About the tournament

14 Youth National Football teams with players born on 1 January 1998 and later shall participate in the XXVIII International youth football tournament in memory of the first vice-president of FIFA Valentin Granatkin.

Tournament Regulations >>>

Tournament format

The tournament is played in two stages.

At the first stage the 14 participants will be divided into three groups. (A – 5 teams, B – 5 teams, C – 4 teams). Each team will play a match against each opponent in the group. The group ranking will be defined by the points achieved in the group matches (3 points for a victory, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss).
If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
- results of the matches played among the teams in question (higher number points, superior goal difference, higher number of scored goals) ;
- superior goal difference after all the group matches;
- higher number of goals scored in all the group matches;
- lower disciplinary sanctions (yellow card = 1 point, expulsion = 3 points);
- drawing of lots.
At the second stage, the leaders of the groups and the best runner-up will compete in play-off matches for 1-4 positions in the tournament ranking.
In the semi-finals the teams will meet in the following way:
А1 – C1
B1 - А2/С2
If in the best runner-up gets to the semi-final from group B, then B1 plays A1, and C1 plays B2.
The two other runner-ups will play for the positions 5 and 6.
2 best third-placed teams will play for the positions 7 and 8.
The last third-placed team will play against the best fourth-placed team for the positions 9 and 10.
The two last fourth-placed teams will play for the positions 11 and 12.
The teams A5 and B5 will play for the positions 13 and 14.
To define the best 2-4th placed teams only matches against 1-4th placed teams will count.
The following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
- higher number of points;
- superior goal difference;
- higher number of goals scored;
- drawing of lots.
The same principle is applied to define the last 2-4th teams.
In case of a draw after main time, penalty kicks will be held according to the Laws of the Game.