Morozov Tournament

The Zenit Football Club and the Mikhail Biryukov Master Class fund have conducted the Yury Andreyevich Morozov International Youth Football Tournament every year since 2006. The tournament participants come from those countries where Yury Andreyevich Morozov worked as a trainer, including Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Germany, Finland, and Kuwait.

Yury Andreyevich Morozov — As a coach, winner of a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, second place winner at Euro-1988, third place winner of the USSR Championship 1980, third place winner of the Russian Premier League in 2001, honored coach of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic (1981), honored coach of the USSR (1989), laureate of the “Strelets” prize in 2001 in the nomination “Best Coach of the Year,” and a knight of the Friendship of Nations.

Tournament structure

The Mikhail Biryukov Master Class fund, which, along with FC Zenit, organizes the tournament, considers its main tasks to be supporting children and youth football, educating young goalkeepers, and finding and supporting talented, prospective footballers. The tournament is supported by the leading St. Petersburg’s sports journalists as well.

The final matches in the tournament feature a lot of fan interest. The tournament final in 2008 was shown live on the St. Petersburg television station 100TV.

Tournament seedings

The tournament has two groups with four teams each which play three matches in the group stage. The group winners play the final to determine the 1st and 2nd place winners, while the second teams in each group play for 3rd and 4th place, the third teams play for 5th and 6th place, and the last teams in the group play for 7th and 8th place.