ART FOOTBALL

Ain’t no Nedved that Kiriakov can’t beat 18.05.2013 01:46

 Ain’t no Nedved that Kiriakov can’t beat

Yury Davydov dwells on the upcoming world football championship among artists

In June Moscow will host the World football championship among artists “Art-football”. 16 teams will rejoice public not only with fascinating battles on the football fields, but also with bright performances on stage. This immense event will be held within the frameworks of the “Under the Flag of Kindness!” mission, the collected donations will be addressed to critically ill children.

The chief executive director of “Administrative board of charity programs “Starco” Yury Davydov, the organizer and inspirer of the mission, has shared the details of the event.

- Mr. Davydov, “Starco” has already accumulated a rather rich international experience, although that is a whole new level.

- This event will be held within the charity mission “Under the Flag of Kindness!”. Nevertheless I wouldn’t call it a competition. I prefer Football-musical festival “Art-football”, as music and charity are not one bit less important than what is going on at the football field.

No one has ever organized anything like this before. This is our own invention. We believe that the festival will not only become a tradition, but will also take the leading position in the top-list of world sports-musical events. We are happy to say that the mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin has personally supported the idea of the artistic football championship. From that on it’s a point of honor to live up to the standards.

- Who will arrive in Moscow to play “Art-football”?

- From June 2d to June12^th 16 teams will play on Moscow “Torpedo” name after Eduard Streltsov and “Krylia Sovetov” stadiums according to the arrangement similar to FIFA. We are expecting to see participants from Brazil, England, Italy and many other countries. 

- The Russian team is the obvious favorite of the tournament. Don’t you fear some of the rivals might invite professional players to even out the chances?

- We do an artistic check of all the team members. 2 football old-timers and 1 representative of any other profession are allowed to strengthen the teams. For example the Czech Republic is bringing Pavel Nedved, but we are armed with Sergey Kiriakov!

- Will the concerts be held on the same stadiums as the games?

- Not exactly. As the festival proceeds, each day two teams not participating in the sport event that evening will perform their shows on the stage of the “Green theatre” in Gorky Park.

- So who will be performing on the stage?

- It’s a lengthy list. I’ll mention just a few of the names: Chris Norman, Emir Kusturica, Riccardo Fogli. I guarantee you, there will be many surprises. 

- Will the money collected from the entrance ticket sales go to charity?

- The entrance to the concerts is free of charge, although we hope the audience will volunteer to leave feasible charitable donations. The gathered money will be addressed to seriously ill children seeking urgent and expensive treatment. We are optimistic and plan the “Art-football” to collect around $ 2 000 000. This money will be spent to support children suffering from the cerebral spastic infantile paralysis.

- What is the highlight of the program?

I’d say it’ll be the festival closing ceremony. On June 12 we have scheduled the match between the Russian star politicians and artists “Rosich-Starco” team and the World team combined of the best and brightest players of the entire “Art-football” festival.