The story didn’t start with children’s football. The tournament grew out of a program of winter training camps for senior teams.

Timotej Krajnc, a former footballer and coach, founded the Slovenian agency B4 Sport Camps in Kranj, and brought the first teams to Umag for training camps in 2013.

After each camp, he spoke with the coaches, who kept asking for more matches for their younger age groups. That’s how the idea for a separate tournament for the youngest players came about.

The first meeting was unofficial: a triangular tournament featuring Interblock, Bravo and Krim, played one year before the official launch.

The official edition was held from April 15 to 17, 2016, in the U10 and U9 categories, on a single pitch, in Katoro. That pitch remains a symbolic part of the tournament to this day.

Growing year by year
The tournament grew gradually. The Umag Tourist Board has supported it since its third edition, while the city administration has invested in infrastructure.

Today, matches are played at multiple venues, and the grand opening of each tournament week takes place at the “Goran Ivanišević” ATP Stadium. Alongside the matches, there’s a rich program of events featuring live music, entertainment for children and a closing ceremony.

The numbers speak for themselves. The jubilee 10th edition in 2025 brought together 544 teams and 8,756 players, with 2,016 matches played and teams from 14 countries.

Last year’s 11th edition (2026) surpassed that record too: 548 teams from 15 countries, 2,026 matches played and more than 15,000 spectators. For the first time, every match was streamed live.

The latest edition also saw the tournament surpass the milestone of 10,000 goals scored throughout its history.

Big names
Over the years, the Umag Trophy has featured FC Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, Arsenal, Benfica, Red Bull Salzburg, Hellas Verona, Udinese and Parma.

Among the clubs from the region are Crvena zvezda, Partizan, Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk and Sturm Graz.

Atlético Madrid made its debut in 2025, and AS Roma in 2026. According to the organizers, Manchester United and Real Madrid are on their wish list, while Bayern München has been invited for 2027.

Winners
The first winner was MTK Budapest. The Hungarian club returned in 2025, ten years later, and won the U11 category.

That same edition saw AC Milan claim a treble (U8, U9, U10), while Juventus triumphed in U12. Among the regional teams, Slovenia’s NK Radomlje (U13) and FC Koper (U14) stood out.

In 2026, FK Crvena zvezda won U10 (beating NK Triglav from Kranj 2–0 in the final) and U11 (beating Grazer AK 1902 3–0), dominating convincingly over two consecutive tournament weeks. NK Radomlje triumphed again in U13, while Juventus won U14.

What’s next
The plans are ambitious. The 12th edition, in spring 2027, will welcome a new artificial-turf pitch, an investment by the City of Umag.

This will reduce reliance on the weather, which, according to the organizer, is the tournament’s main challenge alongside refereeing. The organizers say that they don’t want to increase the number of teams any further, because quality must come before quantity.

Next edition: March–April 2027
March 4–7: U10 (2017 age group)
March 11–14: U9 (2018 age group)
March 18–21: U11
U8 and U12 (2019 and 2015 age groups) in early April
April 15–18: U13 and U14

A reminder that the Umag Trophy is part of the AFT Elite Tour, the highest tier in our system, so the top teams earn AFT points that help them climb the AFT rankings.

For young players, it’s also a chance to pit themselves against top European academies such as Barcelona, Milan and Juventus. For many of them, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.