LaLiga Promises joins forces with the prestigious Iscar Cup

The time has nearly come for the launch of the sixth edition of the Iscar Pedro Sanchez Merlo Memorial Cup, a competition which is attracting more interest with each passing year. This time round, the tournament will be held between 24 and 26 March and games will be hosted at the San Miguel stadium (Iscar, Valladolid) and the municipal ground in Pedrajas de San Esteban. This year the event has the support of the LaLiga Promises project. Twenty-seven teams will battle it out to win this magnificent tournament, which has established itself as a classic event on the Spanish Under-10s football calendar on merit.

The presentation ceremony held to mark the opening of the tournament was held on Wednesday and was led by the minister of youth, sports and consumption, Luis Mariano Minguela and was attended by the local representative of the Castilla and Leon government, Pablo Trillo; the mayor of Iscar, Luis Martin Garcia; the deputy mayor of Pedrajas de San Esteban, Santiago Roman; LaLiga's vice president, Clemente Villaverde and the president of CD Iscar and event organiser, Jesus Hernansanz.

As always with the Iscar Cup, the tournament is all about the U-10s age group. The 17 teams flying the LaLiga flag will pit their wits against local and international sides. The tournament line-up also includes Paris Saint-Germain, Portuguese outfits Porto and Sporting Lisbon, whilst FC Dallas and an combined team from Sao Paulo will cross the Atlantic to take their place, not forgetting the tournament hosts, CD Iscar. This edition sees a total of 27 teams take part, which represents the highest number since the tournament was launched back in 2011. Jesus Hernansanz spoke of the growth of a tournament which, "began five years ago to a lot of excitement and to pay tribute to Iscar-born Pedro Sanchez Merlo, with the idea of making it a quality event that would earn recognition."

Following an agreement reached with LaLiga, the sixth edition of the Iscar Cup becomes the  third youth football competition to come under the LaLiga Promises project umbrella. Hernansanz offered some figures which give an idea of the scale of the event, "there will be two venues, 450 participants, 2,500 occupied hotel beds, 70 games, seating capacity for 1,600, LED screens and free entry to the public." Confident in the quality of the players on show, Hernansanz claimed that "these will be like miniature Spanish first division games. It's the Champions League for the U-10s age group and is football at its most pure."

The rapid rise of the tournament is testified by the coverage that the competition will be given by the media, it will be broadcast by Teledeporte, BeIN Sports and LaLiga TV (the programming schedule for the 25 games can be consulted at www.laliga.es/laligaworld).  By adding this tournament to the LaLiga Promises project, LaLiga aim to reinforce values such as respect, effort, teamwork and commitment through the sport. In this respect, Clemente Villaverde, speaking at the presentation ceremony, highlighted that, "this is a very important step for Iscar as it means that the tournament will become part of the LFP World Challenge and ultimately part of the corporate image of the Spanish brand."

With previous winners including AC Milan; FC Barcelona; reigning champions, Atletico Madrid and Valencia CF, who are the only side to have claimed the trophy more than once (in 2011 and 2014), the tournament sees 450 budding footballers and their coaches descend on Iscar, the province and its surrounding villages. The contribution to the tourist industry and the life that the tournament will bring to the province were points highlighted by the local authorities.

Right from the first whistle of the first game at 10:00 CET on Thursday 24 March the games will be played practically back-to-back until Saturday 26, when after the third vs fourth play-off, the final will be staged at 12:00 on Iscar's grass pitch. Eighteen games, including the semi-finals and the final will be televised live by Teledeporte, whilst BeIN Sports will broadcast 25 fixtures.  This is a tournament that certainly pays a fitting tribute to the Iscar-born man in memory of whom it is played, the lawyer and journalist, Pedro Sanchez Merlo.

You can find more information on the Iscar Cup at the following link: https://www.laliga.es/en/laliga-promises/iscarcup-2016