The opening ceremony culminated yesterday in Julio Iglesias auditorium in Benidorm after a parade with nearly 5,000 participating athletes.
The 30th Costa Blanca Football Cup starts with 200 teams from 22 countries and the majority of Spanish regions
The mayor wished the participants that “the values of respect, discipline, tolerance, teamwork and spirit of improvement govern your actions on and off the field”
The music, the fireworks and above all the enthusiasm and good atmosphere were the protagonists last night of the opening ceremony of the 30th edition of the Costa Blanca Football Cup, which this year will feature 200 teams from 22 countries and 12 of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities. The parade began on Bilbao Street and ended in the Julio Iglesias auditorium in Parque de l'Aigüera with more than 5,000 people inside.
This Costa Blanca Cup, which for the first time celebrates futsal and soccer separately, will generate around 23,000 overnight stays close to one million euros. The young footballers will play their matches on 19 fields in different municipalities in the Marina Baixa. As a significant fact, throughout these 30 years of competition, around 6,000 teams and 95,000 players from 90 countries have participated in the event.
The expansion and growth of the Costa Blanca Cup is such that the organization, Tour Sport, has already announced that its international character will lead it to hold a Costa Blanca Cup in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) in 2025 with the name of Costa Blanca Caribbean Cup. It will be from April 15 to 20 next year.
The participating teams arrived at the Julio Iglesias auditorium where the mayor Toni Pérez, the Sports Councilor, Javier Jordá, the regional deputy, José Ramón González de Zárate, and members of the local corporation were already waiting for them.
After a musical show, the first mayor addressed all the young athletes and coaches who gathered at the event to highlight that the city "maintains its collaboration and involvement year after year" with this competition" and wishes that "these days "You are going to spend with us an unforgettable experience on a sporting and personal level." In that sense, he assured that Benidorm "will put all the effort and effort to make it so."
The mayor stressed that the Costa Blanca Cup is “a benchmark at a national and international level” not only because of its number of participants, “but also because it is synonymous with camaraderie and integration.” At that point, he highlighted values such as “respect, discipline, tolerance, teamwork and spirit of improvement” and hoped that these values “always govern your actions on and off the field.”
Toni Pérez had words to highlight the promotion of inclusive sport – there are already eight editions – “demonstrating that we are all capable.” “One more year, give a very special hug to the athletes who participate in this Costa Blanca Inclusive: you are a source of pride and an example of improvement and also of the enormous potential of sport as a tool for integration,” he stated.
Finally, the first mayor of Benidorm encouraged all athletes to “live the Costa Blanca Cup with intensity, enjoy every match, compete with respect, give the best of yourselves and, above all, be happy playing football and sharing this experience".
After the ceremonial kick-off by the mayor, the firing of a large fireworks display put an end to the ceremony. All the information, results, ratings, etc. of the Costa Blanca Cup can be consulted through the free application for iOS and Android developed by Tour Sport.