Jeraboam

This year's Algarve Cup soccer tournament for women's national teams takes place between 27 February and 8 March. Twelve teams from around the globe will participate at a number of towns around the Algarve and admission is free! I was amazed last year at the excellent quality of the play, the abysmal advertising, confusing organization and lack of support from the tens of thousands of residents/tourists from soccer crazy countries. Barely 200 spectators attended the final between Spain and Canada in the attractive 30 000+ seat Algarve stadium in Faro. By contrast, crowds of 24 000+ attended recent friendly games in Toronto and Vancouver for games between Canada and Costa Rica. Any expats looking for an entertaining display of soccer can find more information at: womenssoccerunited.com.

chislenko

Just such an awful place to get to without a car.

Jeraboam

True and just as difficult to find the right place to park when you have a car and hunt for the poorly signed main entrance. We tried to use the washroom at the busier players' entrance long before the game began and walked through the teams leaving after the afternoon semi-final. A security guard finally allowed us into the empty stadium but each one in our group had to be escorted to the washroom, one at a time. The huge parking lots were deserted.

Jeraboam

Games last year were also played at Albufeira, Lagoa, Lagos and I believe that Tavira has been used in the past, probably other stadiums as well. This year's locations have not been determined yet but most games will be played within a 30-40 minute drive of the main population centres.