The final whistle has been blown. The team of the Russian State University of Physical, Culture, Sport, Youth and Tourism (RSUPCSYT) won with the overall score 20:68. You are sure it is about football? Yes, if we are talking about modern football double-event. The hybrid format was broken in at the First student games where the students began playing FIFA’22 on consoles, and then they clashed head-on on a mini-football pitch.
Modern football double-event
Modern football double-event
Modern football double-event
Yet if the match for the main trophy played on consoles by the Russian State University of Physical, Culture, Sport and Tourism and the University of Synergy ended in a draw, then on their home pitch the students of the chair of football at RSUPCSYT left no chances to their opponents handing them out a “bagel” – 6:0.
The decisive match was not injury-free as the forward of Synergy team Khima Asak injured his toe, so he watched the rest of the match from the sidelines. He arrived in Russia from Egypt in order to learn the great and mighty (Russian language). Khima is a fan the English Premier-League and of all Russian clubs he is following closely the games of Zenit (St. Petersburg) and its Brazilian forward Malcom.
”Arab is a tougher language to learn versus Russian, – he confessed in a personal conversation. – But I dream of playing football at a more professional level because back home I was training in an academy. I believe, I play rather well. But then I am not good at FIFA computer game, besides there is no game console here to practice, so I was better at the physical part of the event. Nevertheless, I am pleased with the result, because we didn’t train at all before the tournament, so we had to find the right synergy and become a cohesive team during the actual matches. In short, the second place is a good result”.
The player of RSUPCSYT Kirill Petrushin, a student of the chair of football, gave his appraisal to the digital part of the event:
”Physically I am not so strong as the stars of the French national team for whom you can actually play virtually in the FIFA’22 game. It is nice to see a crazy 50-meter dash or some fantastic dribbling which I can’t execute in real life myself. So, the FIFA computer game somehow helps you make your child’s dream come true”.
Most importantly, the phygital format of the competition drew interest from the “trailblazers” of football double-event: both Khima and Kirill said they would gladly participate in the Games of Future in 2024 if they had such an opportunity.
