Tajik orphan soccer team visits Arsenal FC in London

DUSHANBE, October 18, 2011, Asia-Plus – A soccer team from an orphanage in the Tajik northern city of Khujand that won the top championship at an international tournament in the Russian city of Sochi in June this year today left for London, where they will train with the world-famous club Arsenal.

During a five-day stay In London, they will also see the sights of the UK capital and play match with English teenagers of the same age (aged 11 to 13).  During the training trip to London, Russian soccer star Andrei Arshavin will also conduct a master class for the young Tajik players.

The Russian mobile phone company MegaFon has financed the trip to London for the soccer team of Tajik orphans.

The tournament in Sochi was contested entirely by orphans who came from Russia, Tajikistan, and Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported in July that MegaFon's Dushanbe office also invited prominent Russian football players Dmitry Ananko and Vladimir Beschastnykh to coach the young Tajik players during the tournament.