1st BRICS+ Blind Football International Friendly Tournament took place in Moscow
The 1st Blind Football International Friendly Tournament of professional teams of BRICS countries and partner nations became the last athletic event of Russia's BRICS Chairship.The competition featured eight teams from seven countries: Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Turkey.
The 1st Blind Football International Friendly Tournament of professional teams of BRICS countries and partner nations became the last athletic event of Russia's BRICS Chairship.
The competition featured eight teams from seven countries: Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Turkey.
The tournament is an inclusive project of public-private partnership on a joint initiative of the Russian Blind Football Federation and the BRICS Civil Council, which was endorsed in the Kazan Declaration of the XVI BRICS Summit (paragraph 132).
Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration and Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Financial and Economic Cooperation with the BRICS countries, sent greetings to the participants and guests of the tournament. He noted that any discrimination in sports is unacceptable.
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Sport is a sphere of free expression where there is no place for politicization. I am confident that the tournament will serve to develop sports ties between the BRICS countries and promote sports for the blind and other people with additional needs
Maxim Oreshkin
Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Financial and Economic Cooperation with the BRICS countries
There were also welcoming remarks from Evgeny Primakov, Head of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). The opening ceremony was attended by Brazilian Ambassador to Russia Rodrigo de Lima Baena Soares and others.
During the tournament, athletes from different countries emphasized the importance of this inclusive event, primarily for communicating with each other, sharing experiences and the opportunity to prove that human potential is almost limitless.
This initiative will help promote the idea of depoliticization of sports and fair competition in the international arena, and will also allow, after the success of the BRICS Games, to pay attention to the development of inclusive sports both within the association and internationally.
Closing and award ceremonies were attended by Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Russia’s Sherpa in BRICS. He emphasized the growing role of sports diplomacy as a unifying force of the international community and expressed hope that Brazil during its BRICS Chairship in 2025 will conduct the tournament as well. Victoria Panova, Head of the BRICS Expert Council-Russia, and other notable also attended the closing ceremony.
The event was organised by the BRICS Expert Council – Russia and supported by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The title sponsor was PhosAgro Group, the competition was also supported by VTB Bank (PJSC). MATCH TV, the Russian federal broadcaster, was the media partner.