“Juventus” from Torino came to Lithuania for the international football tournament “Ateitis CUP” for the first time. They won six matches, missed no goals and became the champions of the twelve-year-olds.

Impressive game style by the young football players from Torino brought many football fans to the sports arena “Sportima” including the UEFA Champion’s league winner Edgaras Jankauskas.

“Enjoyable team to watch. It is obviously better than the rest and it proved by winning the tournament. I also liked the way “Atalanta” from Bergamo played, although they got the third place. These teams clearly show, how much improvement we have to make” – said E. Jankauskas while watching the final for the third place.

“Juventus” came to Ateitis CUP in Lithuania after a huge football tournament in Miami, USA where they also met “Barcelona”, “Manchester City” and other famous football academies.

“In Italy the regional championships are for U11 and younger, and the national championship is for the ones older than thirteen. Therefore twelve-year-olds have to go and gain their experience in other tournaments” – said the coach of “Juventus” Giovanni Valenti.

“It is good to win, indeed, but my priority is that the players advance individually. They must think and they must have good techniques. If one of the components is missing – there is nothing you can do about it” – said the coach. He also noted that the 21 players who came to Vilnius were picked from over a thousand players from around Torino.

In the final “Juventus” won against “Metta” from Riga, a team that won against Atalanta after a series of penalties. The best result for Lithuanian teams was shown by Baltic Football Academy – the eight place.

“The results of Lithuanian teams are the best prove of the situation of Lithuanian football. This tournament as a mirror shows the areas where we still must improve. We are very happy to have a chance to see this by playing here, in Vilnius. Clubs like “Juventus” receive a lot of invitations to the tournaments and the fact that they chose us proves, how much work we have done in those five years” – said the main organizer of the tournament Dainius Gudaitis.

During the next six weekends the tournament “Ateitis CUP” will continue with other age groups. “Juventus” will bring another two teams in the age groups U11 and U10. “Atalanta”, “Vaihingen” from Stuttgart, “Lokomotiv” from Moscow and other teams are expected in other age groups as well.