International football tournaments in northwestern Istria

We all know the old saying that football is the most important of all unimportant things in the world. And there would be no good football played without good matches and tournaments. Northwestern Istria has recognized this, hosting 2 big football tournaments of both men's and women's international clubs and national teams at the beginning of the year – Istria Winter Cup and Istria Women's Cup.

European and Croatian first and second football league clubs come to Umag and Novigrad at the beginning of each year to show off their skills at the international football tournament Istria Winter Cup. The tournament is divided in 2 groups and the finals played in Novigrad are always a special highlight of both the trainings and the sporting rivalry.

Istria Winter Cup is organized and sponsored by the Town of Novigrad, NK Novigrad, Laguna Novigrad d.d., Town of Umag, Istraturist Umag d.d., NK Umag Mladost and Tourist Boards of Umag, Novigrad, Buje, Brtonigla and Istria County.

At the beginning of March, Istria becomes the capital of first-class women's football. Women's national football teams from all around the world take part in the international Istria Women's Cup organized by the Croatian Football Federation and sponsored by FIFA.

The tournament is played in 3 groups at 5 locations in Umag, Buje, Poreč, Rovinj and Rovinjsko selo, followed by the play-offs.

Istria Women's Cup 2015 welcomed national football teams of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Wales and the France national B team.