Bilić, Desailly, Asanović and Dyche Present Medals to Young Coca-Cola Cup Champions

The Plazma Youth Sports Games International Finals are taking place in Split, marking the 30th season of Europe’s largest amateur sports event for children and young people. From 17 to 22 August, the programme brings together 1,224 participants from six countries – the best young athletes from the Games’ five member countries: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia and North Macedonia – with a special feature of this year’s edition being the participation of children from Ukraine, the Games’ guest country.

Participants compete for the title of the Plazma Youth Sports Games International Champions in the Coca-Cola Cup, mini-football, the Sprite 3×3 Cup, handball, volleyball, beach volleyball, tennis, table tennis, chess, dodgeball and athletics.

Over five days of competition, participants have the opportunity to meet their sporting heroes, make new friends from across the region and enjoy everything Split has to offer. For many, it will be their first journey without their parents, their first medal and their first summer by the sea.

The sporting highlight of the International Finals is the Coca-Cola Cup Grand Final, Europe’s largest amateur mini-football tournament, which this year alone brought together 172,748 participants across 703 tournaments.

In the final of the boys’ competition (born 2011 and younger), Futsal Istra from Pula took the title, defeating Serbian side Duel Trayal 3:1.

Matej Mužinić was outstanding in the final, scoring twice to put his team on the path to victory and the title, with Dominik Pavlović adding the third goal. Lav Koprivica scored a consolation goal for the runners-up.

The third-place match was won convincingly by Mladost Krivaja from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who beat Saraj from North Macedonia 7:2.

Individual awards in the boys’ competition went to Mateja Zdravković (Duel Trayal) as best goalkeeper, Kevin Kitonić (Futsal Istra) as top scorer and Matej Mužinić (Futsal Istra) as best player of the tournament.

Girls’ football tournaments have become an increasingly important part of the Plazma Youth Sports Games programme in recent years – this year’s Coca-Cola Cup alone brought together 17,445 girls. A major milestone was achieved in 2020, when the Games established a partnership with UEFA and the UEFA Foundation for Children, led by Aleksander Čeferin, UEFA President and Ambassador of the Games.

In the final of the girls’ competition (born 2011 and younger), victory went to the young players of Slovenia’s ŽNK Aluminij from Kidričevo, who overcame Serbian side Čačak 2:1. Čačak took the lead through Anka Živanović, the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals, but the Slovenian side turned the match around with two goals from Lara Janežić.

Third place in the girls’ competition went to Arena Pula, who beat North Macedonia’s Tigrice 3:2 on penalties after a goalless draw.

Lučka Janežić (ŽNK Aluminij) was named best goalkeeper, Anka Živanović (Čačak) top scorer and Lia Drevenšek (ŽNK Aluminij) best player of the tournament.

Medals and awards were presented to the best young footballers by Slaven Bilić, Aljoša Asanović, Sean Dyche, Marcel Desailly, Dimitrios Rompis, Javier Meza, Darko Vučić and Zdravko Marić.

The Coca-Cola Cup finals were also attended by representatives of the Games’ longest-standing partner: Zoran Bogdanović, Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company; Dimitrios Rompis, General Manager of Coca-Cola HBC Adria; Javier Meza, President of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer for Europe at The Coca-Cola Company; Bogdan Chirita, Franchise Operations Director for the Adria region at The Coca-Cola Company; and Giorgij Hristov, General Manager for Greece at The Coca-Cola Company.

Also present at the International Finals are Zdravko Marić, President of the Plazma Youth Sports Games; Tihomir Gudić, Executive Director of the Plazma Youth Sports Games; Slaven Bilić; Marcel Desailly, the celebrated French footballer; Alastair Campbell, the renowned British journalist; Sean Dyche, the distinguished manager and former footballer; Darko Vučić, representative of the Croatian Ministry of Tourism and Sport; and Adrian Chiles, journalist at The Guardian.

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS – 20 & 21 AUGUST

Thursday, 20 August: The All-Star Day programme on Split’s Riva begins with a simultaneous chess exhibition, where the best young chess players from the five member countries take on Grandmasters Mariya Muzychuk and Nigel Short. This is followed by the Sprite 3×3 Cup International Finals in both the boys’ and girls’ categories, featuring the best young basketball teams. At 9:00 p.m., the symbolic extinguishing of the Games flame on the Riva will mark the end of another season of exciting competition. The programme features musical and stage performances as well as a spectacular drone show above Split, and the evening concludes with a concert by Crvena Jabuka, a gift to the City of Split and all participants of the International Finals.

Friday, 21 August: Alongside the All-Star exhibition football match at Prokurative (Republic Square), visitors can take part in the interactive quiz “Become a Green Ambassador”, hosted by Croatia’s well-known quizmaster and enigmatist Dean Kotiga. The quiz is part of the “Zero Waste – Be Part of the Game – Save Our Planet” project, which the Games have been implementing for the fifth consecutive year in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company and its global “World Without Waste” initiative.

The programme will bring together Games Ambassadors, world-renowned athletes and distinguished guests, including Aleksander Čeferin, UEFA President, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Goran Ivanišević, Alastair Campbell, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Oleksandr Usyk, Ana Ivanović, Željko Obradović, Slaven Bilić, Ettore Messina, Predrag Mijatović, Nemanja Vidić, Goran Dragić, Pavel Nedvěd, Darijo Srna, David James, Sergej Barbarez, Dino Rađa, Nikola Karabatić, Marcel Desailly, Aitor Karanka, Mario Stanić, Christian Karembeu, Aljoša Asanović, and many others.

In its milestone 30th season, the Plazma Youth Sports Games continue to fulfil their mission of giving every child the opportunity to take part in sport, develop healthy habits and embrace the values of teamwork, tolerance and inclusion. Participation in all competitions and accompanying activities is completely free of charge and open to all children and young people aged 7 to 18, regardless of whether they train regularly or simply want to experience sport for the first time. Although the competitions are amateur, the Games are organised to the highest professional standards, giving every participant the experience of competing like a professional athlete.

Since 1996, more than 3,869,000 children and young people have taken part in the Plazma Youth Sports Games.