The Granatkin Memorial (russian: Мемориал Гранаткина) is a youth

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tournament which traditionally features invited national teams composed of U-17/U-18/U-19 players. The tournament is held in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

since 2006 (previously in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and Leningrad / Saint Petersburg), and since 2017 the final is held in summer (previously indoors in winter).

Tournament history

In 1981 in Moscow started the first Granatkin Memorial – the International youth football tournament initiated by the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

President Joao Havelange to perpetuate the memory of the FIFA First Vice-President

Valentin Granatkin Valentin Aleksandrovich Granatkin (russian: Валенти́н Алекса́ндрович Грана́ткин; , Ramensky District, Ryblovo, Bronnitsky Uyezd, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire — 2 November 1979, Moscow, Russian Soviet Federat ...

. The tournament attracted the attention of both professionals and football fans. The matches of the Memorial were attended by the President of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Juan Antonio Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch (Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh Pre ...

. The prize to the winners was presented by Granatkin’s daughter Marina Valentinovna. In 1981 and 1982 the tournament was held in

. Since 1983

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

became the Memorial residence. Till 1992 in twelve tournaments have taken part combined teams from 16 countries. The second period of the Memorial started in the year 2001. Since that time the scheme of the competition radically changed. The number of the participants increased to 8 combined teams, which are divided into two groups. Every group plays round robin. When in play-off teams contest the places from 1 to 8. Granatkin tournament is noted as a place of discoveries. Memorial is a first loud word from the future stars of world football – Andreas Moeller,

Tony Meola Antonio Michael "Tony" Meola (; ; born February 21, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He represented the United States national team at the 1990, 1994, and 2002 World Cups. From 1996 to 2006, he p ...

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierho ...

Carsten Jancker Carsten Jancker (born 28 August 1974) is a German football coach and former player who is the manager of Austrian club DSV Leoben. He played as a striker for various teams between 1993 and 2009, including FC Köln, Rapid Wien, FC Bayern Munic ...

Marcel Desailly Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, l ...

Igor Kolyvanov Igor Vladimirovich Kolyvanov (russian: Игорь Владимирович Колыванов; born 6 March 1968) is a Russian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Tekstilshchik Ivanovo. During his playing career, he play ...

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Anatoliy Oleksandrovych Tymoshchuk ( uk, Анатолій Олександрович Тимощук ; born 30 March 1979) is a Ukrainian football coach and a former midfielder, currently an assistant coach of the Russian Premier League club Ze ...

and Alexandr Mostovoi — many used to participate in the tournament. File:Covers of the SU - Valentin A. Granatkin Memorial International Youth Football Tournament 1986.jpg, Cover of the Soviet Union, 1985 File:Covers of the SU - Valentin A. Granatkin Memorial International Youth Football Tournament 1987.jpg, Cover of the Soviet Union, 1986 File:Covers of the SU - Valentin A. Granatkin Memorial International Youth Football Tournament 1988.jpg, Cover of the Soviet Union, 1987 File:Covers of the SU - Valentin A. Granatkin Memorial International Youth Football Tournament 1989.jpg, Cover of the Soviet Union, 1988

Results

Statistics

Performances by countries

In total, eight countries celebrated the victory in the tournament. Young players from 22 countries finished in top 3. The most titled is team USSR / Russia with 20 wins. Young talents from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

won gold medals four times. The third in the list of successful teams is

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

(1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals). In terms of the number of medals, the leaders are: USSR / Russia (38 medals),

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(7 medals each).

Performances by confederations

References

External links

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Мемориал Гранаткина
{{Friendly association football tournaments in Russia Recurring sporting events established in 1981 International association football competitions hosted by Russia International association football competitions hosted by the Soviet Union Youth association football competitions for international teams 1981 establishments in the Soviet Union