The pupils of the FC Ruh Academy, founded by a well-known Lviv philanthropist and businessman Hryhoriy Kozlovsky, set a national record for Ukraine.
“The Ruh Academy has very talented children, and we decided to demonstrate this by setting a record. So it was decided to contact representatives of the National Register of Records of Ukraine. The club offered to set a record, and together with the NRRU we chose the category in which Ruh would be the first to prove itself,” said Yulia Klymentovych, Marketing Manager of FC Rukh.
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The children had to make the most massive head-filling of a soccer ball. On the territory of the club’s Academy, 126 children simultaneously juggled a ball on their heads. It took three attempts to set the record. 113 students of the Academy simultaneously kicked the ball with their heads during the allotted time.
According to the head of the National Register of Records of Ukraine, Lana Vetrova, the nomination was chosen for a long time, as they wanted to gather as many participants as possible.
“The main idea was to set a mass record involving young footballers. We have chosen to juggle the ball, and while it has been done with the feet, the record for heading the ball has not yet been set. It is even more difficult and interesting. At the same time, I saw how enthusiastic the students of the Ruh Academy were, how hard they tried and how happy they were when they succeeded. It was very pleasant,” said Ms. Vetrova.
The founder of the Academy, Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy, congratulated the young footballers on their new achievement and said: “Our children are our future. And it is a great pleasure to watch the real champions and future stars of big football grow up from little boys. As our pupils grow and develop, we, our coaches, our football club and the Academy improve together with them. Today, Ruh has made history by entering the Ukrainian record book. Such new records give us strength and inspiration to work even better and win new victories!”
This is not the first record set by the pupils of FC Ruh. The CIES Football Observatory calculated the number of minutes played by U-21 players in 61 leagues around the world, including the top 31 leagues in Europe.
The ranking was topped by Lviv-based FC Ruh, founded by Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy, with a score of 52.4%. Slovakia’s Zilina took second place with 44.5, and the Austrian Red Bull from Salzburg was third with 42.7.
Ruh’s U-23 players spent 65.5% of their playing time on the field. U-22 players played 55.4% of the playing time in the UPL, U-20 players – 17.5%, and U-19 juniors – 0.4%.
Founder of the FC Ruh Academy, philanthropist and businessman Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy
“It is important to note that Ruh is not just the youngest team in the world, but also a team that shows good results. In the 2023/24 season, Ruh is fighting to qualify for the European Cups. This proves that Ruh’s young talents are capable of not only playing a lot, but also showing quality football and setting new records,” summarized Hryhoriy Kozlovsky.
