Fr om September 11 to 19, the Russian Football Championship took place near Novorossiysk (village of Shirokaya Balka). Teams from six regions of the country competed for the champion title at the "Bootcamp" stadium: Voronezh, Volgograd, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod Regions, and the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. For the first six days, the football teams played in a round-robin format, wh ere the squads from Voronezh and Volgograd Regions, running neck and neck, crushed all opponents. Following the round-robin stage, these two teams occupied the top two spots, respectively. Then the playoff stage began, raising the intensity of the battles.

The final matches will be remembered by spectators for their tense games and dramatic moments. It's no joke, both final matches for a place on the podium ended in draws, and the winners were determined by a series of post-match penalty kicks. It is impossible to convey in words the excitement and emotions of everything that happened there; one had to see it with their own eyes and experience it.

Match for 3^rd place:

St. Petersburg — Moscow Region 0:0 (penalties 4:3)

Final:

Voronezh Region — Volgograd Region 0:0 (penalties 4:2)

The Voronezh Region team became the country's champion for the second time in a row, thanks to the brilliant performance of their goalkeeper and the team's cohesion.

Vyacheslav Gutko, coach of the Voronezh Region team:

- The final match was difficult because the teams had already played 6 games in 8 days, a considerable load, plus the Volgograd team had a much longer bench, as many national team athletes were gathered there, and they were also reinforced by players from Nizhny Novgorod.

The game itself was even, without clear goal-scoring opportunities; we hit the crossbar once, and the Volgograd team did once. The match was worthy of a final; you could feel the tension and responsibility of the guys. As a result, penalty kicks decided the outcome. The Voronezh team demonstrated cool-headedness, and goalkeeper Artyom Mironov showed confidence and skill.

The winners and prizewinners were awarded at the closing ceremony of the national championship by the President of the All-Russian Sports Federation of Sports of the Deaf, Dmitry Rebrov.

RESULTS:

1st place - Voronezh Region

2nd place - Volgograd Region

3rd place - St. Petersburg

Best Goalkeeper — Artyom Mironov (Voronezh Region)

Best Forward — Georgy Lidovsky (St. Petersburg)

Best Player — Evgeny Avdonin (Moscow Region)

Russian Championship Results

Text: Maria Mazhenina, Nurlan Tazhigulov

Photo: Bootcamp

Translation: Daria Kudelina