The Tambov Sports and Entertainment Center football arena will host National Student Football League Premier Group championship games from April 28 to 30, featuring teams from Tambov, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, and Smolensk.
In the 12th season of the NSFL, 16 teams from Krasnodar, Saransk, Grozny, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Moscow, Kazan, Smolensk, Rostov-on-Don, Makhachkala, Simferopol, Orel, and Tambov are competing for trophies in the Premier Group.
At the opening ceremony, the participants were greeted by League President Andrey Stukalov, Rector of Derzhavin University Pavel Moiseev, Minister of Sports of the Tambov Region Pavel Gritskov, and Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports of Derzhavin University Artem Savelyev.
"It's fair to say that today we welcome you to the birthplace of student football, to the place where the League was founded and held its first competitions," noted Pavel Moiseev. "It's a great honor for us to host this home tournament every year and watch the student teams and the League itself grow. I wish everyone spectacular matches, fair football, and, of course, victory for Derzhava."
Andrey Stukalov presented an honorary certificate to Pavel Moiseev, Rector of Derzhavin University, from the Ethics Committee of the Russian Football Union for his contribution to the development of student football.
In the first match of the championship, Derzhavin University faced SPbGUPTD (St. Petersburg). The game ended with a convincing 3-0 victory for the home team. On April 29, FC Derzhava will play SFedU (Rostov-on-Don).