“I am in tears with joy. We have formed a team that can compete with Appoel. This is just the beginning,” says Yevgeny Savin.
On August 1 evening, the chairman of the Kruswa Annie Yapsonus Football Club sits in one of the upper levels of the Ammochostos Stadium in Laranaka, which looks at the empty pitch.
The football club, which he originally established in Russia four years ago and was re -registered in Cyprus after the introduction of Russia’s full -scale invasion in Cyprus, has made his debut in the country’s topfall. Although Kruswa defeated the match 2–1, the fact that it came against Cyprus’s most successful club, Epol Nicosia, means that in Savin’s eyes, it was a success.
Former football replaced YouTube star
Savin was once a professional footballer and was called to Russia’s U21 team several times in the 2000s. After his playing career ended, he became a media star, first as a host of a show on Sports Channel Match TV, part of the state-made media holding company Gazprom-Media. In 2018, he found Youtube channel “Kruswa”, where he discussed Russia’s problem from the perspective of football.
The Russian word “Kruswa” is a young slang, a word that expresses respect. So it covers Savin’s nickname, “Sava” a brief name.
Savin currently has a million followers on Instagram and YouTube. Millions of views of his video have brought him sponsored deals and considerable income. He earns up to € 1.2 million ($ 1.4 million) per year, tells Savin DW. He founded the club in 2021, and Kruswa competed in the third division of Russian football.
But soon after the attack on Ukraine started in February 2022, Savin left Russia with his wife and two children. He gave birth to war and released a video that expressed his feelings about the invasion of Ukrainian athletes.
Due to this, Kruswa was banned from training at a stadium in Moscow region. Savin was accused of “maligning” the Russian army for being absent in Russia in March 2024.
Starting
But Russia’s escape did not mean that Savin was about to leave the idea of being the owner of his football club. Hey chose Cyprus to go into exile because it is cheaper to run a professional football club there. In Ypsonas, a suburb of Limasol, Savin licensed a local club for several hundred thousand euros – to play in another division of the country.
This is not a legal entity similar to the Russian Club Kruswa, but a new one. However, the color, symbol, and above, its president and principles installed it – as an “honest private club” – remain the same.
Savin has drowned Sion in the club about € 1.5 million of his own money and has been assisted by sponsoring an online broker owned by a billionaire billionaire billionaire, which returned his back to his motherland. This allowed the club to win promotion in the first division after only three sessions.
But life away from home is not without its negative side, such as leg separated from his sick father, who still lives in Russia and cannot travel.
“I think we can’t see each other,” Savin says. He once wrote to him: “Father, forgive me. I could not help it,” Hey, saying, referring to his public criticism and decision to leave Russia.
Mekhift office
Savin welcomed the DW reporter to his club training facility at a sports complex in Limasol. It has two small artificial turf pitch and a thick 20-class meter room behind the door of a glass, which has been converted into an office.
In one corner, there is a small table displaying the trophy and a gold medal from the second division championship of the previous season, as well as an icon of St. Sava, which he was given by a priest.
His club, Savin believes, is still a “startup”. All his employees work in multitasks and late night – as he does.
“You must set an example; this is the only way to show that Kruswa is more than a football club and a job. We are a family,” Savin Tension.
Russian and Ukrainian supporting the same club
Kruswa targeted migrants from post -Soviet countries as their fan base.
“Ninety percent of our fans speak Russian. Kruswa unifers people from Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and other countries,” says Savin.
“It is difficult to imagine another place where people gather, shout together in Russian, and are happy in a football club.”
But his contribution to the Russian speaking community goes further. The Yasam Special Therapy Center in Limasol offers free weekly training sessions at the club ground for children receiving support. Thesis children come from Russian and Ukrainian -speaking families and are on the island for only a few years. One of them, Alexandra of Moscow says that he often goes to Kruswa Games with people from later Soviet countries.
“They are my friends, friends of friends – those who love football and speak Russian. We once went there and were immediately bent. We liked the community.”
Even more goals
Yevgeny Savin, of course, participates in sports. He stands among fans in the stand, takes selfies, discusses the game, and leads the enthusiastic mantras – and he continues to dream.
“The next step is to qualify for European Club competitions,” hey says. “So that the whole world knows about the Chriswa Football Club and its history, which I am sure, inspiring.”
This article was published in Russian.