Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan's victory in European Minifootball Championship has been celebrated with a gala concert, Azernews reports.

The gala concert was organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Azerbaijan Mini-Football Federation, Azfar Group, and Zira professional football club, with the support of Nar mobile at the Baku Seaside Boulevard, Azernews reports.

The national anthem of Azerbaijan was performed at the opening of the concert.

Furthermore, a video was presented dedicated to the sports successes and achievements of the Azerbaijani mini-football team.

President of the Zira football club and the founder of the Azerbaijan Futsal Federation Orkhan Mammadov, the head of the department under the Ministry of Youth and Sports Elnur Mammadov, the head coach of the Zira football club, Rashad Sadigov, and the famous actor, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Bahram Bagirzade congratulated the participants of the event with National Salvation Day.

The speakers praised Azerbaijan's victory in European Minifootball Championship. The head coach of the mini-football team Elshad Guliyev thanked numerous fans for their support. The national mini-football team has won the European Championship for the first time in its history.

Azerbaijani team defeated the team from Romania with a score of 1:0. Seymur Mammadov scored the only goal in the match in the 25th minute.

After the sporting victory, President Ilham Aliyev met with members of the Azerbaijan national mini-football team, who won the European Championship in Slovakia. The president congratulated the national futsal team on the historic victory.

The gala event was followed by performances by People's Artists of Azerbaijan Zulfiya Khanbabayeva and Miri Yusif (Mir Yusif Mirbabayev), the participant of Eurovision-2016 (Azerbaijan) Syamra Rahimli and naghara ensemble.

The trophy - the European Champions Cup was presented to the public. Fans were given the opportunity to take pictures and chat with members of the national team.

The festive event united both adults and children who shared the joy of the victory of the Azerbaijani futsal team.

Notably, futsal is a ball sport played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football.

The game is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a hard-court surface delimited by lines; walls or boards are not used.

Azerbaijan had never qualified for the FIFA Futsal World Cup until 2016. However, national futsal players participated in the last five editions of the European Championship.

Now futsal team successfully represents Azerbaijan at multiple international futsal competitions such as the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the European Championships.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lamiva993