English – Page 9 – MICFootball

MICFootball launches the MICStore, the online shop where you can buy all the merchandising of the tournament. Living a unique experience like the MIC can happen only once in a lifetime. However, there are thousands of ways to keep the memory of such adventures, for example, dressing like the best.

In the MICStore you can choose from shirts, scarves, sweatshirts and more exclusive MICFootball products that will keep alive the football spirit you will experience on the Costa Brava. The wonderful global community of our tournament makes it possible for us to see you wearing the products in all parts of the world, from the heat of summer to the cold of winter.

All the products are available now at www.mic-store.com.

How to buy the products?

The purchase system is the same as in any usual online shop. You will have to select the product (or products) you want, its size and go to the shopping cart to proceed to checkout. There you will have to fill in all the required information.

Shipping information

Any buyer who does not reside in the European Economic Community (EEC) and attends the tournament from 26th to 31st March, will be able to receive their online purchase at their team’s hotel without any additional shipping cost. You must indicate the name of the hotel to which you have been assigned in the purchase form. To save the shipping cost, you must enter the code FREESHIPPING in the field “Add discount coupon”.

In the case of a non-hosted team, we will arrange a pick-up point at one of the MIC hotels. You will have to indicate “MIC” in the “Address” field. To guarantee the delivery of the products during the tournament, all orders must be placed before the 10th of March using the code FREESHIPPING in the field “Add discount coupon” too.

If you are a resident of the European Economic Community (EEC) and want to receive your product at home, you will have to pay the shipping costs indicated in the shopping cart. If you live in the EEC and come to the tournament, you must indicate in the form the Hotel where you are staying and put the discount code FREESHIPPING.

Shopping during the MICFootball

All the people who come to the tournament will be able to buy the merchandising in the different points of sale that will be available during the event (fields, hotels, etc.). Information about the points of sale will be available soon.

This Thursday the draw for the MICFootball 2024 groups round was held. The 412 participating teams met their rivals live on YouTube.

From lowest to highest category, a draw has been made following the criteria of competition, territoriality and internationality.

Check the groups of the different categories:

U19

F19

U18

U16

U15

U14

U13

U12A

U12B

The competition system for each of the 9 categories of MICFootball 2024 is now available. All groups will be made up of 4 teams and, depending on the number of teams in each category, the classification criteria may be modified.

In the U19, U16, U15, U14, U13 and F19 categories, the 1st and 2nd ranked teams in each group will qualify for the Final Round, while the 3rd and 4th ranked teams will play in the Consolation Round.

As for the U12B category, the 1st, 2nd and the 8 best 3rd teams will advance to the Final Round, while the others 3rd and 4th teams will play the Consolation Round.

As for the U12A category, the 1st, 2nd and the 2 best 3rd will go through to the Final Round, while the others 3rd and 4th will play the Consolation Round.

Finally, in the U18 category, the 1st, 2nd and the 10 best 3rd will go to the Final Round, while the other 3rd and the 4th will play the Consolation Round.

BRACKETS IN EACH CATEGORY

MICFootball will be played on 56 fields in 40 towns on the Costa Brava. These are record numbers for an edition, that of 2024, which will break all records, exceeding 400 teams for the first time.

Figueres will once again host the opening and some of the finals on Saturday, while the outcome of the rest of the categories will take place in Palamós during the weekend. Banyoles will be the municipality in charge of hosting the Pre-MICFootball matches for another year, an event that will once again serve to warm up the engines of faces at the MIC.

4 new towns

The news of this edition (Breda, Celrà, Maçanet de la Selva and Vilamalla) are added to the towns that repeat the experience lived in previous years: Bàscara, Begur, Caldes de Malavella, Calonge i Sant Antoni, Cassà de la Selva, Castell – Platja d’Aro, Castelló d’Empúries – Empuriabrava, Fornells de la Selva, Girona, Hostalric, L’Escala, La Bisbal d’Empordà, La Jonquera, Llagostera, Llançà, Lloret de Mar, Monells, Mont-Ras, Palafrugell, Pals, Quart, Roses, Salt, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Sant Gregori, Sant Pere Pescador, Santa Coloma de Farners, Santa Cristina d’Aro, Sils, Torroella de Montgrí, Tossa de Mar, Vidreres and Vilablareix.

Some of the municipalities have increased the number of fields that will host MICFootball matches in 2024. Figueres will have the Vilatenim, Marca de l’Ham and Albert Gurt stadiums; The matches in Girona will be on the fields of Gironès – Sàbat, Fontajau (home of the women’s category) and Torres de Palau; The Palafrugell duels will be at the Josep Pla i Arbonès municipal stadium and at the Gregal; The action in Roses will take place in Mas Oliva and La Vinyasa; while Salt distributes its matches between the Penya Bons Aires and Comacros fields.

MICFootball will surpass the 400-team barrier for the first time and its 22nd edition, which will take place from March 27 to 31, will have a record participation of 412 teams.

Among the 9 categories, from U12 A to F19, 412 teams from 38 countries around the world have registered. In this way, last year’s figure, which was 344 teams, is left behind, and the tournament record is also broken, which was registered in 2018 when there were 372. With such a high participation there will be more games than ever: a total of 1012 matches in 5 days of the tournament.

