18 September 2013
Within the framework of Metinvest Group corporate social programme “Development of Children’s and Youth Football”, an annual Children and Youth Football Tournament “Metinvest Cup-2013” started on September 17th in Mariupol. 15 teams of different age from 9 towns of Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Lugansk regions will compete during tournament. The towns of Yenakievo and Makiivka will be represented by two football teams of 10 and 11 years old players.
The football tournament is to take place at the Azovstal stadium that hosts this sports festival on its pitch for the third year in a row. The teams will be accommodated at a homelike recreation center “Sopino” (Ilyich Iron and Steel Works), located on the Azov Sea coast.
During the three days’ tournament the teams from Kryvyi Rih, Mariupol, Yenakievo, Makiivka, Avdeevka, Khartsyzsk, Komsomolskyi, Krasnodon and Dzerzhinsk will battle in real football matches. About 270 boys who attend football schools and branches of Shakhtar FC “Children and Youth Football Academy” (DUFA) will compete in three age groups (born in 2001, 2002 and 2003).
- Our “academy students” have only one goal – to win. We wish to go on with our glorious tradition of winning the medal places, as we keep on doing since the Tournament launch, - says Valentin Stepanov, the Principal of DUFA at Yenakiieve Steel. - Participation at contests of this kind allows our boys to see and be seen, so to speak. Moreover, we are very pleased to watch our teams consistently improving their expertise and health year after year.
Like previous year the winners of “Metinvest Cup-2013 " will be awarded as real football stars. Cup Award Ceremony will be held on September 21st at the "Donbas-Arena" stadium in the halftime of Shakhtar vs. Vorskla match.
- Every year healthy lifestyle is getting more and more popular among children of our region. This is proved by statistic data. When we just opened our “Children and Youth Football Academy” (DUFA) six years ago, we taught 120 boys from Yenakievo town with football basics. Today the number of ”academy students" reached almost 600 young football players from Makiivka, Kirovsk, Horlivka, Yenakievo, Panteleymonovka, Debaltsevo, Uglegorsk and Zhdanovka. Moreover, children’s training in DUFA means not only development of their sports skills, but is also a great possibility to break into the big time, - noted Alexander Podkorytov, General Director of Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works.
For example, Academy team consisting of the best DUFA graduates for the second year represents Yenakievo Town and Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works, leading the Regional Donetsk Championship in the First League among adult teams. Furthermore, 10 DUFA students joined such well-known teams as Shakhtar (Donetsk), Metallist (Kharkov), Chernomorets (Odessa) and Zarya (Luhansk).
In September comprehensive secondary schools of Yenakievo and Makiivka started a new intake to DUFA PJSC “Yenakiieve Steel” at Shakhtar FC for children born in 2006-2007.
- For editors:
Social programme «Development of Children’s and Youth Football» is implemented by Metinvest Group in partnership with Shakhtar FC. The programme is focused on healthy lifestyle promotion among children and young people. Nowadays both children and people of all ages are keen on football playing. This sport intends healthy lifestyle, trains leadership skills, team spirit, striving for victory.
Affiliates of Children and Youth Football Academy (DUFA) were established in each region of Metinvest presence. Academy work is focused on developing young players’ potential. DUFA prepares about 1 500 thousands of children age 8-13. Academy working schedule foresees daily trainings and theoretical classes, as well as numerous football tournaments and championships. Annual budget amounts to around UAH 12 mln.
PJSC Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works is one of the leading world manufacturers of square billet. The enterprise produces cast billet, bar products and various section rolled products (beams, channels, angles, etc.). Yenakiieve Steel is part of Metinvest Group’s Metallurgical Division.
METINVEST GROUP is an international vertically integrated steel and mining group of companies, managing every link of the value chain, from mining and processing iron ore and coal to making and selling semi-finished and finished steel products. The Group comprises steel and mining production facilities located in Ukraine, Europe and the USA and has a sales network covering all key global markets. The Group consists of Metallurgical and Mining Divisions. Metinvest’s strategic vision is to become the leading vertically integrated steel producer in Europe, delivering sustainable growth and profitability resilient to business cycles and providing investors with returns at above the industry benchmarks. In 2012 company’s profit amounted to USD 12.6 bln., and its EBITDA rate was 16%.
The major shareholders of the Company METINVEST B.V. (a holding company of Metinvest Group) are SCM Group (71.25% ownership) and Smart-Holding (23.75% ownership) partnering in Company’s management.
METINVEST HOLDING LLC is the managing company of Metinvest Group.