Ukrainian pop and film stars founded the Maestro football club 16 years ago. The footballers have been playing successfully and professionally at famous football stadiums in Ukraine and abroad for many years. The club has about a hundred star players. Famous coaches with names that are inscribed in golden letters in the history of football in our country train artists, actors, singers, designers and successful Ukrainians. The unique football club has recently opened a real children’s football academy.
As part of the special project “Children’s Sports: A Business that is Impossible Without…” Komersant ukrainskyi
spoke to Vlad Sotnikov, the producer of the FC Maestro football club of stars. He talked about the peculiarities of finding sponsors and how the pop and film stars’ love for sports gradually grew from an emotional passion to constant training in the heat and cold. He also finally told us why FC Maestro had been hesitant to open a football academy for children for so long and what military special forces instructors had to do with it.
Vlad, the example of FC Maestro shows that sport really does unite people for the sake of great goals. How did the idea for the club come about? What were these 16 years of your formation like?
Such football clubs of popular people, artists, theatre, film, pop and show business actors exist in every country. There used to be even world championships among artists. By the way, we also took part in them. I don’t know for sure, but someone said that the oldest team was the Italian team. They formed their club somewhere in the 75s of the last century. Our club has existed since 2008. So it’s a kind of conditional franchise of European artistic teams that we created and developed ourselves. Over 16 years, we have played a huge number of matches and tournaments. We developed several tournaments ourselves and also hosted teams.
The participants of Maestro are, without exaggeration, the idols of millions. The most famous singers, actors, star athletes, TV presenters, etc. Howdoes manage to bring together such self-sufficient and very busy people? What is the secret of the “mash-up”, when everything is put aside for the next training session or game?
That’s an interesting question. Artists are all different. Everyone has their own approach. As the producer of the team, I initially had the following tactic: there are no favourites, regardless of whether the artist is a top star or a beginner. For me, everyone is equal. I always say: you can be different on stage, you can have different fees, different numbers of subscribers, fans. But when you put on a football shirt, you are all equal. You have the same shorts, T-shirts, only different numbers, but you all play on the same team. Although artists are usually solo people, we managed to unite them into one team.
The most interesting thing was at the beginning, because the artists work in different genres. Someone sings pop music and hates rock music. Rock doesn’t like pop musicians, rap musicians don’t like both (laughs). But we made sure that artists came to concerts of music they were not interested in. That is, the conventional Dantes and Oliynyk came to Sashko Polozhynsky’s concert. This is interesting for the audience and the journalists present, who then interview them. As an artist, I’ll tell you that it’s really always great to see your fellow artists supporting you.
I remember my personal story with Vitya Pavlik. He was already a top star, and we were a young and promising boy band that had just moved from Zaporizhzhia to Kyiv. The concert took place in Lviv at the Grand Hotel, in the Sofia club, and Pavlyk seemed to be performing at the Philharmonic. We didn’t know each other personally, but we had seen each other on some programmes and TV channels. And here we are, walking around Lviv, seeing a concert by Vitya Pavlyk. We had time – let’s go. We knew Pavlyk’s director, because he also played in our football team before Maestro, so we called him. He took us to the concert. Vitia was very moved when he saw us sitting in the audience. Then he invited us to his dressing room, and it was 1999. Since then, I have been inseparable from Vitya. That’s how it goes. By the way, he is the honorary president of FC Maestro.
It is customary in Maestro for artists to come to concerts of their colleagues who play in the FC. This is how we managed to bring everyone together. I think this is very important.
As far as I know, you are actively supporting the military today. Has this experience had an impact on your team? What has changed?
First of all, together with the players of FC Maestro, we have set up a school of unmanned systems called Maestro Air Vro. There, our guys undergo combat training, use the equipment of our military – drone control, shooting training and tactical medicine. We created this school together with the BRO community of Ukrainian veterans. There is such a cool community of Special Forces soldiers. Their instructors teach these lessons. To be precise, since the beginning of the full-scale war, 14 guys from Maestro have signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or rather, with the Defence Forces. 20 guys are already undergoing training at Maestro Air Bro. Since our guys are at war, all the others did not go anywhere either, they became volunteers. From the beginning, we raised money for our boys, and now we are raising money for our school.
FC Maestro invites professional footballers to its training sessions. They play on professional football fields. Everything happens according to the real rules and always with full stands. How do you manage to achieve these highest standards of football?
Each artist has their own schedule. We have a chat room (group) where we communicate. We have chosen the best time to train so that the largest number of people are comfortable. We usually train twice a week, and, as a rule, we have a test game or a tournament once a week. Almost everyone goes to training and almost everyone plays. Our first coach was Vasyl Kardash, who now coaches the youth team. He made sure that we trained in the heat and in the cold. There were moments when we came and the pitch was covered with snow, and for the first 40 minutes we just took scrapers and removed the snow. We have had training sessions at -16 and 35, and no one complained. Everyone is fine with it because we are all men and athletes.
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As a rule, a team of artists is allowed to have 3 professional footballers of renown so that people in the stands are interested in watching. Because football performed by artists means a slightly different speed. To keep people from getting bored, titled footballers are allowed. Many people played for us, and many coached us. The first coach was Vasyl Kardash. Then a whole galaxy of coaches. Serhii Rebrov and Andrii Husin gave masterclasses, and Serhii Nagorniak and Vitalii Kosovskyi also gave us such training for some time. Our last coach is also a legend, a champion of three countries and a former player of the Ukrainian national team – Eduard Tsikhmeystruk.
