With 320 teams the 16th international Ayia Napa Soccer (video)

With the participation of 320 teams from 85 academies in Cyprus and four countries in Europe and the Middle East, the 23th International Ayia Napa Soccer Festival is being held between 27 and 16 April, under the auspices of the KOP. The event is aimed at children aged 6-16 who will compete in ten age groups. The clubs and the schedule of the games of the first phase have been posted on www.ayianapasoccerfestival.com.

The final matches of the six age categories and the closing ceremony will be broadcast live by Cytavision on Holy Wednesday (27/4), in a connection from 15:00 to 19:00. Details for this year's event were given at a press conference hosted on Tuesday morning (12/4) at the Cyta amphitheater in Nicosia.

The numbers of the event
"First of all, I would like to thank the representatives of the media and Cytavision, which is our television partner from this year, as well as the sponsors, the representatives of the academies and other institutional actors and the Municipality of Ayia Napa, who honor us with their presence," said Mr. Christos Konstantinou of the Soccer World Cyprus Association, which organizes the Tournament for the 16th year.

He noted that "in order to successfully complete this event, where 4.500-5.000 young footballers will compete, about 90 referees are needed, as well as as many volunteers" while he stated that for the age categories 2000 to 2002 the games will start in M. Monday (25/4) and for 2003 on Sunday (24/4) in order to facilitate all the contestants.

"Tournament with special value"
"The Ayia Napa Youth Soccer Festival is a football tournament of special value, as the protagonists are the children, those who will staff the professional football teams in the future," said Cyta Vice President Andreas Marangos before saying that "we are determined to help the progress of Cypriot football by supporting events such as this one, through which Cypriot sports benefit in the long run ".

"Important for tourism"
The Vice President of the Board of Directors of CTO stood at the size of the event and noted that "I was pleased to hear that ten teams from five academies and four different countries will come to Cyprus for the event, as well as thirty referees." He stressed the importance of the arrival of teams from countries that are not traditional tourist markets for Cyprus, such as Jordan, explaining that "the descent of teams for the tournament may open the door for a wider descent of tourists from these countries in the future."

Ayia Napa is ready
The deputy mayor of Ayia Napa, Mr. Vassos Xydias, stated that "the hotels in our city, many of which have been recently renovated, are ready to welcome thousands of visitors from Cyprus and abroad." Elsewhere in his speech, Mr. Xydias said that "the Municipality of Ayia Napa has made large investments in the Sports Center that hosts the Ayia Napa Soccer Festival to meet the needs of the football team that uses it throughout the year." .

Cytavision is the TV Partner of this year's event and sponsors are CTO, Ocean Basket restaurants, UCLan Cyprus University, Pascal English School Sports Department, MS Jacovides with Nurofen and Futuro products, as well as Elite Sporting Club and Sports Gear.

Live from Cytavision
In his introductory speech, the head of Cytavision, Mr. Lefteris Christou, stated that "Cytavision has proved its commitment to the promotion and development of Cypriot football, through its multiple live and exclusive broadcasts, which make it the most complete sports platform. With these data we could not but support the top appointment of academies on the island, the Ayia Napa Soccer Festival 2016 "adding that" Cytavision will broadcast live and exclusively from the channel Cytavision Sports 5, on April 27, six final matches as also, the closing ceremony, starting at three in the afternoon ".

Source: SigmaLive