On March 30, the second international youth football tournament dedicated to the memory of prominent statesman Nurlan Kapparov ended at the CSKA Stadium.
Six teams born in 2003 took part in the tournament, including last year's winners FC Zenit (Saint Petersburg), FC Kairat (Almaty), FC Pakhtakor (Tashkent), FC Dordoi (Bishkek), and the Moscow Academy. Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and FC Velvet (Almaty). This year's tournament was won by students of the FC Kairat Academy.
Among the huge number of fans, the CSKA Stadium was attended by such eminent guests, famous football veterans as Kuralbek Ordabayev, Viktor Katkov, Mikhail Gurman, Sergey Volgin, Valery Malygin, Kairat player and famous sports commentator Dias Omarov, and the legendary Kairat player and master of sports of the USSR, Eustaphirov, who specially came from Greece to the tournament as a guest of honor Pahlevanidi.
At the award ceremony with Dmitry Galyamin, Director of the FC Kairat Academy, Gaukhar Kapparova, Nurlan Kapparov's wife, Abila Donbayev, Head of the Physical Education and Sports Department of Almaty, and others, Berik Kaniev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lancaster Group and President of the Zhas Kyran KLDUF, noted:
— Dear fans, football fans! I would like to sincerely welcome our friend Nurlan Jambylovich Kapparov to the tournament dedicated to the memory of our friend Nurlan Jambylovich Kapparov. It is very symbolic that we are meeting today because today would be the 47th anniversary of the birth of our friend Nurlan. Of course, on the one hand, it is difficult for us to say this; on the other hand, we are very pleased that we are meeting today. I would like to thank all the children and parents who came to this tournament and created such an environment. Nurlan loved sports and children very much, did many social projects, so we timed this tournament to coincide with our youth status. And for the second year now, it has been international and is gaining more and more popularity. Thank you for your enthusiasm. During this competition, we saw how children played and got a huge boost of energy and adrenaline. At one time, we went to Central Stadium and watched Kairat play in the USSR Premier League against well-known teams — Spartak, Zenit, Pakhtakor, Dynamo Kyiv and other clubs. Even now the boys are playing in international matches and continuing their traditions. Everyone here tried their hand and I think that despite their results, they were all satisfied.
This tournament is the first in 2017 in a series of joint youth football tournaments held by the Kazakhstan Children's and Youth Football League “Zhas Kyran” together with FC “Kairat”.
“We are holding the tournament on such a scale as to attract the public to football and give impetus to the development of children's football. When choosing teams, it was important for us to focus on teams from Central Asia. Our level of play used to be the same, but now we see an obvious difference. Therefore, it is important to find out at what level children's football is in Kazakhstan and develop it further,” concluded Marat Abdildabekov, Vice President of the Zhas Kyran KLDUF.
