A team from the Vocational School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and Electronics in Burgas won the 11th BMF Port Burgas mini-football tournament. They beat the Vocational School of Transport in a tense, emotional final.
This report follows our earlier article of 25 September, when we announced that the tournament would take place on 17 October.
The finals were held today, Saturday 17 October, at the Dialog 359 Arena sports complex in Burgas. The Vocational School of Transport came second. Third place went to students from the St Nicholas Vocational School of Maritime Shipping and Fishing.
The top three teams received cups and medals, and every player went home with a prize. The prizes came from BMF Port Burgas, which holds the concession for the Iztok 2 and Burgas West port terminals. The company organises the tournament and is its main sponsor. It has backed the event for more than a decade to support young people, youth sport and an active lifestyle.
More than 60 young players from six Burgas secondary schools took part. Besides the three medal winners, teams came from the Penyo Penev Vocational School of Construction and Installations, the Vocational Technical High School and the Bishop Konstantin Preslavski Secondary School. Matches followed standard football rules. The Burgas branch of the Bulgarian Mini Football Association helped the organisers.
The players also joined a flash mob with dancers from the Burgas dance school Estrella and its head.
Dimitar Sotirov, head of the ecology department at BMF Port Burgas, handed the cup to the winners as a special guest. He is also deputy chair of the standing committee on environment, agriculture and forests of Burgas municipal council. Sotirov congratulated the teams and said the tournament is now a tradition for Burgas and for fans of mini football. He wished the players fair play and victory to the best team.
Guests included municipal councillors Todor Yosifov and Boyan Dyakov, who sit on the committee for sport, children and youth activities. Yosifov praised the organisers at BMF Port Burgas, who, he said, have made sport and work with young people a cause of theirs for years. "You are the future of our city, and your successes and achievements give us many reasons to be proud," he said.
Dyakov called the tournament a favourite sporting event that the city looks forward to, and said he hopes the tradition goes on. "I am happy to see the pitch full of so many smiling young people, full of strength and energy," the councillor said.
The winners' prize is a trip to watch the First League match between Ludogorets and CSKA 1948 live on 7 November at the Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad.