ST. PETERSBURG, April 15. /TASS/. US Inter Miami U-13 youth football club, with Lionel Messi’s son Thiago on the roster, could have played at the 8th Lev Burchalkin U-13 International Youth Football Tournament in St. Petersburg, Mikhail Povyaznikov, the president of Almaz-Antey football club, told journalists.
"There were many teams wishing to participate in the tournament this year. We invited Inter Miami from the United States, Al-Ittihad from Saudi Arabia, and a club from Qatar. But due to the developments in the Middle East, the clubs were not able come," Podvyaznikov noted.
He added that a team from Pakistan wanted to come to St. Petersburg for the tournament, but the organizers chose the Mexican club Cruz Azul, which seemed to be a more interesting opponent.
This year, eight international youth football clubs will participate in the tournament and they were divided into two groups. Group A includes football clubs Almaz-Antey (Russia), Fenerbahce (Turkey), San Lorenzo de Almagro (Argentina) and Dinamo Minsk (Belarus). Group B has football clubs Zenit (Russia), Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Palmeiras (Brazil) and Cruz Azul (Mexico).
The tournament will be played on May 15-17 in St. Petersburg at the Almaz-Antey Stadium, located on the territory of the eponymous sports complex in the Spartak Garden. The tournament will be held with the support of Almaz-Antey Group, the Russian Football Union and the St. Petersburg Football Federation.
Almaz-Antey is the tournament’s reigning champion after last year the football club defeated Zenit in the final 1-0.