The BSWW Copa San Luis was officially launched today, with all the participants highlighting the level of the tournament
The BSWW Tour – Copa San Luis Futbol Playa 2014 was given the starting signal today, with the kick-off press conference held this morning in Merlo. Martin Escudero, vice minister for Sports at the Gobierno de la provincia de San Luis, Damian Dupiellet, Beach Soccer President at AFA, head of Beach Soccer at CONMEBOL and FIFA Beach Soccer Committee member, Josep Ponset, BSWW Head of Competitions, M. González, Secretary for Tourism of Villa de Merlo and the four National Team coaches: Héctor Petrasso, for Argentina, Junior Negão for Brasil, Ramon Raya for México and Diego Monserrat, for Uruguay, together with the Argentinean captain, Marcelo Salgueiro.
Dupiellet, on behalf of AFA and CONMEBOL wanted to thank the city of Merlo and the province of San Luis for their huge support to Beach Soccer, and their strong will to have a top-flight event here after the terribly successful FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CONMEBOL Qualifier held here last year, which offered “sensations and images that you cannot enjoy anywhere else in the world”, as per his own words.
Josep Ponset took the floor to explain that this BSWW Tour – Copa San Luis Futbol Playa is an officially sanctioned event, which awards points for the Beach Soccer Ranking. Besides, the BSWW Head of Competitions wanted to highlight the entity of the four teams participating, undeniably some of the best squads in the world.
Martín Escudero, vice minister for Sports of the San Luis government, recalled the importance it entails for the province to host such an important international event. “After what we saw last year, with the Qualifier, we knew for sure that we wanted Beach Soccer back with us again, and I hope that it lasts for many years”.
The four national coaches had also their say in this official press conference, and all of them agreed that it is really difficult to see such big teams coming together in one single four-team event, at the time they praised the unbelievable atmosphere that Merlo brought last year and that will absolutely bring once again as of this Thursday.