Orange Cup 2026 Brings Nearly 2,300 Young Soccer Players to Reunion Island

Nearly 2,300 young athletes took to the pitch Saturday, August 22, when Orange Cup 2026 kicked off at Mille Roches in Saint-André, marking the start of a competition that will stretch across Reunion Island through late November. The tournament drew 189 teams from the U10 and U11 age categories. Orange Reunion Mayotte organized the event alongside the Ligue Réunionnaise de Football and airline partner French bee, building the competition around both athletic performance and structured educational programming. Matches run in parallel with workshops on digital literacy, screen time management, and cyberbullying prevention, all aligned with the French Football Federation's Educational Federal Program. André Martin, General Director of Orange Reunion Mayotte, framed the pairing directly. "The Orange Cup grows from a simple conviction: football can be a remarkable learning ground for young people," he said in a prepared statement. The educational content is not a late addition to the schedule. It runs throughout the entire competition cycle, from the opening pool-play sessions in August through the regional final. The LRF holds operational responsibility for deploying matches across the island's sectors. Rosaire Moriscot, LRF President, said the federation is "proud to organize and support a new Orange Cup edition, an anticipated event for our island's young footballers." The competition moves through four distinct phases. Pool play runs from August 22 through October 17, spreading across different sectors of the island. Sectoral finals follow from October 31 to November 14. The regional final is set for Saturday, November 28, 2026. By contrast, the reward waiting at the end of that road is concrete. The winning team earns a trip to mainland France, flown by French bee. Karine Bonnal, Commercial Manager for French bee on Reunion, said the partnership "allows young Reunionese to experience sports and educational adventure, with a culminating experience that opens new horizons for the victorious team." Whether the integrated model holds consistently as pool play fans out island-wide through mid-October will depend on coordination among Orange Reunion Mayotte, the LRF, and club-level partners across every sector.