© EuroFootball.com
For the ninth year in a row, an international journalist football tournament is held in Lithuania. On May 25th in Druskininkai, nine teams from six countries - Lithuania, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Egypt will compete for the main tournament prize established by the betting company "Orakulas."
This year there are more debutants than ever before. For the first time, journalists from Africa - Egypt, will participate in the tournament. Although there have been guests from distant countries like Azerbaijan or Armenia before, this is the first time non-European representatives will participate in the tournament. For the first time, guests from Germany and the resort city of Odessa in Ukraine will come to the tournament in Lithuania, where recently the football team of the Lithuanian Sports Journalists Club "Press'as" also visited," says the chairman of the sports journalists club of the Lithuanian Journalists' Union (LŽS) organizing the tournament, Tautvydas Vencevičius.
The traditional international journalist football tournament took place in Vilnius for the first four years, then moved to Kėdainiai, and has been held in Druskininkai for the fourth consecutive year. This year, the tournament coincides not only with the resort festival of Druskininkai but also with the UEFA Champions League final, so sports journalists from Scotland, Denmark, Latvia, and Poland who have played in Lithuania before will not be able to attend the tournament. The latter won the last two tournaments in a row.
"It is difficult to distinguish favorites in the journalist tournaments - all teams are equal, often the winner is determined by details. The strong team of journalists from Odessa, the team from Bryansk will seek to finally rise higher than the second place, they have been taking the second place in tournaments in Lithuania for four years in a row. They will be challenged by this year's Lithuanian journalist championship winner, the team from Kaunas. The sports journalists club "Press'as" of the LŽS also lacks ambitions, as they will seek to regain the title of champion after a three-year break," says T.Vencevičius.
The international journalist football tournament will take place on May 25th from 11:00 to 16:00 at the Druskininkai universal sports field, at Ateities g. 13. The best players of the tournament will be awarded official jerseys of the Lithuanian national football team, prizes established by the mineral water producer "Vytautas" and the publishing house "Šiaurės Lietuva." The passenger carrier "Kautra" will organize a trip to the Grūto Park located near Druskininkai for the tournament participants.
