The stars of Eikomena

I paid another quick visit to Moldova.

Projects Abroad sponsors an A Division football team there, called Eikomena. We have a UEFA coach, Victor Afansiev – known by his first name and patronymic “Victor Ivanovich”. He’s pretty good at cajoling, encouraging and developing our team and the results this season so far have been okay.

We will be putting in a link on the Moldovan pages of our website to the new team site in due course. In the meantime, volunteers or interested colleagues can train with Eikomena. They can really become part of a live working European football team. At the same time, there are plenty of opportunities for training kids because Victor Ivanovich is also deputy head of a children’s sports academy in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital.

You can follow our team and Moldova’s Divizia A on Soccerway here and you can wish our team good luck for their next two matches against Sheriff on 4th October and against Floreni on 20th October. Please feel free to email the five English-speaking members of the team:

Peter Radu wwwbelenikii@mail.ru
Vitaly Bulala vbulala@gmail.com
Dmitrii Plamadeala kaka55@bk.ru
Stas: stass_mun@yahoo.com
Viorel Catrinici viorel89@mail.ru

Chisinau is where the team and our office and Moldovan colleagues are all based. It’s pronounced “Kishy-Now” and it’s a nice city of about half a million people. I really like the centre, a leafy provincial capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and largely unspoiled. The Second World War – the Moldovans fought on both sides – passed it by although there was a huge battle on the Prut River a few miles west. Then Moldova joined the Soviet Union and they built a lot of tower blocks. But still, the Latin-Slav mix, the copious red wine (and the odd vodka) and the excellent local sausages all serve to soften the sharp edges. Chisinau can be quite relaxing.

Peter Slowe
1st October 2007