First Football Match in the History of the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

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In winter 2016, it was decided to hold the first match in the history of the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. On February 19, the team of PJSC Stroytransgaz and the team FC Volga Fans met on the new arena to play a match.

Naturally, the playground was placed near the arena under construction. A mini football field was built, the game format was decided upon (2 half times 15 minutes each, 5 field players + a goalkeeper), opponents were selected. Stroytransgaz, the company building the stadium, and Nizhny Novgorod residents represented by FC Volga fans, those for whom the arena is being built, enjoyed the privilege to play the first match. Despite the fact that the roster was limited by 8 candidates, the teams involved the widest possible audience in the match. An additional player declared by Stroytransgaz was… a young lady! Daria Stolbun is a football fan, her sons play this game and she said that she could not miss such a historical match. One must say that she was not just an extra player, but she participated in the battle on a par with men. FC Volga fans involved fans not only from Nizhny Novgorod, but also from the Nizhny Novgorod Region, as well as the club employees, for example, Valery Mochalov, the Adviser to Director General.

However, the main peculiarity of the match was that all the participants wore… felt boots (‘valenki’)! This imparted the true Russian colour to the game! Winter! Felt boots (‘valenki’)! Football! Prior to the match, the organisers arranged funny sports relays so that the players could get accustomed to their unusual outfit. There were 3 competitions suggested: “Fans” won the relay, however, Stroytransgaz succeeded in accuracy kicks. The winner was to be identified in a simple competition – juggling. 2 players participated from each team. “Fans” stopped at the level of 11 kicks by felt boots, but the builders managed to keep up the ball in the air 12 times. Stroytransgaz was named the winner based on the results of all competitions.

And then the football began! And it was a wonderful game: uncompromising, with a large number of tackling cases, and, despite harsh conditions, with dangerous moments.  The players did not have scruples to slide tackle, let alone acrobatically jumps to shoot at the goal. One can say that the motto of the match was the slogan: “Play beautifully!”

In the first half, “Fans” opened the scoring, but already at the beginning of the second half, Ilya Lebedev, the goalkeeper of Stroytransgaz, assisted Alexey Anikin, the team captain, who scored the equaliser. 1:1 seems to be an ideal deal for the debut, but no one could even think about the score draw. On the contrary, the teams started playing the open football, attacking each other, where “Fans” proved to be luckier. Valery Mochalov remained alone on the penalty line and easily hit the angle between the post and the cross bar. After the game, it was decided to have a penalty shootout that ended with the score 4:3 for the team “Fans”. One of the goals was scored in a curious way. When the player of “Fans” was taking a 6-meter kick he lost …his felt boot! However, he did not lose courage and hit under the cross bar, past the startled goalkeeper.

The first game on the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium evoked a lot of positive emotions among all the participants and spectators, and proved one more time that Russia is a football country, where people like football and can play it, even wearing felt boots!

Alexander Gusev, the Civil Engineering Expert (PJSC Stroytransgaz): “Today, in my opinion, we witnessed a very remarkable event. I have been involved in the construction of the arena for already one year and a half and I am very happy to have seen the first game, even held in the entertaining format. I am proud to have been able to participate in it. I can say that today we reaped the first fruits of our labour. I am sure that this event encouraged and inspired all the participants. I personally felt a surge of energy. I will keep doing my best to ensure a real football festive event in Nizhny Novgorod in 2018. As a native resident of Nizhny Novgorod, I am very pleased to know that our city will host such an event. What is more difficult: to play football or to build? Building the stadium is rather more difficult, but playing football is very pleasant.”

Daria Stolbun, the Senior Expert of the Administration and Maintenance Department (PJSC Stroytransgaz): “We are honoured to build the stadium, we want to present all the residents of Nizhny Novgorod with a perfect building, which, I am sure, will stage engrossing matches in 2018. My both sons are footballers and I am proud to have participated in such an unusual match today.”

Stanislav Gopp, an active member of the student football league of the Nizhny Novgorod Region (FC Volga Fans): “The match was held in a tremendous atmosphere, after all, the stadium for the 2018 FIFA World Cup is being erected only fifty meters away. I scored the first goal in this competition. One can say, I made it into history (smiling), that is why I am just in a magnificent mood. It was very difficult to play wearing felt boots. Let us say that we here invented a new sport – felt boot football. The Russian version of the beach football. What is more, felt boots sometimes fall when you kick the ball. So, it was real fun! Certainly, pleasant impressions will last long. Let alone that the organisers offered us the felt boots as souvenirs. Yay!”

Valery Mochalov, the Adviser to Director General of FC Volga: “I remembered my childhood at once, because what we wore when we played football in winter were felt boots. The organisers of the today’s event prepared an ideal ground for such an unusual match. Of course, I am very glad to have managed to score the decider and the penalty and thus hand a victory for our team. FC Volga fans also helped us very much in the match with a young and strong team of Stroytransgaz. It is great that the stadium in Nizhny Novgorod is being built with such an accelerated tempo. This means that the 2018 FIFA World Cup is approaching. There is no doubt that our country and our city will host it at the highest level.”

Sergey Sorokin, the match referee:  “The game left only positive impressions, although the format was certainly rather peculiar. The teams tried not to play roughly, although they did not avoid fighting, but it was rather difficult to avoid impacts because they wore felt boots. By all means, I will tell my grandchildren that I became the first referee of a kind at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.

Stroytransgaz – FC Volga Fans – 1:2 (0:1)

February 19, 2016. Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

Stroytransgaz: Lebedev – Anikin, Gusev, Pugachev, Vavelkov – Okhapkin, Selinsky, Averin, Stolbun

FC Volga Fans: Mironov – Gopp, Khokhrin, Mochalov, Bogdanov – Kheryakov, Gorelov, Mishukov

Referee: S. Sorokin

Goals: 0:1 – Gopp (10), 1:1 – Anikin (17), 1:2 – Mochalov (24)

Penalty shootout – 3:4