It was emotional at the first memorial football tournament dedicated to Montenegrin goalkeeper Matija Šarkić, who passed away last summer.
In Brussels, at the British School, they gathered about a hundred boys under the age of 13, members of all the teams Matija played for - Anderlecht, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Aston Villa and Millwall, as well as visiting clubs from Belgium - Antwerp, Leuven, Standard Liege.
The winner of the first "Matija Šarkić" Memorial was Antwerp, who defeated Standard Liege 3:1 in the final. Third place went to Millwall, who defeated Wolverhampton on penalties.
"All participants were satisfied with the organization of the tournament," said Danilo Šarkić, Matija's oldest brother.
Leuven took fifth place, ahead of Anderlecht, Aston Villa and Birmingham.
Damian Massoudi from Antwerp was named the best player of the tournament, and Jacques Trender from Wolverhampton was the best goalkeeper.
Aston Villa, whose goalkeeper, the best goalkeeper in the world, Emiliano Martinez, wore a T-shirt with the inscription "Forever Matija" during the warm-up before the match against Nottingham Forest yesterday, had previously offered to organize the Memorial, and now Wolverhampton has come forward with the same wish.
"We'll see, we'll talk about it. Maybe the number of participants will increase from eight to possibly 12, with teams from France, Spain, Germany. We would like the tournament to grow from year to year," added Danilo Šarkić.
The Šarkić family is especially grateful to Aston Villa and Emiliano Martinez.
"A truly nice gesture and we are grateful to them for it. They knew that the memorial was being held on the same day and they made sure that everyone knew about it, so that the tournament was promoted in the way that Matija deserved," said Danilo.
The memorial in Brussels also had a humanitarian character.
Matija Šarkić saved the goal of the senior national team of Montenegro nine times, the last time 10 days before his death, in Brussels against Belgium, when he was the man of the match.
Bonus video:
