The announcement of the start of the programme 'Healthy Mothers', for the promotion of sport and physical activity for pregnant women, enhancing their health and that of the baby and promoting conditions for a healthier birth, and the news of the modernization and expansion of the Famalicão Municipal Swimming Pools Complex, which will have 3 to 4 lanes of 50 meters, were the two news advanced by the Mayor of Vila Nova de Famalicão, Mário Passos, in the public and official presentation of the application of Famalicão to European City of Sports in 2025, that happened yesterday, in the Devesa Park.
In a party full of passion, which gathered thousands of people in the city park, and where were present, with sports demonstrations, a very exemplary part of the two hundred sports associations in the county, Mário Passos played the main trumps that make Vila Nova de Famalicão a serious candidate to obtain the title of European City of Sport, as recognized by the President of the Portuguese Association of European Cities of Sport, Nuno Santos.
In a detailed presentation of the municipality's investments, programmes and projects in the sports area, the Mayor made it clear that in Famalicão, "sport is really for everyone. It starts in the womb of the mother and is available at all stages of life, totally free and accompanied". "Here, sport is synonymous of multiplicity, of competition, of leisure, of integration, of health, of quality of life, of equality. Therefore, the bet on the promotion of sports is for us a critical success factor to foster the human, social and economic development of the community", added the mayor.
The municipal programmes, comprehensive, multiple and eclectic, such as the 'Mais e Melhores Anos', the 'Famalicão em Forma', the 'Brincar a Torto e a Direito', the 'Nutre Sport', among others, an annual budget of 8 million euros for the sports area, and an associative fabric composed of two hundred associations that promote 78 sports and involve close to 60 thousand athletes in regular activity, were some of the trump cards that were thrown up for the candidature.
During the party, the ambassadors of the candidature were also presented: Rosa Oliveira, Vítor Paneira, Paulo Marques, Tiago Machado, Ana Rita Rego, Sofia Oliveira, Carina Moura, Ana Azevedo, Ukra, Luís Silva, Gonçalo Alves and João Pinheiro, are the champions from Famalicão who are the face of the candidature.
