Manilva International Beach Football Festival

The Altraplan Cup

The weekend of Friday 22nd August to Sunday 24th August sees two world firsts. The first and only time an English football team will play in an International Tournament this year and the first International Football Tournament to be held at Manilva. The charity ‘Sun and Happiness’ which works to bring underprivileged and terminally ill children from the UK for a holiday in Spain will be the primary beneficiary of this event that promises to put Manilva firmly on the map. The tournament will be broadcast by European TV channels and Sky Sports.

The Altraplan Cup event is being organised by Manilva Leisure SL and EFPG Sportsguard Ltd, with assistance from Manilva Town Hall and the main sponsor, Altraplan Luxembourg S.A. It will bring together some of the all time great football players from Denmark, England, Gibraltar, Holland, Spain and Sweden.

The action will centre around the 3,000-seat stadium that will be set up on the beach opposite La Noria at the eastern end of Sabinillas paseo where the teams will play at 10am, 11am, 6pm and 7pm on the Saturday and 10am and 11am on the Sunday. The finals will be played at 7pm and 8pm on the Sunday followed by a prize giving and a firework spectacular.

A tented village will be erected on the paseo itself to house the stalls providing food and drink and a whole range of entertainments. The village will be officially opened at 8pm on the Friday evening and will be the scene of the closing party on the Sunday evening.

Tickets for the event are 15 Euros per day. You can reserve tickets by visiting the website www.manilvainternationalbeachfootballfestival.com or contacting the Manilva Leisure Office at Puerto de la Duquesa.

The Reception - Thursday 21st August 2008 - Castillo

The First Manilva International Beach Football Festival kicked off at 9pm on Wednesday 21st August at a cava reception at the castle in Castillo. The mayoress of Manilva, Antonia Muñoz, welcomed players from the teams and wished them every success in the tournament. Members of the teams, the council, guests, the organisers and Sun and Happiness, the charity that will benefit from the tournament, enjoyed an evening of flamenco and music with typical Andalucian tapas supplied by Taberna del Bandolero from Sabinillas.

Flags of the six nations playing for the Altraplan Cup

Manilva International Beach Football Festival Reception at Castillo

Mayoress Antonia Munoz and Steve Pote from Manilva Leisure

Friday 22nd August

After a hectic day on the golf course the players and supporters gathered for the first night's entertainment in the tented village. Steve Cline of the Music Foundation set the evening off with two songs he had created especially for the event, 'Gold' and 'For the Children'. The winner of the July edition, 'Name the Footballers' Competition, Sune Parker, was unable to attend. His prize was handed to his cousin, Charlie Aabo, by Diego Urieta, the councillor for education, beaches, sport and juveniles and Chris Olsen of the Foreign Residents Department.

Manilva Leisure, Antonia Munoz and Steve Klein

Saturday 23rd August

Spain v Gibraltar

On Saturday 23rd August history was made at Sabinillas. For the first time ever, Spain played Gibraltar at football, a situation that UK and Spanish politicians have failed to achieve in 304 years. The final score was Spain 5 - Gibraltar 2.