Iurii Vetokha "It has been done a lot during the exist of the CFU, but a lot still remains to be done"

The Crimean football union celebrates its first anniversary on July 9, 2020 – the leading football organization of the Crimea celebrates its 5^th anniversary.

Press service of the Crimean football union talked to the president of the organization Iurii Vetokha.

- Iurii Aleksandrovich, who can you rate the work of the Crimean football union for the last years?

- Five years – is short term. The conduction of the professional football championship among of eight teams is the main achieve of our organization. Of course, it was very hard for the first time to organize the work not only of Crimean football union, but also organize cooperation with our clubs. We started from scratch in 2015: we had to promptly form the structure of the Crimean football union, to work on the Charter of the organization and along with this to develop the regulations documentary for conduction of the competitions. And it was allotted to us a little over one month to all this stuff, because the first CFU Premier League championship started already on August 22, 2015. However, I can confidently say after five years, that we managed to build boundaryless and understandable system of championship conduction. It has been done a lot, but a lot still remains to be done.

- You said in one of your interviews, that one of the problems was the lack of enough number of coaching and teaching staff. How changed the situation in this direction?

- We managed to organize the training of Crimean football coaches for the first time at the beginning of this year. Our specialists had two-week training at specialized training center in Krasnodar. 30 Crimean coaches received licenses of "C" category after the training and passing the tests, this license allows to work as a football coach of children and youth teams. Also, another group of the coaches at the same quantity went to Krasnodar at the end of June, where they are currently training. I think, that it will be enough number of qualified specialists with relevant certificates at the end of this year on the peninsular.

-  At the same time the CFU devote much attention at children football…

- Yes, indeed, the Crimean football union – is not only professional championship of eight clubs. 150 teams took part in the Crimean Children and Youth football League in last season, it’s an absolute record for the number of participants. The CFU conducts and supports many different football tournaments, including international ones. Of course, the championship of the CYFL was completed ahead of schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic in this year, and planned children and youth tournament were postponed to the later date. I hope that situation will stabilize in autumn of this year and we will able to conduct all competitions.

We see permanent inflow of people who want to play football. It has been seen a real football boom for many years in children and youth football. The number of children playing football is growing from year to year. It’s pleasant to note that our players are demand in Russian football clubs not only FNL, but also RPL. For example, Daniil Khusevich, 19 years-old, a pupil of Simferopol School of Olympic Reserve, atands for "Arsenal", Tula now – club of Rusiian Premier League.

- Surely, more Crimean players will be able to play at high level after the opening of the Crimean football Academy…

- Sure! The Crimean football Academy is a landmark project of the entire peninsular. Never before in the Crimea was a football Academy. And 150 young football players from all over the Crimea got a unique opportunity to learn football skill from highly qualified football specialists.

I woul also like to thanks to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and to the Head of the Republic of the Crimea Sergey Aksenov, thank to them initiative and support the project called "Crimean football Academy" was realized. The stages of children selection of various ages are completed and in the near future the Academy will start its fully work. The excellent conditions were made for living, training, studying and relaxing of the students. But, I want to note, that it need some time to prepare the professional football player and the first result of the Academy’s work should be expected in a few years.

- Iurii Aleksandrovich, what are the plans and tasks facing the Crimean football union for the near future?

- First of all, we need to complete the current Premier League championship and the CFU Cup, the ending of those are held within condition of limitations for all known reasons. The fight in the championship is continues both in the upper and the lower parts of the standings. In addition, we are waiting for the restart of the Crimean amateur championship matches, because the first two teams from RFFC will be able to participate in future championship. But, of course, the conditions are such that everything will depends on the epidemiological situation in the Crimea.

So far, no more than 10 percent of supporters are allowed in the stadiums, thus we are asking our fans to treat the situation with understanding. We believe in the best.