MOSCOW, May 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On 24^th and 25^th May, the participants of the 2021 Football for Friendship eWorld Championship from over 200 countries contested their matches in 32 teams organised into eight groups. The semi-final and final will take place on 29^th May. The Championship is one of the highlights of this year's Ninth Season of the Gazprom International Children's Social Programme Football for Friendship (F4F). 

Football for Friendship: 32 international Teams of Friendship contest group-stage matches

The teams "Argali", "Bearded Vulture", "Crested Ibis" and "Stoat" with Young Players from 19 different countries have qualified for the semi-final. As in 2020, the Football for Friendship eWorld Championship 2021 is being contested in a digital format on the multiplayer simulator "Football for Friendship World (F4F World), which was specially developed for F4F and is available free of charge in 27 languages on MS Windows, Apple MacOS, Android and iOS.

The Open Draw for the eight groups, which were made up of a total of 32 International Teams of Friendship, already took place back at the end of April. Boys and girls from over 200 countries were able to apply to take part or were proposed by their national football academies.

The International Teams of Friendship have names of animal species that are at the brink of extinction, for example "Chinese Alligator", "Red-legged crow" and "Dusky shark". This practice was first introduced in 2018 to draw attention to the idea of environmental protection and biodiversity.

In the International Camp of Friendship with the theme "Uniting friends – uniting the world", the children had already prepared intensively for the 2021 Football for Friendship eWorld Championship under the guidance of Educators and Young Coaches.

At the Camp, which held on May 15-23, the kids exchanged ideas and experiences in workshops and other online formats on a range of topics, including the Nine Values of F4F: friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions, and honour.

About Football for Friendship

F4F has existed since 2013. It is organised by Gazprom and supported by FIFA, UEFA and the United Nations. Over the previous eight seasons, more than 15,000 children and young people from 211 countries and regions have taken part in the programme. In 2020, Football for Friendship took place for the first time in an online format on a specially developed digital platform.