Salou. Costa Dorada. 22 June 2023.
From June 22 to 25, 2023, Salou will host the 12th edition of the Mare Nostrum Esei Summer Cup football tournament. 200 national and international teams of young people between the ages of 7 and 18 will participate, of which 40 are women's teams. This means the mobilization of some 4,000 people and between 10,000 and 12,000 overnight stays on the Costa Dorada. These figures exceed all records, since in 2022 80 teams participated.
It is estimated that the tournament will generate an economic impact of 3,200,000 euros, which will benefit our area, since it will be played on 19 courses in various municipalities on the Costa Daurada. Specifically, the matches will be played at the Salou Football Sports Complex, on 5 football pitches in Reus, 2 in Riudoms and 1 in Vila-seca. The awards ceremony will be at the Salou Football Sports Complex on June 25, 2023, at 1:00 p.m.
The participating teams come from Madrid, the Basque Country, Catalonia, La Rioja, Navarra, Valencia, Iceland, Ireland, the United States, Lebanon and France.
In the tournament presentation, Mayor Pere Granados congratulated Albert Viñas, CEO & Co-Founder of the Madre Nostrum Cup, and Fernando Luque, commercial director of ESEI Events, for their great work dedicated to promoting sports tourism. He has also had positive words for the Sports area of the City Council, for the accommodation sector and the Federació Empresaris d'Hostaleria de Tarragona (FEHT).
Granados has highlighted the importance of this event for Salou and has said that it represents a great boost for tourism, in the capital of the Costa Daurada, with a significant economic impact. In addition, he added that this tournament and others like it are "a great success in gaining ground in sports tourism, both for companies and municipalities." Finally, he has valued the phenomenon of deseasonalization, through sport.
On his side, CEO & Co-Founder of the Madre Nostrum Cup, Albert Viñas, explained that “we are amazed, very pleasantly, by the growth of this edition. The Summer tournament has usually been an end-of-season party for those clubs that, due to the calendar, cannot participate in Easter, but on dates, at the end of June, where most of the teams have already closed the season. So it was a small tournament where last year's record number of 80 teams was already a huge success. Now, we find ourselves with almost 200 and with the joy of seeing how, even, clubs that participated in the last Easter will repeat in the Summer, only 2 months later."
The commercial director of ESEI Events, Fernando Luque, thanked the hotel establishments for their collaboration in terms of accommodation and explained the origin of the participants, and the qualifying round with a gold phase and a consolation phase. Likewise, he highlighted the presence of the Argentine Martín Mantovani, the most valued player in the Kings League.
Finally, the Councilor for Sports, Yeray Moreno, has assessed what football and sports tournaments represent, in general, with a view to training and the comprehensive and personal development of participating children and young people. "Through individual and collective effort, players create habits and responsibilities that contribute to improving as people and also as athletes," he stated.
