The Torrevieja International Cup, a long-standing traditional folk football event held during the Easter holidays, is growing again. Since 2009 the festival has featured a mix of disciplines and, in recent editions, has broadened to include futsal and volleyball. In 2024, handball joins the lineup, adding a new dimension to the holiday sports celebration.
The announcement came from the Sports Councillor of the Torrevieja City Council, Diana Box Alonso, accompanied by Pablo Lopez, president of the Mare Nostrum Torrevieja Handball Club, and Alberto del Amo, the tournament organizer. Together they outlined the expanded program that will accompany the International Cup from its next edition in 2024.
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Event organizers emphasize that the festival will now feature handball alongside children’s and men’s and women’s categories, with a maximum of 32 teams. Handball is a sport deeply rooted in the city’s history, and it will sit alongside the already established formats of grassroots football, indoor football, women’s football, and volleyball.
Diana Box highlighted the Cup’s international scope and its role in promoting cultural exchange through sport. The previous edition in 2023 drew 4,200 athletes, a figure that surpassed the 2022 participation levels by more than a thousand players. This surge underscores the Cup’s growing appeal within Spain and beyond.
The 2024 handball component of the Torrevieja International Cup is designed to give young players the chance to combine sport with tourism and leisure. The event is scheduled for March 28, 29, 30, and 31, 2024, and seeks to foster humanitarian and educational values alongside athletic development. Participants will experience life away from home, learn the routines of a concentrated sports program, and compete in a setting that blends training with competition.
The tournament format for all categories—youth and senior, boys and girls, and men and women—will feature matches of two 20-minute halves. In every category, the initial stage will use a four-team group round-robin format, where each team faces the others once. The best qualifiers advance to the knockout rounds, culminating in semifinals and finals for each category. Every participating team is expected to play at least five matches.