5 days left before the tournament of a level that the capital of Belarus had never seen before. Read more about the tournament in Minsk here, and as long as 7 facts about it are brought to your attention:

"Stalitsa" training before the elite round
  1. So, the elite round of the UEFA Champions League will be held in Belarus for the first time. It’s cool to be the master of such an event, but it was also cool to break through to the sporting principle to this stage. Of the huge number of teams from all over Europe, only 16 teams reached the elite round, which will now be divided into 4 quartets. Group D will be hosted by Minsk. In addition to the champion of Belarus, Minsk Stalitsa, three more champions of their countries will play in this group: Barca (Spain), Kherson from the Ukrainian city of the same name, Sparta (Czech Republic).

2. Minskers this fall on their site take the second consecutive group round. First, in October, "Stalitsa" in the sports complex "Uruchye" won the main round. The UEFA delegate liked the organization of the tournament so much that European football functionaries accepted the Minsk’s request for an elite round, and the Belarusians were lucky to draw, and one of the first four players pulled their ball, which meant holding an elite round in Minsk. Over the 19 years of the history of the main futsal tournament in Europe (under different names) this is only the third case when they trust two stages in a row to hold one club.

Forward of the "Stalitsa" played heel steeper than Ibra - and brought the Minskers to the elite round of Champions League

3.The elite round will be the most powerful in terms of fan support. An impressive sector of Spanish fans is expected to organize a real celebration in the stands. The Ukrainian club Kherson organizes a bass tour for its fans. And the Czechs will come. Do not forget about the always cool support of the "Stalitsa" fans. So, you know, the roaring stands will add drive and heat. There hasn’t been anything like this at the Uruchye Sports Palace.

Fans of "Stalitsa" together with the club mascot panda Softik

4.The Brazilian Roninho returns to Minsk. The player of the Ukrainian "Kherson" played several years ago for the "Stalitsa". He is considered one of the best legionnaires who played in Minsk.

The goalkeeper of the "Stalitsa" Dmitry Polyakov and Roninho are friends. And soon they will play against each other.

Roninho played many times in the elite round of the UEFA Champions League and even got in 2012 from the Georgian Iberia Star to the final four.

5. Players of the Czech Sparta Prague Mladen Kocic and the Spanish Barca Ferrao used to play in the Russian Tyumen, where Evgeny Osintsev, the current coach of Stalitsa, worked as a coach and then as head coach.

6. Players of "Stalitsa" beat the current head coach of "Kherson" Xavi Rodriguez. True, he was then coaching another team - the Hungarian “Raba ETO”. In 2017, Stalitsa won in its first elite round of club history in the club history, and lost the remaining two matches, including Kherson (that is, Minskers have a chance to take revenge from the Ukrainian club next week).

7. Teams from Belarus in game sports have never beaten Spanish clubs from Barcelona. In soccer, Borisov BATE lost to Barcelona four times. Handball BGK named after Meshkov also lost in Belarus and Spain. And literally this fall, the women's football club Minsk twice lost in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League.

Belarus has hope for the Minsk “Stalitsa”, which can interrupt this series and take away points from the futsal “Barca”. Moreover, the team already has victories over top clubs in Europe, and not one. Let us recall the victory of the champion of Belarus in the main European club tournament over the top European futsal club Kairat: