Granatkin Memorial

Granatkin Memorial

Founded	1981
Number of teams	16 (2013–14)
Current champions	Japan (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Soviet Union (10 titles)
Website	Granatkin

The Granatkin Memorial (Russian: Мемориал Гранаткина) is a youth association football tournament which traditionally features invited national teams composed of U-17/U-18/U-19 players.

Tournament history

In 1981 in Moscow started the first Granatkin Memorial – the International youth football tournament initiated by the FIFA President Joao Havelange to perpetuate the memory of the FIFA First Vice-President Valentin Granatkin.

The tournament attracted the attention of both professionals and football fans. The matches of the Memorial were attended by the President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch. The prize to the winners was presented by Granatkin’s daughter Marina Valentinovna.

In 1981 and 1982 the tournament was held in Moscow. Since 1983 Leningrad became the Memorial residence. Till 1992 in twelve tournaments have taken part combined teams from 16 countries.

The second period of the Memorial started in the year 2001. Since that time the scheme of the competition radically changed. The number of the participants increased to 8 combined teams, which are divided into two groups. Every group plays round robin. When in play-off teams contest the places from 1 to 8.

Granatkin tournament always was a place of discoveries. Memorial was a first loud word from the future stars of world football – Andreas Moeller, Oliver Bierhoff, Carsten Jancker, Marcel Desailly, Igor Kolyvanov and Alexandr Mostovoi.

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  Cover of the Soviet Union, 1985

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  Cover of the Soviet Union, 1986

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  Cover of the Soviet Union, 1987

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  Cover of the Soviet Union, 1988

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner up	3rd places
1981	West Germany	Soviet Union-1	Spain
1982	Soviet Union-1	Brazil	Soviet Union-2
1983	Soviet Union-1	France	Czechoslovakia
1984	Soviet Union-1	Soviet Union-1	Belgium
1985	Soviet Union-1	France	Soviet Union-2
1986	Soviet Union-1	West Germany	France
1987	Soviet Union-1	Soviet Union-2	France
1988	Soviet Union-1	China PR	Soviet Union-2
1989	Soviet Union-1	Belgium	Soviet Union-2
1990	Soviet Union-1	China PR	West Germany
1991	Soviet Union-2	Soviet Union-1	China PR
1992	West Germany	CIS-1	China PR
2001	Russia	China PR	Iran
2002	Russia	Lithuania	Ukraine
2003	South Korea	China PR	Belarus
2004	Russia	Poland	Belarus
2005	Russia	Ukraine	Belarus
2006	Germany	Slovakia	Russia
2007	Belarus	Turkey	Russia
2008	Russia	Belarus	Ukraine
2009	Russia	Turkey	Ukraine
2010	Russia	Ukraine	Turkey
2011	Finland	China PR	Ukraine
2012	Italy	Finland	Turkey
2013	Russia	Saint Petersburg	Ukraine
2014	Japan	Russia	Slovakia
2015	Russia	South Korea	Slovenia
2016	Slovenia	Saint Petersburg	Russia

External links

• Official website
• Мемориал Гранаткина. ISBN: 978-5-5095-5595-4