greeted each other and presented each other with gifts as a souvenir of another unforgettable meeting.
On behalf of FK Vojvodina and the City of Novi Sad, the president of the Old Lady, Dragoljub Samardžić, first greeted those present.
– On behalf of the City of Novi Sad and on behalf of FK Vojvodina, I would like to say a big thank you to all of you. Thank you for making what we dreamed of two years ago, come true today. We have shown that our friendship, two clubs, two cities and two nations, deserves absolute attention and that we have a beautiful future ahead of us. I am sincerely sorry that we are parting now, but that parting is only temporary until the next meeting and even greater cooperation. I would like to show that the brotherhood between our two cities and two clubs is unbreakable. You will always be our dear guests and you are always welcome in our city – said the President of Vojvodina and then he distributed gifts to the guests from Nizhny Novgorod as a souvenir of this friendly meeting.
He also emphasized the importance of this meeting as a continuation of tradition and respect between the two clubs and the two cities.
– It is certain that we all gained a lot with this meeting and this tournament, and the most important thing is that our children gained an experience that is immeasurable. We could all see the happiness of our boys, after the penalty and the victory and the sadness of the goalkeeper, who defended very well, but failed to bring victory to his team. We can be sure that with their passion, both you and I have a bright future. We all have the most difficult, but also the most beloved task to lead our children and to have something to leave to our generations, the history of our clubs and our cities – concluded the president of the Old Lady Dragoljub Samardžić.
On behalf of the Russian club, Zvezdin Yuri Vladimirovich, Deputy Director of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Athlete Training Center, first addressed.
– The President described in the best possible way what we achieved in our first meeting. The result of all that was your visit to Nizhny Novgorod and this tournament and reunion in your city. Once again, I want to thank the president, the administration of the club, the coaches, all the people who contributed to such an exceptional event. We are looking forward to your every visit to us, we will be extremely glad to welcome you and to host you in the right way. I was also given the task to convey to you the most sincere greetings from our mayor, our club president, and we will be happy to convey to them all the beautiful memories we have experienced here. When I was here for the first time, Mr. President gave us a football jersey that is in our museum and I would now like to reciprocate in a similar way on behalf of our club. I give him this jersey as a sign of respect from the bottom of my heart – said Zvezdin Yuri Vladimirovich.
Valeriy Yuryevich Mochalov, advisor to the general director of FC Nizhny Novgorod, then addressed with selected words.
– I am impressed with the way you work with your children in your Youth Academy. As a former coach of the younger categories, I can notice how much effort and work has been invested in working in the younger categories. We like to say that if a club has a good academy, then that club has a bright future – said Mochalov Valerij Jurjevic.
The first coach of David Kapanadze, who is also the deputy director of the academy for the preparation of football players in Nizhny Novgorod, agreed with him.
– The organization of this tournament was at the highest possible level. Everything was perfect from the first to the last moment. We could all see how technically trained the boys in Vojvodina are and that they have excellent working conditions and further progress – said David Kapanadze.
In the end, the representatives of the clubs agreed with cordial greetings that such meetings should become a tradition that will make the connection between FK Vojvodina, the City of Novi Sad and Nizhny Novgorod even stronger.
