By Sue Wilkins
The World Nations Cup for Walking Football has officially signed a sponsorship deal at Torrevieja Sports City – the venue for the global event in October.
More than 45 nations, with 120 teams, from around the world have now officially registered for the Cup which is now officially sponsored by local business Desire properties.
Owner of the Costa Blanca business Krisztian says: “We are so excited to be the main sponsor of the 2025 Walking Football World Championship in Torrevieja Sports City! We love the game, and we are looking forward to bringing together teams from countries around the world across six different gender and age categories.
As the main sponsor, it’s an honour and a huge responsibility to support both the Spanish national team and the organizing committee in creating a competition where fair play and the joy of football at any age are the top priorities”.
Other sponsors include ‘Just 4 Keepers’ who will be providing a free pair of specially designed Astro Turf Goalkeeper gloves to each registered team as the official Glove and kit supplier to the WNC Spain 2025.
The Cup will be the biggest walking football event ever held in Spain bringing thousands of visitors to the city. The event will generate more than 2 million euros for the area filling hotels, restaurants and bars.
Co tournament director, Mark Kavanagh says “We are delighted to officially sign this sponsorship deal in Torrevieja Sports City which is such a premium venue for competitive sport. Torrevieja has so much to offer, we hope this will generate many more visits and even more sporting events for many years to come”.
The competition will take place from October 21st to 24th and from the 28th to the 31st with different age groups playing over the two weeks. Gala dinners are being organised to present the awards to the winners. Teams will include Men’s over 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and women’s over 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.
The bid to host the games in Spain was won by two ex-pat enthusiasts originally from the UK but living on the Costa Blanca and Costa Del Sol who were determined to bring the games to Spain after the inaugural games in 2023 in the UK when England won the over 50’s and 60’s cups with Spain coming fourth overall.
Mark Kavanagh, 59, and Mark Coleman, 59, play and coach Walking Football and both coached at semi-professional and professional level with Youth teams and academy professional level in the UK.
The event is held every two years, the first one being held in the UK at St George’s Park in Burton on Trent.
Team Spain will enter teams in the men’s over 50’s and 60’s and women’s over 40’s and 50’s.
Along with Paddle, Walking Football is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK and Europe.
Organiser and campaigner Kavanagh Mark says: “This is a dream come true – we cannot believe we are bringing the World Cup of Nations and more than 45 countries to Torrevieja here on the Costa Blanca. We simply love the game and wanted to bring the sport to as many people as possible – this puts us firmly on the map”.
The games are now open for other sponsorships – anyone interested should contact Mark at mkavanagh@live.co.uk
