“They sold themselves for rubles.” Football stars at the tournament in Moscow. FIFA is silent

Last weekend (February 10-12), a friendly football tournament with the participation of world football stars took place in Moscow. The event is called Legend’s Cup and has stars in the logo imitating those from Champions League games.

Tournament logo:

Legend’s Cup logo Screen/ Legend’s Cup Instagram

A tournament full of stars

This year’s event was attended by Eric Abidal (former player of Barcelona, ​​then an activist of the Catalan club), Jay-Jay Okocha (PSG, Bolton), Emmanuel Adebayor (Real Madrid, Manchester City), Florent Malouda (Chelsea, Lyon), Esteban Cambiasso (Real Madrid , Inter Milan), Georgios Karagounis (Inter, Benfica Lisbon, European Champion 2004), Angelos Basinas (Real Mallorca, Panathinaikos Athens, European Champion 2004), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal London), Ruben De La Red (Real Madrid, Getafe), Edmilson (Barcelona, ​​Lyon), Asamoah Gyan (Udinese, Sunderland), Didier Zokora (Sevilla, Tottenham), Aleksander Hleb (Barcelona), Diego Lugano (PSG, Fenerbahce), Maicon (Manchester City, Inter) Gustavo Varela (Schalke), Giovanni (Barcelona, ​​Olympiacos), Junior Baiano (former Brazil international, 1998 World Cup silver medalist), Florent Sinama-Pognolle (Atletico, Liverpool) and Alexander Farnerud (former Swedish international).

The tournament has been organized since 2009 by the Russian Football Union and the State Duma with the support of Russian state-owned companies. This year the team of legends of Russia triumphed. The second place was taken by the legends of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Further down: All-Star Team, Legends of Europe, Legends of South America and Legends of Africa. In the 15 editions of the tournament played so far, the team of Russian legends has failed to win only once – in 2020, the team of world football stars won.

FIFA and UEFA are silent

There are teams of six in the event. The match lasts 40 minutes, the meetings are held on smaller pitches. Retired players over 35 compete. The name of the tournament may confuse you with the FIFA tournament. The world federation organizes similar events – the last Legends Cup competition was held in mid-December in Doha in connection with the world championships in Qatar. They played there Jurgen Klinsmann, Cafu, Kevin Kuranyi and Francesco Totti.

As Sport.pl, we asked FIFA and UEFA for a comment on the tournament in Moscow with the participation of football legends from around the world. By the time this article was published, we had not received a response.

Particularly surprising is the participation of players from Europe (including the French Abidal, Malouda, Sinama-Pongolle, the Greeks Karagounis and Basinas or the Spaniard De La Red).

Abidal delighted

“First of all, I expect us to have fun. It’s always a pleasure to meet former teammates. We maintain the spirit of competition, despite retiring from football. It will also be nice to come back to this city, meet friends. I will play with a smile – Eric Abidal told the Russian media before the tournament,

– I hope that the arrival of us – foreigners will be support and encouragement for children and all fans. And he will show that everything will be back to normal when there are no political problems,” added the former Barcelona defender.

In another interview with Telecom Asia Sport, Abidal compared the World Cup in Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022): – The World Cup is a big competition, so the organization is very important. And from what I saw and heard, in both countries the organization was top-notch. Both in Russia and in Qatar, players and fans could feel safe.

“They sold for rubles: Malouda, Cambiasso, Adebayor and other stars took part in the tournament in Russia,” comment Ukrainian media outraged by the event in Moscow.