Costa Blanca Cup as a unifying force through sport
Seven towns in the Marina Alta and Marina Baja districts of Alicante form part of the organised and cohesive host venue network for the international football and futsal tournaments
The Costa Blanca Cup, as a football and futsal tournament, continues to stand out year after year and in 2026 will reach its 32nd edition in football and its 21st in futsal, thanks to its four defining pillars: sporting excellence, its international character, the promotion of tourism, and the shared experience among players from different parts of the world. However, the very growth of this event, organised by Tour-Sport Promociones Deportivas, also highlights its role as a unifying force among municipalities in the Marina Baja and Marina Alta districts of the province of Alicante, where its contribution as an economic driver is particularly significant.
As many as seven towns across these two districts form part of a well-organised and cohesive network of host venues, staging matches both at their football grounds (11-a-side and 8-a-side formats) and on their futsal courts. Once again, the Costa Blanca Cup also guarantees the promotion of grassroots sport through municipalities and the collaboration of their respective town councils, such as Benidorm, Villajoyosa, Altea, Alfàs del Pi, La Nucía, Finestrat and Calpe.
Players, coaches and accompanying family members and friends arrive in these towns from many different parts of the world. While preparations for the 2026 Costa Blanca Cup (in both football and futsal formats) are currently under way, the 2025 figures clearly demonstrate the impact of this international tournament.
In the futsal event, a total of 97 teams from eleven countries took part. The various venues in Marina Alta and Marina Baja hosted 38 foreign teams, 37 Spanish teams (specifically from outside the Valencian Community) and 22 teams from within the Valencian region. Internationally, the return of Brazil after several years was particularly noteworthy, given its status as a futsal powerhouse. From Europe, there was strong representation, especially from France, Spain, England and Belgium. The United States participated in futsal for the first time, and there was also significant representation from Taiwan, Lebanon and Venezuela.
In the international youth football tournament, 208 teams representing up to 19 countries competed. Alongside strong local participation, with 51 teams, the numbers of clubs from outside the Valencian Community were very similar: 80 teams from the rest of Spain and 77 foreign teams. At international level, participation from two world regions became firmly established. On the one hand, the Middle East, with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; and on the other, the Caribbean, with the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico contributing a total of ten teams. China returned after several years of absence, as did Brazil and Taiwan, both of which doubled their participation in football and futsal. Iceland, a country with barely 300,000 inhabitants and very few registered players, has taken part in 21 of the tournament’s 31 editions. The presence of teams from the United States also continued to grow.
Across both competitions that make up the Costa Blanca Cup, a total of 305 teams from 30 different countries took part, of which 117 were Spanish, 115 were foreign (from four continents) and 73 were local teams. These figures underline that it was a record-breaking edition in terms of overall participation and the number of foreign teams.
To accommodate all those arriving to take part in the tournament—not only players and coaching staff, but also accompanying supporters—the importance of sports tourism was once again emphasised, with 24 hotels hosting around 4,000 participants. A total of 719 matches were played across both competitions.
Looking ahead to the upcoming summer, the 21st Costa Blanca Futsal Cup will take place first, from 1 to 5 July, followed by the 32nd Costa Blanca Cup, which will continue to promote grassroots football from 5 to 11 July.
Registration for both tournaments is now open. Teams can contact the organisation through the official website of each event for both male and female categories: for football, https://www.costablancacup.com/, with easy access to the registration form, and for futsal, via https://www.costablancafutsalcup.com/ and its corresponding registration link.