The Costa Blanca Cup turns 30 and this year it will have 260 teams from 22 countries

This year, 2024, the Costa Blanca Cup celebrates thirty editions since its birth. It is the most important international grassroots football event in the country as witnessed by the number of teams, athletes, followers and growth that this competition experiences each year.

This morning the presentation of the 30th edition took place, which for the first time will separate the dates of the football and futsal competitions. Thus, as revealed by Fernando Brotons, tournament director and manager of Tour-Sport, the organizing company, the Costa Blanca Cup Futsal will be held from June 25 to 30 and the Costa Blanca Cup football will be held from June 30 to July 6.

In total, there will be 60 futsal teams and 200 soccer teams from 22 different countries and 12 of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities. Between the two sports modalities, more than 600 matches will be played, which will be distributed in the eight venues that the organization has. Futsal matches will be held on five different fields, while for soccer matches there will be 19 fields available. As in previous editions, the male (15) and female (6) categories are maintained.

Brotons has highlighted that the figures for this edition indicate that there will be 23,000 overnight stays and that the turnover will be close to one million euros. Furthermore, he has revealed that in the 30 years of competition, around 6,000 teams and 95,000 players from 90 countries have passed through the event. “The world has 193 countries and in this time we have managed to bring almost half of them,” he stated.

Fernando Brotons highlighted in his speech that holding a tournament of these characteristics for 30 years "is very difficult, costs a lot and is valued little" and has highlighted its constant growth, "which has always been international and is already its first edition had players from nine countries.”

Precisely, the international nature of the event "is our differential fact" and that is why he stated that "we will always maintain it."

Brotons has also revealed that this international character will lead them in 2025 to hold a Costa Blanca Cup in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) with the name Costa Blanca Caribbean Cup. It will be from April 15 to 20 of next year.

The tournament director has also emphasized its tourist aspect, “something that has always been there and that generates a quality and very tangible return.” In this sense, he has advanced that this year they have contracted an economic impact study that will calculate aspects such as “direct spending, economic profitability, direct and indirect jobs generated, the profile of the visitor, the level of average daily spending, etc.”. But in addition, he has considered that the Costa Blanca Cup has another “intangible” return such as that the players “are young tourists, more likely to return in the future, who promote the city on social networks and increase their visibility, which contributes to diversifying the tourist offer.”

“All this is what has led to our 30-year history because the usual can also be extraordinary,” Brotons concluded.

The presentation event was closed by Mayor Toni Pérez, who asked to “take care of what works” as is the case of the Costa Blanca Cup. He highlighted that it is a project “that was born and grew”, “because you have grown and you have made us grow.”

The mayor has defined the players who have participated over the years in the Costa Blanca Cup as “prescribers of a spectacular destination that is the Costa Blanca” and expressed his “gratitude” to all the town councils and municipalities that host the competition. “Many may forget what we did, some will forget what we said, but few will be able to forget what we made each kid, each young person, each member of the technical team feel while they were here,” he said about the athletes.

He also hoped that the future Costa Blanca Caribbean Cup “will be a complete success because what prevails is the value of growing together.” “The important thing is to be and to share” Pérez concluded.