Among the clubs confirmed for this 2024 edition, more than a dozen are currently represented in the First and Second Division of the Spanish State. These are FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, RCD Español, Atlético de Madrid, Girona FC, Real Sociedad, Athletic Club, Sevilla FC, Valencia CF and Villarreal CF, from the top category, and also RCD Español and FC Andorra, division of silver.

On the international level, top-level clubs from other European countries will also participate, such as Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Crystal Palace and English Newcastle; Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais; Portuguese teams such as FC Porto and Sporting de Braga; the Italian AC Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, which returns to MIC after its absence in 2023 due to the war between Ukraine and Russia.

CHECK ALL CONFIRMED TEAMS

It will probably not have as much media coverage as the UEFA EURO, but the truth is that, for some time now, the Asian Cup has raised its level thanks to some national teams such as Japan or Saudi Arabia, which dignified their participation in the last World Cup. In fact, Qatar, the host country of the last World Cup, had been simmering for years different generations of players for the 2022 World Cup through the Aspire Academy project. Among all the Qatari players who passed through this soccer factory with the aim of getting the chance of a lifetime, one name stood out above the rest: Akram Afif.

At that time, the best youth academies in Spanish football became aware of Aspire’s intentions and signed different collaboration agreements with them to temporarily incorporate some Qatari players in their youth teams. Then, Sevilla FC recruited Afif, who, due to bureaucratic issues, could not be officially signed and was limited to participating in tournaments such as MICFootball. At the Costa Brava, Afif impressed everyone with two goals in the opening match of the 2013 edition, which was played at the Estadi de Palamós.

Two years after his explosion at the MIC, the young Qatari player made his debut with the senior national team and began his professional career at Al-Sadd before making the leap to European football, where he played for KAS Eupen, Villarreal CF, and Sporting Gijón. With the European adventure under his belt, Afif returned to the club where he grew up and raised his football level with Xavi Hernández as coach.

On February 10, 2024, in a final to remember against Jordan, Afif won the 2024 Asian Cup with Qatar. The Qatari star scored eight goals in the competition, three of them in the final, which helped his team winning the title and crowned him the tournament’s MVP. Stories like his inspire the path of youngsters who, like Afif at the MIC 2013, have dreams of becoming stars in football.

With less than 50 days to go until the start of the 22nd edition of MICFootball, the organizers are closing the registration period for the 9 categories of the competition. This year, the response and interest of the teams has been the key to build a tournament with record numbers in terms of participants, teams, and countries.

The U12B and U13 categories will have 48 teams, while 28 teams will participate in the U12A. Up to 76 teams will compete in the U14 and U16 categories, while U15 will have 52 teams. Also U18 and U19 categories will have 44 and 32 teams respectively. The female category, F19, will have a total of 8 teams.

Now, all the excitement is focused on the group stage draw, which will be streamed live on MICFootball’s YouTube channel on 22 February at 6pm CET. Once the teams know their opponents, it will be time to set everything up for an exciting week of football.

The date of the draw for this year’s MIC Group Stage has been confirmed. On February 22, teams and fans will know who they will face in what promises to be a historic edition.

The 9 categories will be drawn, and everyone can follow it live on the MICFootball YouTube channel from 6pm (CET).

MICFootball is a unique experience that not everyone can experience more than once. However, there are images that the retina will never erase and memories that the mind will never forget. Our tournament will count one more year with some extra services that will qualitatively improve the adventure of the participants and will keep the memory of the MIC alive forever.

PHOTO SERVICES

Together with REMImages, the MICFootball offers an exclusive photography service thanks to which participants will be able to remember their experiences at the tournament for the rest of their lives. This service includes both individual photographs of the players as well as images of the entire team

More information here.

VIDEO SERVICE

In addition, thanks to NetSport TV, the teams that wish to do so will be able to contract the service of broadcasting their matches in streaming. On the one hand, fans and family members will be able to follow live all the matches of their team in the competition. On the other hand, coaches and players will be able to keep the MICFootball matches forever and watch them again whenever they want.

More information here.

MOVE AROUND THE COSTA BRAVA

Nizacars® will offer a wide range of vehicle rentals so that family members and players can enjoy the wonderful surroundings of the Costa Brava. Thanks to this service, those attending the tournament will be able to discover during the week the Catalan gastronomy, landscapes, beaches and tourist attractions that the area has to offer.

More information here.

Once again this year, Costa Brava is preparing to welcome hundreds of teams from all over the world to take part in the MIC and discover some of the best coastal places of Catalonia through football.

Our tournament is attended by thousands of players who, every Easter, enjoy sport and the climate offered by the counties of Girona at a very special time of the year.

MICFootball 2024 will have the same accommodation areas as last year’s edition. Each of the following towns, belonging to Diputació de Girona, will host at least one category of the tournament: Lloret de Mar (U19, U18, U16 and F19); Platja d’Aro (U14 and U12B); Palamós (U12B); L’Estartit (U12A) and Roses (U13 and U15). From 26th to 31st March 2024, both the amateur teams and the biggest clubs in the world (Real Madrid, Manchester City and Juventus FC, among others) will stay in the different Catalan towns for a week.

We will have the collaboration of a total amount of 20 hotels, where the teams will rest to face an unforgettable. Apart from football, MIC is also an opportunity for thousands of people from different nationalities who travel with the aim of enjoying a unique life experience in an unbeatable environment.