Many Portuguese teams look forward to Gothia Cup 2021

More than 600 teams have registrered to participate in Gothia Cup 2021. The first team to sign up was AD Almada 2015 and it might not be a coincidence, since Portugal has an upgoing trend in the World Youth Cup. ”The dream of most young footballers and coaches is to participate, at least once, in the Gothia Cup”, says Armando Lopes, Gothia Cup’s representative in Portugal.

The registration to Gothia Cup 2021 opened a week ago and although the ongoing pandemic, interest amongst teams all over the world have been high.

The first team to send in their registration form, was Portuguese AD Almada 2015. They made their application only 41 seconds after the registration opened and will participate in boys 16 next summer.

”It is a great joy to be the first team to confirm our club’s presence in a tournament with the quality and size of the Gothia Cup. We expect an unforgettable week both in terms of sports participation and in terms of socializing and sharing experiences”, says Pedro Alves, President of AD Almada 2015.

The team had planned and prepared for this year’s Gothia Cup, before the new Corona virus cancelled the event.

”It was with great sadness that we had to cancel our participation in the 2020 edition. Even though we are in the middle of an extraordinary situation, we believe that at the time of the tournament we can already participate even if we have to comply with some rules as we currently do”, says Pedro Alves.

In fact, a record number of Portuguese teams was to participate in Gothia Cup 2020, including a team from the Azores, for the first time in the tournament’s history. Armando Lopes, Gothia Cup’s representative in Portugal, explains that the interest to go abroad to play youth football tournaments is rising in the country.

”At this moment, a very large percentage of teams in Portugal are familiar with the Gothia Cup, a product of the marketing that has been carried out with numerous meetings with various teams from north to south. No wonder, year after year, there are more and more teams participating in Gothia Cup”, Armando Lopes says.

He looks forward to a successful football tournament in 2021 instead.

”Most of the teams that would participate in this year’s edition intend to go in 2021. Some teams, have chosen to reschedule their trip, in the various airlines for next year. However, it is necessary for the pandemic situation, which we are still experiencing at this time, to begin to stabilize and for parents to once again gain confidence in letting their children participate in international events.

We hope that this happens as soon as possible and we can have a good participation of Portuguese teams in July 2021 in Gothenburg”, Armando Lopes says.