The International Football Tournament for the President’s Cup opened

The 14th International Football Tournament for the President’s Cup started on February 21 brought together 10 teams from seven countries worldwide. According to the Resolution of the President of Turkmenistan the prize fund of the tournament makes up US$ 35,000.

The teams are split into three groups: Turkey FC, Mika FC (Armenia) and the Turkmenistan Cup winner Shagadam FC (Turkmenbashi) were qualified to Group A, Rubin-2 FC (Kazan, Russia), Dordoy-Dinamo FC (Kyrgyzstan) and the national vice-champion MTTU (Ashgabat) – Group B, the Iranian youth team, Vahsh FC (Tajikistan), the Turkmenistan champion Ashgabat FC and the bronze winner of the national championship Nebitchi FC (Balkanabat) – Group C.

The Group C winner will play in the final and the runner-up will compete for the bronze medal. The second finalist will be defined in the match between the winners in group A and Group B. The team, which will lose the game, will compete for the third place.

Mika FC (Armenia) faced with Turkey FC at the Chandybil-Nisa Stadium. Arkadiy Adresian and Alesha Abramian, the former Ararat FC captain and goalkeeper (Yerevan) train the Armenian team, which includes two Brazilian legionaries - 23-year old halfback Tiago De Souza and 26-year old fullback Alex Da Silva.

The amateur football clubs represent Turkey at the tournament.

Both teams already made two attempts to win the President’s Cup. Mika FC competed versus FC Aviator from Tajikistan in the third place match three years ago and lost 2-3. The Turkish sportsmen defeated 2-0 their rivals from Iran - Abumuslim FC (Meshed) but failed to break through.

Mika FC and the Turkish team played 0-0.

The winner of the 13th President’s International Football Tournament MTTU (Ashgabat) competed with the national champion Dordoy-Dinamo from Kyrgyzstan. The twice winner of the AFC President’s Cup took five legionaries: goalkeeper Bachuki Parulava, fullback Ruslan Umarashvili from Russia, Elaija Ariy and David Tette from Ghana and forward Maka Koum from Cameroon to Ashgabat.