I am very pleased that we managed to attract one of the most powerful academies in Europe and I am especially pleased with how our players have performed. The quality of the matches and the effort we've seen from our players and coaches have been a great example for this tournament. I am very glad that we are on competing with the young Belgium players.

What other tournaments can we expect at the Gazprom Academy this year?

We'll host Finland's HJK in early March and on 28–29 Marc the Juventus Academy will take part in the ninth International Dmitry Besov Cup. The format will be the same as the Friendship Cup. We'll also hole tournaments in memory of Vladimir Kazachenok in May and Yuri Morozov in August.