Last Saturday, NIBULON’s employees from all over Ukraine gathered in Kyiv to support the good tradition of football competitions and take part in the 2nd Futsal Cup in Memory of Oleksiy Vadaturskyy.
Six teams from all NIBULON’s department, along with their fans, came together for the sake of unity, a decent play, vibrant emotions, and to honor the memory of Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, a true patriot and Hero of Ukraine.
This year’s participants were the following teams:
- Pivden, which united Prybuzhanivska, Snihurivska and Chyhyryn production branches
- U43 – the Kyiv office team
- Zlatokrai, which included representatives from 3 branches – Zolotoniska, Vitove, and Pereiaslavska
- Zakhid – a team from Denykhivska and Teteriv branches
- Korabely from Mykolaiv
- Toho Rivnia – another team from the Kyiv office
Despite busy work schedules and even different locations, the players managed to meet and train for the tournament. Some participants started training after the 2023 tournament! Like last year, Anton Sviderok, a coach and an experienced competition organizer, provided professional guidance to the athletes before and during the tournament.
Some of the participating teams took part in last year’s competition and had the opportunity to assess their rivals and their chances of victory, while others were competing for the first time. And this made the games even more exciting and unpredictable.
Fast, powerful goals in the first minutes, sharp attacks, strong defense, an astonishing 11:0 score, hard-fought draws, yellow and even red cards, a lot of struggles, emotions, and a thirst for victory. All this happened on the field. In the stands, the atmosphere was charged with strong support! This year, NIBULON’s employees could support their colleagues virtually thanks to a YouTube live stream. Believe us, the excitement didn’t subside for a minute.
According to the draw, each team played three group stage matches. In the semi-finals, Korabely faced Zlatokrai, with the latter winning 3:2, while U43 took on Zakhid, winning 6:1.
In the finals, last year’s silver medalist, Zlatokrai, determined to win the main prize, and the Kyiv team U43 met on the field. Last year, the Kyiv team failed to get into the top three, but thanks to regular training and an updated line-up, they showed a skillful, coordinated game and repeatedly made their opponents nervous. During the 2024 Cup, Zlatokrai and U43 had already met in the group stage. The first game ended in a draw, but in the finals, Zlatokrai played more skillfully. With a score of 4:0, Zlatokrai won the gold!
So, the top three teams of NIBULON’s Second Futsal Cup are as follows:
- Zlatokrai – the team moved up compared to the 2023 tournament and plans to defend this title in the future
- U43, which powerfully broke into the leaders
- Korabely – last year’s bronze medalist, which confirmed its status, and does not give up winning a higher prize.
We sincerely thank the players for their participation, enthusiasm, and hard work! We thank the fans for their support, energy, and creativity. We thank all the organizers for their ideas, tirelessness, and passion to make our corporate events better each year, turning them into long-standing traditions that unite the entire team.
We asked the captains of the winning teams to share their impressions of the game.
Ivan Kaliuzhnyi, Zlatokrai’s captain:
“This year, we are playing with a changed line-up: two of our players are currently serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and three new players have joined us from Vitove branch. We trained a lot and honed our team game. So, of course, the team is very satisfied with the result! And with the competition itself. Worthy opponents, interesting matches. We tried to play at full strength, to do our best. We thank the teams for a decent game and the fans for their support! God willing, we will meet again next year!”
Oleksii Drozd, U43’s captain:
“It was a tense and exciting competition. The opponents showed a high level of preparation, skills, and a thirst for victory. This time, it was a little more difficult for us, as we lost two key players – Volodymyr Slavinskyi and goalkeeper Serhii Kalkutin. Despite this, the team managed to show character and competed until the end. The matches were very intense and emotionally charged. Perhaps we lacked a bit of concentration or luck in the closing moments. But overall, we are satisfied with our performance. Reaching the finals and taking second place among six teams is an achievement we are proud of! Even though we did not manage to win the main prize, this result motivates us to work even harder to come back next year and take the gold. We thank the fans for their support, which helped us to compete to the end, and all the participants for the atmosphere and team spirit!”
Viacheslav Shpakov, Korabely’s captain:
“It is a great honor for us to represent Mykolaiv in the tournament in memory of Oleksiy Vadaturskyy. We tried to play good and decent football; this is how we pay tribute to the memory of Oleksiy Opanasovych, because he loved football very much.
Our team is symbolic in its composition. We have representatives from our IT department, fuel and lubricants department, logistics, security service, shipping company, and SSY. Our geography spans Mykolaiv, Izmail, Ivano-Frankivsk. We are separated by thousands of kilometers, but we are united by hundreds of thousands of desires to play together and show a good game. For our fans. In memory of Oleksiy Opanasovych. I am very grateful to my team, which struggled and will struggle until the end. We continue to move forward!
We felt the maximum support from the fans, and that’s the most valuable reward. We are sincerely grateful to you for your energy. Special thanks to the organizers of the tournament for their high-quality work and attention to the teams’ suggestions. See you next year!”
