Basketball and football as One Team

USH CSKA hosted the joint event of One Team and Generation Amazing, the CSR program of Qatar 2022 World Cup Organizing Committee.

The football World Cup in Russia is such a big event that you cannot pass by even if you’re involved in basketbll. The Army Men got a unique chance to look into the future as they worked together with the project closely connected to the next World Cup. The joint action involved 26 special kids who came to Moscow from Qatar, Philippines, India by the organizers of Qatar 2022.

The master-class had two parts. The basketball one was hosted by fomer CSKA greats – Olympic, world and European champion Ivan Edeshko and 2-times USSR champion Dmitry Minaev joined by the One Team coach Yakov Tarasov. The football part followed with participation of another stars – Olympic champion, Argentinian Javier Saviola, former French National Team player Florant Malouda from Chelsea, ex-England midfielder Stan Collymore and former coach Bora Milutinovic. The CSKA basketball veterans also joined the football part to make the kids even happier.

“It was great to change sport in the middle of the World Cup,” Stan Collymore said. “I am not that good in basketball but I can kick the ball all day long. The main thing for us here is to teach the kids how to communicate, to be the part of the team, to feel that they can enjoy their life together with others.”

“When it comes to communicating with the kids, no matter what kids do you have, when I can be useful with my life experience, with communication, I am always ready to show up,” Ivan Edeshko said. “It is a basics. They are very attentive. They have great desire in them, they are focused. This is why it was easy to find the common language.”