Calise Cup History

Where it all began

The “Calise Cup” had its genesis in 1989, namely as “Francesco Calise Memorial”, a friendly match between the Gaeta 84 Handball team and a representative of the 1977 Juniores team of the Sporting Club Gaeta, to remember a friend, the victim of a road accident, who had been an excellent goalkeeper for that junior team.

The “Memorial Francesco Calise” handball tournament

The success of that initiative was the spark that led Gaeta Handball 84 to organize something more important: a handball tournament for youth teams, dedicated to their late friend. Over the years, it grew up from a regional event to an international one.

As a matter of fact, teams from all over Europe take part to the memorial, from France to Hungary, from the Czech Republic to Romania, from Norway to Poland, not to mention the numerous presences (and victories) of teams from the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The beginnings of the Beach Handball

Almost simultaneously, on the golden beaches of southern Pontine, people began to imagine a version of handball that could be played on the sand, adapting its historic rules to the different playing surface. Thus was born beach handball, which owes much to Gianni Buttarelli and a group of friends, because thanks to them, this sport took its first steps between Gaeta and Ponza. And it was on the largest island of the Pontine archipelago that the first international tournament of this new discipline was held in 1992.

This is why in 2001 the Gaeta Handball 84 decided to launch the Buttarelli beach handball trophy, dedicated to senior teams.

The “Calise Cup”

Finally, 2016 was a turning point. After completing both tournaments, it became clear how complicated it was to continue operating on two fronts, especially given the difficulty of providing the “Memorial Calise” with an adequate number of quality courts. Thus, the decision was made to merge the two tournaments, although formally, the Buttarelli Trophy merged with the Memorial Calise, which, however, became a beach handball tournament. To mark the break with the past, the merger of the two tournaments became the Calise Cup.