It’s always interesting that there are entertainers and then there are football stars. Naturally, it’s always cool to play with the legendary Serhiy Rebrov and Vasyl Kardash in the same team. Artists are drawn to them, see their example and remember them. Footballers are interested in artists, and artists are interested in footballers. Then there are some entertaining parties after the concert. All our coaches are great at karaoke. It’s actually a lot of fun. The team must be united both on and off the football field. As a rule, we play at stadiums like those where our Premier League plays. People come to watch football and those they see on TV – Yevhen Nyshchuk, Dzhedzula, Pedan… Where else would you see the Minister of Culture playing football? Running, fighting – it’s always interesting. There is always a concert after the match. That is, people come to a football match and end up watching a football performance and a concert show.
Football, like any other sport, is expensive. And the search for sponsors will probably notbypass any FC or section. Tell us about your experience of attracting sponsors. We are interested in both successful and not so successful examples of such experience, which can become advice for others, “what not to do” when working with sponsors.
We love our sponsors like any other normal project. As a manager, I have one golden rule: always give a little more than you are paid for. This is our main motto. That is, we do a little more for our sponsors than is stipulated in the contracts. In our football industry, sponsors are divided into two parts: the technical sponsor, who provides the equipment, and the team sponsor, who employs a staff of PR people, photographers, videographers, so that the team can exist and be seen somewhere, watch a programme about it. All this is usually done for sponsorship.
Our first sponsor was Diadora. They fully outfitted us and put on our shoes. It was very cool. The guys from Diadora also played at FC Maestro, although they were from Odesa, but they came to various tournaments, supported us and played for us. The second sponsor was Adidas. It was before the war, before 2014. The director of one of their departments lives for football and also played for Maestro. We maintain a great relationship and still participate in some of the events he organises. The third technical sponsor is PEAK, known to many as the official technical sponsor of the Olympic team. They dressed and shod the team as well as Adidas.
And now the artists and I have created our own brand of sportswear – Ukrainian Special Dress. We have a designer in our team, and we decided to create our own uniforms. We choose colours and tailoring according to the wishes of our artists. We have already dressed several other teams. For example, the Armed Forces team, FC Army. They play in uniforms with our brand. The team for servicing foreign missions (GDIP) also plays in uniforms with our logos. Well, I think that we will expand and our uniforms will be in more and more demand. The materials are great because our designer travels around Europe and buys everything himself. We have no complaints.
As for sponsors, every artist has some friends and partners. Football is the number one sport. Many people love it, and we’ve had different sponsors – crypto sponsors, network marketers, and the Favourite company. Now we are planning a new media sponsor – Kommersant Ukrainian. One of its founders also plays for FC Maestro. He is happy and we are happy with him – he joined the team from the first game. Some sponsor us, others just support the team… It’s always great with sponsors. We try to make them feel better. We even offer them things that are not specified in the contracts, various perks, so that they see that they are not just paying for this and that, but that the artist is involved in the life of their company.
Playing for the FC is a kind of reputational bonus for your players. This effect is achieved due to the social and charitable orientation ofthe FC’s activities. What projects do you choose for your charity partnership? What are the criteria? And what areas would you never consider supporting?
We are currently working with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Andriy Rebryna, the director of Sport for All, is integrated into the team of FC Maestro, plays with us, and is also studying at the school of unmanned systems. Sport for All is our general sponsor at this stage. We fully support the joint events organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Our opponents are not ordinary people either. As a rule, we play with the city hall – the mayor plays, the police chief, various services of the city. An ordinary resident of a fictional Zaporizhzhia at least sees his mayor and the people who run the city in this way. They see who is athletic and who is not. People are interested in this. Before the Great War, stadiums were packed. Even if I wasn’t involved in this show business, I would have come to see it myself, and there is an opportunity to get to a free concert – it’s a thrill.
As a rule, we do not sell tickets for such events. Volunteers go around with boxes, and everyone donates – the money goes where it’s needed. We monitor where it goes, to which units. We also buy thermal underwear, or we make a one-off collection: we collect it, buy it for a brigade, and send it. Or someone from the brigade comes and we hand over the money to them.
Do you have any plans to create a youth or children’s division of FC Maestro? After all, the age of stars in Ukraine is getting younger, and today we already know a lot of successful teenage bloggers who, because of their popularity, could also unite young people around football and good causes.
Children are our future, and we have long had a plan to set up a children’s football club, but we never got around to it. We needed someone to do it. There was no such person. All the roles were assigned, all the effort was spent on the Maestro itself. And now we have a player, Volodymyr Melnychenko, who used to teach children’s football, and we offered him to take over the children’s club. I said, ‘Melia, maybe we should set up our own children’s academy?
He said that he had long dreamed of being not just a coach, but a director of the academy. This is where the stars aligned. We developed uniforms for children under our brand, rented premises, playgrounds, printed banners, and a PR specialist created websites for the Maestro Children’s Football Academy. The children have already won awards and first places, although the academy was established recently. These are 9-year-olds who are just starting to play football. It’s cool that they go to tournaments and win good places. We always watch them with a smile on our faces.
And we have also done something else: when the team comes out, it is always led by children from the Maestro Children’s Academy. Firstly, their parents come, and secondly, their little football talents bring famous stars onto the pitch. Recently, we played against Ignis, and when the score was 3 on 3, we took a penalty, and the children were fiercely supporting FC Maestro. When Ivan Marunych scored a goal, they were shouting next to him and singing his song “Who holds this neighbourhood – the dog Patron”. It was so cool and fun.
The children create a very right atmosphere, and parents like that their children are not just training. After all, children’s football is also about positioning yourself in society, including communication with famous people. From time to time, one of the artists holds masterclasses for them. Parents watch famous people on TV teaching their children football without charging them for it. It is simply because it is our children’s academy. Artists are quite active in supporting our academy and contributing to its development.