invisible football
The documentary project "Invisible Football" tells the stories of people who are passionate about the game, believe in their dreams, and help develop amateur football even in the most remote corners of our country: from Murmansk to Vladivostok.
episode 1. Port Vera
In the first episode, we travel to the Russian Far East to learn about the local children's football club "Aleut," which currently has around 200 players. We'll find out what the club's players aspire to and the dreams of their coach, Ivan Ivanitsa, who trains four villages and travels hundreds of kilometers a day to do so. We'll also visit the Port Vera tournament, hosted by locals—right on the Pacific coast!
episode 2. Lovozero
In the second episode, we'll travel beyond the Arctic Circle to the village of Lovozero in the Murmansk Region. Local students exemplify what it means to "live for football." For them, it's their favorite pastime, a way to hang out with friends, a dream come true, and their main motivator in life. Even in the harsh conditions of the Kola Peninsula, they train and hold regular tournaments. We'll be at one of these tournaments, learn about the lives of young footballers, and talk with Janis Shebut, a coach and teacher at the secondary school who also works part-time at the community center and fire department. He literally makes kids fall in love with football with his unique approach to introducing them to the sport, and invests all the money he earns from coaching into the kids!
episode 3. Nalchik
In the third episode, we head to the Caucasus. Nalchik, a magnet for local youth who want to pursue a career in football, is where the Amateur Football League, comprised of over 100 regional teams, thrives amidst picturesque mountain peaks. We spoke with the league's president, Umar Midaev, visited the young players during training sessions, and spoke with the coaching staff to learn about the league's journey from a backyard pitch to its own stadium.
episode 4. Kizhi
In the fourth episode, we'll tell you about a unique football tournament taking place on Kizhi Island in the middle of Lake Onega. The location and proximity to one of the most important monuments of Russian architecture (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) lend the tournament a unique, indescribable atmosphere. The "Kizhi Volost Cup" brings together football fans from all the surrounding villages, young and old. We couldn't miss this opportunity to connect with both adult amateur teams and the youngest footballers and their coaches. We invite you to join us for a Cup match and also visit the nearby villages of Tolvuya and Velikaya Guba to learn all about local football!
episode 5. Yar-Sale
In the fifth episode, we'll once again find ourselves beyond the Arctic Circle. This time, we'll travel to the Yamal Peninsula, to the village of Yar-Sale. Here, children of tundra nomads live and study at Russia's largest boarding school, named after V. Davydov. Life on the edge of the world, where snow lies year-round and the main transportation is helicopters and snowmobiles, hardly seems like a footballer's paradise. Nevertheless, the kids are absolutely obsessed with football and spend all their free time with the ball. We spoke with local physical education teacher Evgeny Bocharov about training and asked the kids about their motivation and aspirations. We also went into the tundra to see how the family of one of the boarding school's students lives!
episode 6. Uchaly
In the sixth episode, we invite you to travel to the Republic of Bashkortostan, to the foot of Mount Olotau. One of Russia's most vibrant amateur tournaments, "Olotau Yiyyny," is held here: dozens of teams from all the surrounding villages compete for the grand prize—a thoroughbred Bashkir horse! Around a thousand people regularly flock to the village of Kutuyevo for the competition, where they shoot archery, eat plov, and camp out. All this, of course, isn't for the trophy, but out of a deep love for the "primitive" game of village football. We'll attend this uniquely atmospheric event to meet the players and coaches of the local teams.
episode 7. Moscow
Finale: In the final episode, we decided to fulfill a long-held dream of young footballers from the regions we visited during our project. Five young men and their mentors flew to Moscow to visit the L.I. Yashin Dynamo Football Academy and learn how future football stars are trained. The Academy's management and coaching staff gave our heroes a warm welcome: they gave them a tour, showed them trophies, and organized a professional training session. To fully immerse themselves in professional football, the boys attended the RPL match between Dynamo and Paris Nizhny Novgorod at VTB Arena.