The 2005th Ayia Napa Soccer Festival started on Saturday morning (2010/08) with the Group stage matches in the age categories of children born from 4 to 17.
On Sunday (09/4) the Group Games will continue, with children born in 2004 being thrown into battle.
The games in the older age categories (2001, 2002, 2003) start on Maundy Monday (10/4), while there will also be women's games on Maundy Wednesday (12/4), the last day of the event. The Ayia Napa International Tournament supports the 42nd Christodoula March.
Early in the morning, the 16 football fields -with natural turf- of the Municipality of Ayia Napa were filled with children's voices and football exclamations. After all, the beginning is half of everything… Despite the cloudy and strong winds, the program went smoothly, while in the afternoon the weather conditions improved.
334 teams from Cyprus, Great Britain, Poland, Romania, Jordan and Lebanon are taking part in the Ayia Napa Tournament, while it is estimated that 20.000 people will move to Ayia Napa on the days of the event. The finals, which will be held on Wednesday, April 12, are presented by the Bank of Cyprus. On the same day, a friendly match of veteran football players will take place at the Ayia Napa Community Stadium, in support of the 42nd Christodoula March and the fight against cancer. Cytavision will broadcast live six finals as well as the awards ceremony, in a live marathon connection from 14:00 to 19:00. The event has the approval and is under the auspices of KOP and the Municipality of Ayia Napa. The big sponsor is the CTO.
Ayia Napa is literally buzzing with life, as an estimated 20.000 visitors are in the city as part of the tournament, effectively announcing the early start of the tourist season.
The Ayia Napa Soccer Festival is under the auspices of the KOP and the Municipality of Ayia Napa, the big sponsor is the CTO and TV partner Cytavision, which on Wednesday will broadcast live six finals and the awards ceremony, from 14:00 to and 19:00.
The racing program
At the weekend, Group competitions will be held in the age categories of children born from 2004 to 2010 and who constitute the majority of the participants in the event. The Group matches in the ages 2001 - 2003 will start on Monday, in parallel with the knockouts in the younger age categories. For the first time in the event there is also a women's category. More than 50 volunteers work for the needs of the tournament, while the approximately 800 matches of the event will be refereed by 75 referees, from Cyprus and abroad.
More information, the race program as well as photos, at www.ayianapasoccerfestival.com and https://www.facebook.com/AyiaNapaYouthSoccerFestival.
Source: SotiraNews / Citizen