a Donosti Cup begins that wants to send us many messages

Yesterday was a day very similar to that of any Sunday before the start of the
Donosti Cup: the surroundings of the Reale Arena experienced a continuous trickle of arrivals of national and foreign teams, up to 200; with footballers, coaches and companions who, with a mixture of nerves and curiosity in almost equal parts, were preparing to embark on an adventure, that of the Donosti Cup, which will surely be difficult to forget.

To the traditional protocol of age verification and subsequent placement of bracelets, yesterday we had to add the contribution of certificates of antigen tests to which all participants have undergone in the last 24 hours. The
Donosti Cup wants and should be a tournament as safe as possible and they have put all the means to make it so.

Although this Donosti Cup is not the one with the records of registered teams, it is still a growing tournament. How? Diversifying formats and categories. On Saturday the seventh edition of the
Donosti Masters Cup by Santander and today will be the coming-out of the
Donosti Authentics Cup, an inclusive soccer tournament within the Donosti Cup itself. In addition, we must also add the
Donosti Talents Cup, for boys and girls under 25 years of age. Soccer belongs to and for everyone.

And, as sport must be closely linked to training, 12 Elite Talent scholarships will be awarded to participants, so that they can study at CIS University, the American university in Madrid.

As if all this were not enough, the Donosti Cup has reinforced two of its commitments. The first is digitization, with a new match search engine and the recording of the matches that are played in three venues and that will be on the tournament’s YouTube channel every night. On the other hand, the Donosti Cup wants to be sustainable, which is why they have taken several measures to reduce the waste generated during these days, especially with regard to plastic, and C02 emissions, reaching an agreement with BMW Lurauto so that the official cars of the tournament are electric.

Loaded with illusion

One of the most emotional arrivals was that of the boys from Levante who will participate in the Authentics Cup today and tomorrow. The granotas arrived in Donostia in the middle of the afternoon after a smooth bus trip.

Vicente Herrero, ‘Tatón’, head of the Social Area of ​​the club’s Foundation and also of the EDI (School for Intellectual Disabilities) Levantine, accompanies the 16 members of an expedition that faces this tournament with great enthusiasm on the trip: «They are very motivated, but also excited. They want to enjoy this experience living together, traveling on the official club bus, sharing a hotel … and, above all, playing football. It means a lot to them to be able to feel like real athletes ».

This is just one example, albeit a very significant one, of how nearly 4,000 boys and girls of different ages and origins arrived in Donostia yesterday with the intention of enjoying a week of football and, also, enjoying coexistence with their teammates. .

There are around 1,500 games ahead and the Zubieta finals can still be seen far away, but that is what the Donosti Cup has: it proposes an intense sports tournament while following an hour of route in which there are no shortage of values ​​such as equality, fair play, sustainability or digitization. This year, in addition, safety is above all. Let the ball begin to roll!