Costa Blanca Cup 2026: final stretch to take part in the major summer soccer tournament
Next May 15 will be the closing date of the team registration process for the historic summer championship, which reaches its 32nd edition
The Costa Blanca Cup, which in 2026 will celebrate the 32 edition of its football tournament and its number 21 in the case of futsal, enters the final stretch of the process for teams to be able to register in the historic international summer championship. Next Friday, May 15, the deadline will expire. As for the development of the Costa Blanca Cup, chronologically, the indoor tournament will take place first between July 1 and 5, 2026, followed by football between July 5 and 11.
Thus, there is only one week left before the closing of the registration phase (interested clubs can still do so on the official website for both football/soccer and futsal), and two months until the ball starts rolling at the different facilities of the Marina Baixa and Marina Alta in the province of Alicante, with the support and collaboration of towns and city councils such as Benidorm, Villajoyosa, Altea, Alfàs del Pi, La Nucía, Finestrat and Calpe being key.
The Costa Blanca Cup is based on four main pillars, which guarantee an unforgettable experience for its participants: the purely sporting aspect, its international character, the promotion of sports tourism and the very essence of its experiential nature.
Looking back at figures from the 2025 tournament, these translate into a clear demonstration of the impact generated by this international tournament.
Regarding the futsal event, a total of 97 teams from eleven countries took part. At the different venues, there were 38 foreign teams, 37 Spanish teams (specifically from outside the Valencian Community) and 22 teams from the Valencian region. At an international level, the return of Brazil stood out after several years, a powerhouse in futsal. From Europe, there were especially teams from France, Spain, England and Belgium in quantitative terms. For the first time in futsal, the United States took part. The participation of teams from Taiwan, Lebanon and Venezuela was also significant.
In the case of the international grassroots football tournament, there were 208 teams, representing up to 19 countries. Although there was a notable local range, with 51 teams, the figures of clubs arriving from outside the Valencian region were similar: there were 80 teams from the rest of Spain and 77 foreign teams. In international terms, the consolidation of participation from teams from two regions of the world was important. On the one hand, the Middle East with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. On the other, the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico with ten teams. China returned after several years of absence, as did Brazil and Taiwan, which doubled in football and futsal. Iceland, a country of just 300,000 inhabitants with very few registered players, has accumulated participation in 21 of the 31 editions of the Costa Blanca Cup. The presence of the United States also increased.
From the total number of the two modalities that made up the Costa Blanca Cup, there were 305 teams, coming from 30 different countries, of which 117 were Spanish, 115 foreign (from four continents) and 73 local teams. This total precisely highlighted that it was a record-breaking edition: it was so in terms of total participation and participation of foreign teams.
To accommodate all the people who came to take part in this tournament, not only participants and coaching staff, but also accompanying persons, the importance of sports tourism was more than underlined, with occupancy in 24 hotel establishments to host 4,000 participants. Between both modalities, 719 matches were played.