The Douro Cup farewell to the 2018 edition with a lot of emotion to the mix. On a different day, the finals of the several age groups in the competition were followed by the initiative promoted to Resistentes, Porto IPO’s football team, ending with an exhibition game held at Lavandeira Stadium.
“Overall, I take a very positive balance. I think we have grown in many areas and believe the feedback was very positive. It gives us encouragement to continue working and preparing the third edition”, says Júlio Moura, member of the organization, ensuring a “sense of duty fulfilled” and “pride” for what has been achieved.
For him, Douro Cup “differs in spirit, it does not value excessively the competition”, betting on other values, “like friendship, sharing, participating or knowing a new city”, which helps that “in a few years, young people will remember this week, not specific results”.
The day was filled with strong emotions, especially with the finals of each age group in the competition, throughout the afternoon. The decisive matchups started with the U-10 and U11, in which Oliveira do Bairro SC and SC Coimbrões were superior to Vilaverdense FC and CCAV Lisboa, respectively.
Later on, Dragon Force Porto defeated Salgueiral in U-12, FC Alverca triumphed against SC Coimbrões in U-13 and GRC beat the Spaniards, SD Nueva Montaña, in the U-15.
“We are already thinking about what we can do better in the future, and our commitment is to always improve and be better hosts, that is what we want to do more”, says Júlio Moura, who points out, as “the best moment of Douro Cup”, the presence of Resistentes.
“It was super exciting and gratifying to see the kids of the other teams, without anyone telling them anything, to be very supportive of Resistentes, proving they have values and share ours”, says the organizer, whose will is to “maintain this partnership and find ways to extend it during the year because it fills us with pride”.
Alberto Nogueira, volunteer and coordinator of the Resistentes project, recalls that “regardless of a health problem, these youngsters also have sporting activity”, and is not shy on high praises for the initiative promoted by the event, along with McDonald’s and Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro.
“I want to congratulate Douro Cup for the initiative, very important for Resistentes and their families. We had a visit to the Biological Park, which was very relevant, the Bridges Cruise, also very good, and we ended with the sporting part, which is very significant for them”, explains, pointing out as fundamental “feeling good about what they are doing” and ensuring “an indescribable joy” for the glaring amusement among the youngsters.
The day was also highlighted by the closing ceremony of the event, where each team was presented with a remembrance, and by the closing concert, which featured the performance of Denise, author of “Sonhar Faz Bem”, the Official Anthem of Douro Cup.