Courtesy: UEFA.com


Ivanov proud of Ekaterinburg honour

Monday 26 January 2009

by Andrey Tiunov from Ekaterinburg

The town of Ekaterinburg will be staging its first UEFA showpiece tournament in April just 12 months after a club from the city claimed a European title, and the man behind MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg's exploits in the UEFA Futsal Cup, chairman Grigori Ivanov is proud of their achievements.

European title
Ivanov is a central figure in sport in the Urals region, also chairing first-division Russian football club FC Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast. And under his stewardship, Viz-Sinara have become a leading force in one of futsal's strongest world leagues in Russia, and last April triumphed in Moscow to claim the European title. They will have the chance to defend the UEFA Futsal Cup on home soil in late April when they host the 2008/09 final four against MFK Dinamo Moskva, Kairat Almaty and Interviú Madrid.

Pride
Unsurprisingly, Ivanov is proud of both feats. "To win the tournament, with the top European clubs taking part, is a great achievement," he said. "It is an honour to host the UEFA Futsal Cup final four and it is something positive for Russian futsal."

Ambition
Ekaterinburg's achievements are all the more remarkable as they rely on a homegrown squad rather than any imported talent, but Ivanov admits that does make it more difficult to replicate their European success on the domestic stage, where they are yet to win a Russian Super League title. "We have a lot of young players," he said. "Inconsistency is the main problem for our team." However, Ivanov is still hoping for a perfect season. "We are participating in three tournaments: the Russian Super League, the UEFA Futsal Cup and the Russian Cup. Our aim is to win them all."









Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com