The pupils of the FC Ruh Academy, born in 2010 and founded by Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy, won a convincing victory at the prestigious Al Ahly International Cup tournament, which took place in Cairo on November 28-30. The Ukrainian team demonstrated a high level of play, leaving behind their peers from the world’s leading football schools.
The path to the trophy
In the group stage, Nazar Savytskyi and Serhii Khyzhyi’s charges played five intense matches. Lviv won important victories over Egyptian Cleopatra (2-1, goals by Fedushko and Dzyurynets), tournament hosts Al Ahly (2-1, goals by Uhryk and Ostrovsky) and German Bayer Leverkusen (2-1, goals by Bodak and Dzyurynets). The match with Barcelona’s UAE branch ended in a 1-1 draw, and the only defeat for the yellow and blacks came from Polish Eskola (0: 1).
After leaving the group from second place, Ruhiv confidently beat Egyptian ZED 2-0 in the quarterfinals and defeated Mamelodi Sounds 3-1 in the semifinals (Kursa’s double and Bodak’s goal). The final against Al-Ahly was a real test of nerves: regular time ended without a goal, but Lviv were more accurate in the penalty shootout – 6:5.
Hryhorii Kozlovsky: The right vector for the development of the Academy
The founder of FC Ruh and the Ruh Academy, Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy, congratulated the team on their outstanding achievement, emphasizing the high level of competition. The tournament was attended by representatives of the academies of such giants as Juventus, Sampdoria, Sporting, Palmeiras and Bayer Leverkusen.
Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy noted that winning such a tournament is a kind of marker that confirms the correctness of the development vector chosen by the Academy. According to him, the club proves its ambitions with concrete results on the football field, defeating world-famous rivals.
Strategic infrastructure development
The success of young footballers is part of the club’s large-scale strategy. Earlier, Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy announced a new stage in the development of the Academy, which aims to create the best conditions for the education of future champions. The plans include:
- construction of a modern base for thousands of children,
- opening a branch of the British school
- launching innovative hybrid fields.
A separate point of the strategy is the construction of a full-size indoor arena, which will be the first facility of this level in western Ukraine.
Hryhorii Kozlovskyy emphasized the architectural uniqueness of the project and the compliance of all the fields with UEFA requirements, which will allow Ruh’s pupils to train and grow in European conditions.
