One of the all time biggest “Ateitis CUP” tournaments, filled with many great academies, ended with lots of upsets. In 3 days almost 200 matches were played, with Ukraine’s “Karpaty” winning the U15 group, Latvia’s “RFS” in the U11 and Wale’s “Cardiff city” in the U9 side.

 

In the oldest group, academy teams like “Twente”, “Lugano” and already mentioned “Karpaty”, participated for the first time. Lithuania was represented by “NFA” and “Ateitis”.

The final was between the 2 group winners, Borisov BATE and “Karpaty”. The Ukrainians were slightly ahead and won 2-0. “NFA” ended fifth, and “Ateitis” 9th.

 

32 teams participated in the U-11 age group. The first big sensation – “Birmingham City” placing outside of top 8. The best performing Lithuanian team was TFA, who placed sixth.

The final was is not what you would have expected to be. Juventus were dominated against by RFS, taking a two goal lead. The Italian retook the second half but were unable to even out the result.

 

And in the junior group, “Cardiff City” were  the leading team, winning all six of their games, including a 4-1 win in the final against Minsk “Smena”.

A big surprise was Italy’s AC “Milan” not reaching the final, losing out to “Smena”. The Italians redeemed themselves by claiming bronze silverware.