BARI (ITALPRESS) – One of the most historical and important tournaments for the youth movement. The 62nd edition of the prestigious Tournament of the 11th Football Regions, the oldest national event dedicated to youth football, was presented this morning in Bari in the Agorà area of the Regional Council of Puglia. The ‘tacco d’Italià, in fact, from March 27 to April 3 will return to host the tournament after 38 years.
During the event were illustrated the guidelines of the Tournament of the Regions 2026 and the official schedule of the races was presented: will be almost 150 matches that will interest the provinces of Bari, Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto, in fact a wide area of the regional territory, from Acquaviva delle Fonti to Gallipoli, touching, among others, Mola di Bari, Capurso, Putignano, Noci, Locorotondo, Alberobello, Conversano, Fasano, Manduria, Ceglie Messapica, Mesagne, Oria, Latiano, Torre Santa Susan An extension that, according to the organizers, fully returns the sporting, organizational and territorial scope of the most important Italian event reserved for youth football. The matches will take place on 19 artificial grass fields distributed in the four Apulian provinces involved: Bari, Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto.
The meeting included, among others, the president of the Puglia Region, Antonio Decaro, the number 1 of Figc, Gabriele Gravina, the president of the National Amateur League, Giancarlo Abete, and the maximum executive of the Puglia Lnd Regional Committee, Vito Tisci.
“The Tournament of Regions – said Decaro – is an important event, which returns after 38 years in our region. Amateur football is a gym from a human point of view and from a social point of view, but it is also a great attraction from a tourist point of view, because this event will allow you to know many villages that may be little known, but that preserve beauties, culture and history. When sport, culture and tourism are together, it is a positive fact, in a region that will be the European Sports Region, where hundreds of members will arrive: It will be a great occasion especially for Puglia, at a particular time in the history of our region”.
“This tournament – Gravina explained – is not just sports. It is a cultural and tourist tournament: the boys and girls, besides playing football, will appreciate the beauties, the tradition of Apulian hospitality, the coast, the sea. Here: it is a tournament that has a great expectation also from boys and girls. There will be a dispute over 19 fields, 2000 young people will arrive here in Puglia, so there will also be a big economic and tourist return, a strong impact for the Apulian economy”.
“Sport – said Abete – is of all. The National Amateur League has two legs: competitive and competitive and social, very important. We are talking about a world of 1 million and 100 thousand members, of 11 thousand companies, including the youth sector, 60 thousand teams and 580 thousand official matches, with the presence in 7896 municipalities of Italy and the will, of course, to continue this sowing, which has not only motivations linked to a healthy well-being of those who play, but also to the fact of keeping the communities alive through the football team, especially in periods in which we have to confront ourselves with denatality and demographic crisis”.
“What we presented today – said Tisci – is an extraordinary event, that Puglia embraces as always with its affection, most of all considering that it did not host this event for 38 years. The idea is that of an important path, in a fundamental year for national and international sports, but above all for Puglia, which in addition to this event will also have the pleasure and pride of being able to host the young people of the Mediterranean. This is a flagship event of the National Amateur League, a project that aims not only to enhance the technical and competitive aspect, but also and above all to the formation of young Italians. Here will come two thousand young people who will be welcomed in this wonderful region”.
– Photo xa2/Italpress –
(ITALPRESS).
