About the tournament

18 Youth National Football teams with players born on 1 January 1997 and later shall participate in the XXVII International youth football tournament in memory of the first vice-president of FIFA Valentin Granatkin.

Tournament Regulations >>>

Tournament format

The tournament is played in three stages.

At the preliminary stage the 18 participating teams are divided into 6 groups of three teams each where they shall play one round against each of the competitors.

At the second stage of the tournament the participants are divided into 6 groups of three teams each depending of the ranking after the first stage:

- the teams of group G (teams taken the first positions in the groups A, B, C) and Group H (teams taken the first positions in the groups D, E, F) shall continue to compete for the 1-6 positions.

- the teams of group I (the runner-ups of the groups A, B, C) and Group J (the runner-ups of the groups D, E, F) shall continue to compete for the 7-12 positions.

- the teams of group K (teams taken the third positions in the groups A, B, C) and Group L (teams taken the third positions in the groups D, E, F) shall continue to compete for the 13-18 positions.

During the Second stage the teams shall play one round against each of the competitors.

The ranking of the teams in the first and second stages shall be determined basing upon the points acquired by each team (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 point for a defeat).

In case of equality of points of two or more teams the following criteria shall be taken into account:

- the higher number of victories in all the matches;
- results of the matches between each other (quantity of points, goals differences, number of scored goals);
- superior goal difference in all the matches;
- higher number of goals scored in all the matches;
- the smallest quantity of disciplinary violations (yellow card is 1 point, red card is 3 points)

In the case of all these criteria's equality, a draw of lots shall be held.

The third stage of the Tournament shall determine the final ranking in play –off matches.

- the teams which take the 1st positions in Groups G and H play for 1-2 positions;
- the runners-up of Groups G and H play for 3-4 positions;
- the teams which take the 3rd positions in Groups G and H play for 5-6 positions;
- the teams which take the 1st positions in Groups I and J play for 7-8 positions;
- the runners-up of Groups I and J play for 9-10 positions;
- the teams which take the 3rd positions in Groups I and J play for 11-12 positions;
- the teams which take the 1st positions in Groups K and L play for 13-14 positions;
- the runners-up of Groups K and L play for 15-16 positions;
- the teams which take the 3rd positions in Groups K and L play for 17-18 positions;

In the case of draw result after the playing time in the play-off matches, the winner is determined by penalty kicks in accordance with the procedure defined by the Laws of the Game.