Nike Football Presents: K11 – Russia’s Undiscovered Talent

Posted by August 28, 2019 in Articles
Nike Football Presents: K11 – Russia’s Undiscovered Talent


Half a million people watched me take that shot. But it hasn’t always been like that. On the Korobka we felt invisible. No one came to watch us play. But we didn’t care. We played because we loved the game. We played to boss the cage. To score goals, Hard… fast… Every day… Nike liked our attitude and style. They wanted to bring this to the pro game. So they put cameras in Korobkas around the cities. Every game was a chance to get scouted. If you played well, and hit the button, your video was sent to pro scouts. From over eight thousand registrations,
only 100 of us were invited to the K11 trials. In just a few weeks, the chosen 22 would play against the Nike Academy. This is a huge step up for us. The wait was unbearable. But I was one of the lucky ones. From the whole of Russia, we were the K11. Training camp took our game to the next level. We started with medicals, everything was fine. We trained hard, every day, like a pro team. We loved every minute. We were the talk of the town. We had pro coaches, learned real tactics, and played proper opposition. We brought the best of the street in to the pro game. We arrived as 22 players from across Russia, but we left as one team. Game day. The most important 90 minutes of our lives. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. We tried to hide it, but it was all over our faces. But when they called our names, and we walked out on to that pitch, I’ll never forget. As soon as we kicked off we were under pressure. They were so fast and physical, we just weren’t ready. We made silly mistakes. But we started to grow in confidence. Nobody was taking us seriously. In a few weeks time we went from underdogs,
to competitors. We felt Russia believed. When they took the lead again, we could have let our heads drop, but we kept playing our game. We knew we could get another chance. 22 unknown players, we always had a dream and just seconds left on the clock, the chance fell to us… But it wasn’t to be.

About the Author: Garret Beatty

100 Comments

  6. Жаль,что только в крупных городах проводится
    Сколько пацанов по России талантливых говно и грязь топтают безо всякого внимания(((

    Reply

  19. Прямо мотивация подросла , ща на поле пойду катать когда есть возможность , взять и забить гол в решающий момент на 90+ минуте . Это и есть мечта , самое главное попасть из 21 лучших игроков и тренироваться ,тренироваться и тренироваться .

    Reply

  53. please do it in Malaysia. lot's of talent yet undiscovered because of corrupted football association.

    Reply

  66. What a beautiful video, this is how football should feel like when its being played. Thank you Nike for supporting and helping these guys.

    Reply

  74. Now every time I watch a Nike academy play,

    I know how they train. These 22 people who are unknown showed Nike academy that no matter hard you train,you will loose against them. Nike academy were not playing there best but the 22 unknown people were.they trained for 100 days but got nothing out of it. They should have won

    Reply

  83. HELLO FRIENDS FIRST THAT NOTHING IF YOU ARE READING THIS I WISH YOU A BEAUTIFUL DAY; D, I FINISHED TO GO UP MY VIDEO AND FOOTBALL SUBSIDY, AND MORE I INVITE YOU TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY CLEAR CHANNEL I DO NOT REQUIRE NOBODY ONLY IF YOU WANT;) …. … SUPPORT ME WITH A LIKE.

    Reply

  100. я живу в Азербайджане жаль что там нету никаких шансов попасть в футбол

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *