Fire in the eyes and boiling water in the veins: in Vitebsk, two football clubs are storming to find out who is cooler

“Do you know what a goose is? Leg... Sheika... Wing... Do you know how much I love goose? I kill him with one blow, like a bullfighter! It's an opera when I go on a goose

Panikovsky's monologue from the film Golden Calf.

In Vitebsk continue to zealously rotate the goose. And they do it virtuoso (sleight of hand and no deception), as in the 1990s they spinned on thimble markets: fun and with fire! Or you can compare it to the wheel of fortune: bets are made, there are no more bets. What will come out: red, black or zero? There's noise, um, hype, hype! The goose spins and offers to do it to others, sparkling a white-toothed smile in commercials, one famous pop artist, and the master of the domestic commentatory workshop and sports reportage voices the matches of geese and even went online in the popular now format of the conversational genre. The geese filled with their wide wings and loud "ga-ga-ga" all football space. They're everywhere!

A little history. The goose began spinning exactly five years ago in Rogachev. It was then that one famous bookmaker, having saved up the capital, decided to develop in breadth - organized a football club. Rogachev was chosen for some reason, which looked rather strange: the legal address of the company was Vitebsk, the team assembled hastily lived and trained in Minsk, and Rogachev went exclusively to home matches. The tasks, however, before the geese (the goose is the official mascot of the campaign and the football club) were ambitious: to overcome the barrier of the second league, then - the first, to jump into the elite division and there to rustle. The first problem was solved with little blood. The average salary of football players at the club at that time was only 350-400 rubles (current geese for such money will not even get out of bed). In addition, players were compensated for travel to matches if necessary. Football players have created conditions for a comfortable life, training and recovery (accommodation in the hotel “Victoria” with meals and even spa treatments), and this was enough to take the first step – to rise to the division rank higher.

Things got serious there. The composition was collected decent, and the whole Yuri Puntus with his notes was discharged for the role of coach (very soon, however, they were fired). The goose was spinning, the results were going, the championship was won. But I found a braid on a stone - the door to the major leagues in front of the geese's nose was closed in the ABFF. Firstly, referring to the article of the regulations that “the applicant for the license of ABFF “Major League” can only be a football club that is a member of the ABFF for at least two years in a row.” “Based on infrastructure, personnel and sports criteria, this club does not fully meet the requirements for major league clubs.” In other words, the geese loudly declared themselves in the information field, got a comfortable bus with bright advertising logos, gathered a good composition of visiting tourers capable of solving the problem of quickly entering the highest echelon, but did not do anything to at least somehow improve the infrastructure of football Rogachev. They didn't have that task. Having received a logical and legal turn from the ABFF, the club bosses first freaked out and said that football activities were completely curtailed, but then cooled down: the toy was interesting, it was a pity to throw it away. So we decided to keep spinning the goose. But, of course, not in Rogachev (short and abandoned). So the move to Vitebsk took place and the team “ML Vitebsk” appeared, which not only entered the major league, but also won it, taking last year’s championship title from Dynamo Minsk.

In the Vitebsk football den there are now two inhabitants: aboriginal FC Vitebsk and ML Vitebsk. They don't get along well. Although the goose, I must say, behaves quite brazenly and quite masterly. From the first days he spread his wings and began to regularly pinch the former absolutist master in word and deed, trying to drive him out of his own kitchen. Having come to everything ready (so after all, goose or cuckoo?), geese in Vitebsk firmly nested and began to build far-reaching plans. Arguments and conflicts between the leaders of the two Vitebsk clubs arose regularly: they shared the stadium field, a children's school, fans and even toilets in the arena. Frequently there were bits flying around the corners. Wealthy geese even conceived to build their own stadium, but, thinking, tears - decided to abandon the idea. But they had their own base for preparation as if from a picture: on the picturesque bank of the Western Dvina, on the territory of the former children's health camp "Birch". What's not there? Full football field with natural lawn, tennis court, basketball court, workout area and mini-football field with artificial surface, administrative building with locker rooms (including guest), shower and massage rooms, gym with panoramic views of nature, sauna, rooms for rest and meals, as well as coaching rooms. Blather!

Over the past year, ML Vitebsk has replaced five coaches at the helm of the team, and right now the goose is rotated by the Spanish team of mentors led by Juan Diaz. As head coach, he won the Russian FNL in the 2025/26 season and for the first time brought Rodina to the Russian Premier League. The task before don Juan and his staff is quite specific: to win the championship, in which ML Vitebsk is leading right now, and make noise next season in the Champions League. In 24 matches in the current championship of Belarus, the geese suffered only one defeat. Guess who? That’s right: it was FC Vitebsk that pinched the feathers – 2: 1! This Saturday in Vitebsk, the two inhabitants of the same teremka will meet again. And you can imagine what kind of match it will be - the Battle of Grunwald! From the beginning of the week, the tension in football Vitebsk is skyrocketing. Sparkling, squaring and splashing.

It is difficult to remember other such ardent antagonists in Belarusian football. The air smells not just a thunderstorm, but a desperate and uncompromising fight. Teams exchange savage sarcastic shots in social networks on the verge of foul (and beyond, however, too) and dream of rubbing each other's sides when meeting. The geese shout loudly, and their video about Kolyan and Sergey, in which the figures of the director of FC Vitebsk Nikolai Vaityukhovsky and the head coach Sergey Gurenko are easily read, can be called provocative. Not without a fight for fans, in which the geese, as the famous great combiner Bender, made a bet on children. The invitation of the young generation to the upcoming match seems to be written off from the classics: Only small children, street children, are without a prize. These flowers of the street, or, as the intellectual workers say, the flowers on the pavement, deserve a better fate. We, gentlemen of the jury, must help them

In general, all means were used and no one thinks about gentlemanhood. Representatives of FC Vitebsk have every reason to quote the hero Armen Dzhigarkhanyan from the film "Passport": "Something I don't like this goose." Whatever it was, and the match “Vitebsk” – “ML Vitebsk” this Saturday is clearly from the category of those that are not recommended to miss. Entourage, atmosphere, emotions – everything should be at the level. The match will be broadcast live by Belarus 5 TV channel.

Rome was once saved by geese. But will they save Vitebsk?