This year, participation in the 23rd McDonald's Ayia Napa Youth Soccer Festival exceeded all expectations, with over five thousand children from 426 age groups from Cyprus and abroad taking part.
As reported by the representative of the organization, Mr. Christos Constantinou, at a press conference held today, Thursday, April 03, 2025 at the Ayia Napa Marina Event Centre, this year's organization will take place at the sports facilities of the Municipality of Ayia Napa, on 16 specially designed and separated football pitches from Saturday, April 12 to Thursday, April 17 with the Grassroots age categories of boys and girls up to 12 years old as well as the youth age categories from 13 to 17 years old.
The McDonald's Ayia Napa Youth Soccer Festival, stressed Mr. Constantinou, "is for us a real football celebration for young children and the goal of all of us as organizers and all of those who will attend the event should be the protection of children who should be given the opportunity, away from the pressure and anxiety of victory, to enjoy and have fun with their souls."
"We should all," he continued, "encourage and applaud all the children for the effort they will make in a spirit of sportsmanship and respect for the rules, the referees and in general for all those present."
Present at the press conference was the Mayor of Ayia Napa, Mr. Christos Zannetou, who proclaimed the continued support of the Ayia Napa Municipality in all these events, especially in these major Festivals, which aim and purpose, as he said, not only to highlight the sport, not only to support the local community, and to promote talents and also to give the motivation to our children here in Cyprus to participate in an important sport such as football and at the same time the opportunity to 426 teams, of which 81 are from abroad with over 5000 children "we all realize how many visitors will come to watch this great Football Festival if we take into account the parents and relatives of these children".
He also added that the Municipality proceeded with the upgrades of the sports center this year, where "the goal and objective is to further upgrade the sports center in the medium and long term."
He expressed his confidence that through the pace of local reform in the coming years, the opportunity will be given to develop this issue, which is why the Municipality of Ayia Napa noted that it currently has several sports centers and football fields, such as those in Sotira, Liopetri, Avgorou and Achna, and all municipal districts are making their own plans on how to develop sports tourism and football.
Within the framework of the extension of the tourist season, he stated, "we support these events because, in addition to the fact that it is a sport that we have the sports facilities where we can host it, it is also rewarding for us because now that the summer season is beginning, all local businesses are supported, and at the same time the efforts of the Municipality to start the tourist season earlier and to extend the tourist season as a whole are supported."
He expressed his warm thanks to the organizers, to all those participating, to the children and the parents who will accompany them, to the sponsors and to all those who contributed to this year's organization and urged everyone to contribute in their own way so that we can transform this Festival into a Festival of celebration, a festival where children will enjoy and leave happy regardless of the outcome."
Speaking at the conference on behalf of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, Ms. Niki Karagiorgis stated that sports tourism, including sports events, is high on the national tourism strategy.
The Deputy Ministry added that it actively supports the organizers' efforts to attract and participate in the football academies tournament from abroad.
"As one of the long-standing supporters of the Ayia Napa Soccer Festival, we believed in the prospects of the organization from the beginning, specifically since 2001, and it is with great satisfaction that we see where the organization has reached today with the participation of over 400 young talents."
It is with great satisfaction, noted Mrs. Karagiorgis, "that we see the number of foreign teams participating with the support and assistance of the Deputy Ministry and, above all, the commendable, coordinated efforts of the organizers, whom we congratulate once again."
He wished for another successful organization and assured that the Deputy Ministry will stand by the efforts made by the organizers to strengthen the institution.
On behalf of the Cyprus Football Federation, Mr. Haris Kyrillou congratulated the organizers and contributors and added that the CFF is a supporter and helps the tournament in various ways. He simply added “we want to draw attention to the behavior of the coaches and the behavior of the parents, to say congratulations every year in any tournament, in any organization but many times to see behaviors that are not at all consistent with children's football, this is a general failure for all of us”.
Therefore, the coaches pointed out, the technical directors of the teams have a huge responsibility to warn and guide parents appropriately because it is not the children that are the problem, it is not the referees, nor the authorities, nor the stadiums, but the coaches and parents who often create all these problems.
Children's football, he said, should be played in a safe and healthy environment so that children can enjoy football without pressure, and above all, there are no winners in children's football.
The President of the Cyprus Coaches Association, Mr. Michalis Sergiou, thanked the organizers for the cooperation and stated that children have a role model in the coach, therefore he added that the goal should be to shape the character of the children and how to make them love the sport.
Mrs. Katerina Andreou, on behalf of McDonald's Cyprus, expressed her joy that sports and especially the value of fair play are once again becoming the reason for the company to support this great football celebration as an official sponsor.
For the second consecutive year, he added, we are the proud official sponsor of the McDonald's Ayia Napa Youth Soccer Festival and that says a lot. "As you know, McDonald's has long invested in social programs and initiatives that support children and sports."
This commitment, she stressed, "is a key part of our philosophy aimed at promoting the values of sports and equality of friends at every level. At McDonald's, Mrs. Andreou said, "we also absolutely believe that sports are essential for children not only for a healthy lifestyle, it gives them so much more such as the opportunity to build friendships, feel good about themselves, cultivate discipline and team spirit, in other words it helps them become team players both on the field and in life."
