21 Jan 2019
Doha, 21 January 2019. “The Match Premier Cup” tournament featuring four leading Russian football clubs gets underway tonight at Aspire Academy and the head coaches of Zenit St. Petersburg, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow and Rostov held a press conference where they spoke of their impression of Aspire facilities.
Oleg Kononov, (FC Spartak Moscow), Sergey Semak, (Zenit St. Petersburg), Yuriy Semin, (Locomotiv Moscow), and Valeriy Karpin (Rostov FC) told the Russian and local media that the new initiative to play a cup tournament in Qatar was a noble and welcome idea. They confirmed how pleasantly surprised they had been by what they found upon arrival in Qatar
"Aspire Academy is phenomenal and the boasts some of the best sports facilities of any l have seen in the world," remarked Yuri Semin. "I can understand why this is the training base for the Qatar national team, this place Aspire has what any team dreams of for training camp and preparation.”
Valeriy Karpin added: "Aspire Academy facilities are excellent, and we don’t have anything like this in Russia”.
“The Match Premier Cup” which is being organized by Match TV and Russian Premier Liga in partnership with Qatar Football Association and Aspire Zone Foundation will run from 21- 29 January is going to be broadcasted live in Russia on Match TV and Match Premier channels.
During the lively press conference previewing the tournament the club head coaches, expressed their delight to be competing in Doha in an unusual tournament that falls during the Russian League winter break. The teams normally travel away from Russia to warmer climates and train before Russian League matches resume in March. "In coming to Qatar, we have found a new venue and an opportunity to introduce Russian football to this country while with the millions of Russians who will be watching the games will be introduced to Qatar.”