Phasis Cup

A tournament born from the village youth

The Phasis Cup is a summer football tournament held in Sant'Angelo a Fasanella, a small village of fewer than five hundred inhabitants in the Province of Salerno, nestled in the heart of the Alburni mountains within the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. Its uniqueness lies not in its technical level, but in its organizers: the event is run entirely by the local youth, who manage registrations, teams, scheduling, and match nights every summer. In an inland Campania region struggling with the depopulation of mountain villages, a self-produced tournament organized by local twenty-somethings is a feat that means more than any league table.

Two tournaments, two generations

The format now features two distinct events. On one hand, the main Phasis Cup, reserved for adult and older youth teams, which reaches its third edition in 2026. On the other, the Junior Phasis Cup, designed for the village's and surrounding areas' young football talents, which reaches its fourth edition in 2026—a sign that the youth version actually predates the main tournament. The numbering of the editions places the event's debut in previous summers, within the municipal summer programs.

The 2026 schedule

The 2026 calendar includes two distinct appointments, both announced by the Municipality in the summer program:

• Saturday, July 25, 2026 — Inauguration of the third edition of the Phasis Cup, the football tournament organized by the village youth
• Wednesday, August 12, 2026, at 5:00 PM — Inauguration of the fourth edition of the Junior Phasis Cup, dedicated to young football talents
• Also on August 12, following the sporting day, the second Memorial in memory of Carmine Verrone will take place, accompanied by live music from Pino Marcone's friends

The tournament continues on subsequent evenings according to a schedule that the organizers share locally and on the village's social media channels.

Why the name Phasis?

The name is not just another sports anglicism. Phasis was an ancient Greek city—and the name of a river on the border between Asia Minor and Colchis—from which, according to local scholarly tradition, the name Fasanella derives: an ancient settlement, later destroyed, whose memory merged with the hamlet of Sant'Angelo to give the Municipality its current name. For the young organizers, naming a football tournament this way means connecting an August match to the distant history of their village.

Part of «Abitare l'estate 2026»

The Phasis Cup is not an isolated event: it is one of the highlights of the municipal program «Abitare l'estate 2026» (Living the Summer 2026), which weaves together religious, sporting, musical, and gastronomic events throughout July and August. The same program includes the Feast of Saint Lucy on July 11, the Feast of the Madonna della Montagna on August 9, the Caseus cheese festival on August 18, the Fasanella Fest from August 20 to 22—closing with a concert by Enzo Avitabile & i Bottari di Portico—and the National Day of the Sacred Sword of Saint Michael the Archangel on August 29. Mayor Bruno Tierno summarized the spirit of the festival: «Living a place means choosing every day to be a community».

Sant'Angelo a Fasanella, the village of the Angel

Visitors arriving for the tournament will find a village at an altitude of 520 meters, leaning against the walls of the Alburni mountains. Two sites are not to be missed: the Cave of Saint Michael the Archangel, a rock sanctuary that housed a Benedictine community as early as the 11th century, featuring medieval frescoes, sculptures, and a 17th-century marble statue of the Archangel; and the Antece, the warrior carved into the rock on Costa Palomba, dating back to the 5th or 4th century BC, accessible via a scenic walk on the plateau. The Rifugio Ausoneto, also used for summer events, is another reference point for those wanting to combine a football evening with a mountain hike.

What is not yet published

As this is a self-managed, village-scale event, some details do not appear on official channels: neither team rosters, the full match schedule, nor any registration fees are published online. For this information, the best reference remains local word-of-mouth, the municipal notice board, and the young organizers' social media channels.