287 teams participate in the 26 Costa Blanca Cup

The 26th edition of Costa Blanca Cup football tournament, held in Benidorm from June 30 to July 6, was presented this morning by the mayor, Toni Pérez, the sports councilor, Mariló Cebreros, and the Tour-Sport director, Fernando Brotons, in El Torrejó building. This edition once again becomes the benchmark sports event of the Valencian Community, which will bring together 287 teams from 15 countries and in which more than 4,000 players from prebenjamín to juvenile categories will participate.

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, has been accompanied by several members of the Corporation and has highlighted the importance of this sporting event "we talk about sports tourism, a new impact in the city of 24,000 overnight stays, more than 4,000 athletes practicing sports in Benidorm and that it has surpassed the 25 years of antiquity, pioneer in the sport of inclusion and feminine sport ".

Toni Pérez stressed that "this tournament is committed to strategic lines and flags of the city and the destination: sports tourism, inclusion of diversity, gender equality, innovation and technology with young athletes that are a good way to make prescribers of what that represents this city. "

For this edition Costa Blanca Cup incorporates new venues to the tournament: Alicante opens in an appointment that recovers the presence of L'Alfàs del Pi, and to which Benidorm, Altea, Calpe, La Nucía, Polop and Villajoyosa are added. The eight venues will host a total of 674 matches to be played in 15 football fields 11 and another 13 for football categories 8, as well as three pavilions with seven tracks for futsal matches in Benidorm, Calpe and Altea.

In this 26 Costa Blanca Cup 15 countries will have representation, highlighting the debut of Taiwan, which extends to more than 65 the list of countries that have participated in the tournament since its first edition. In addition, teams compete from Brazil, the United States, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, France, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Belgium, Morocco, Japan and China. This year the countries with the highest representation are the United States (17 teams), Iceland (8 teams) and Japan (7 teams).

One more year, the Costa Blanca Cup will give visibility to the female categories, present in the tournament since its first edition. To this edition there are 400 players spread over 26 teams from 5 countries: the United States, Iceland, Japan, England and Spain.

Among the novelties planned for this edition is the homage to the oldest women's football club in the Region of Valencia: the Camporrobles CD. Ruth García, player of the club, and also Levante UD and the Spanish National Team will be named Ambassador of the Costa Blanca Cup, thus personalizing this recognition. In addition as a novelty also, the arbitration will be composed entirely by women in the women's competition and the Best Female Club Award will be established.

For the fifth consecutive year the Costa Blanca Cup includes the CB Inclusive modality for players with intellectual disabilities to participate in the competition, the environment of a tournament and the experience of coexistence with other players and contribute to their integration. Hércules CF and CD Tenerife premiered along with Levante UD and Elche CF, repeating the matches at Guillermo Amor on 2 and 3 July.

Another of the mainstays of the Costa Blanca Cup is futsal, which this year celebrates its 15th anniversary with the largest participation in the history of the tournament: it increases by 30% compared to 2018 to reach 81 teams and almost a thousand players. There will also be a formative 'clinic' given by the Equatorial Guinea coach, Ricardo Íñiguez, and the captain of the Guinean team, Roberto Tobe.

Finally and as the main technological innovation will be the dispute of the first online edition of the Costa Blanca Virtual, a competition that has been held throughout the month of June and whose final phase will be held at the Robin Hood complex in Benidorm, allowing thus the deseasonalization of the tournament and consolidating the competition to internationalize it.

As usual, the opening ceremony will be held on Monday, July 1 from 9:00 pm - after the dispute of the first day - and will gather all the expeditions in the Julio Iglesias Auditorium of the Aigüera Park. This is one of the acts that has become a hallmark of the Costa Blanca Cup and that will be broadcast for the first time by streaming, as well as the finals of the tournament in each category.