© EuroFootball.com
From May 13 to 16, the senior boys' group of the Šiauliai football club "Napoleon" will participate in the most prestigious international youth football tournament - "Nike Premier Cup," which will take place in Croatia. Lithuanian fifteen-year-olds will compete against twenty European countries in the tournament. The two teams that secure the first two places will advance to the "Nike Premier Cup" final tournament in Hong Kong. The young footballers from Šiauliai represent not only our country but also two other Baltic states.
Every year, this prestigious tournament sees the participation of 6000 teams from 54 countries. Last August, the "Napoleon" team won the qualifying tournament held in Marijampolė. The team surpassed their peers from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Celebrating its second anniversary at the end of October, the club's team defeated Estonia's FC "Tammeka" and Latvia's FK "Multibanka" in the group stage, as well as the traditional Tallinn "Flora" and Riga "Daugava" teams in the semifinals and finals. In the final match against the Latvians, Justinas Krištopaitis scored all six goals, becoming the tournament's top scorer (9 goals). Another "Napoleon" player, Paulius Jokšas, was named the best defender of the tournament. Lithuanian teams have been outperforming their neighboring countries' footballers at this tournament organized since 1998. The "Nike" champions of the Baltic countries in 1999 were from Kaunas, and in 2000 and 2001 from Mažeikiai.
Preparing for the tournament in Croatia, the "Napoleon" footballers won international tournaments in Trakai and Vilnius, and finished in third place at the "Levadia Cup" tournament in Estonia. The team's coach and club director, Saulius Lesnickas, said of the goals for the team in Croatia: "We are a young club and it is a great honor for us to represent Lithuania in such a high-level football tournament. In this tournament, we hope to meet football clubs from other countries, possibly make connections. Since we are participating in the "Nike Premier Cup" tournament for the first time, we do not expect to achieve high rankings, but our young footballers are trained to fight in every match and defend the club's and Lithuania's honor."
The public institution "Napoleon Football Club" was founded on October 29, 2003. Currently, there are 8 teams training in the club, ranging from 15 to 7 years old. In the first year of its establishment, the club participated in international tournaments in Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Poland, Finland, and Germany, and the Šiauliai teams often returned home with awards.
