Forty-Two Human Tower Teams Have Qualified and Only Twelve of Them Get the Sunday in Tarragona
The thirtieth Concurs de Castells opens at Torredembarra on 27 September and finishes at the Tarraco Arena on 4 October.
The Concurs de Castells is the only human tower event run as a competition, and the thirtieth edition is spread over three days.
Torredembarra hosts the first, at the Placa del Castell on Sunday 27 September at ten in the morning, and it is free to watch. The other two are at the Tarraco Arena in Tarragona, on Saturday 3 October at half past four and Sunday 4 October at ten, with the best twelve colles on the Sunday.
Forty-two colles qualified in all: twelve at Torredembarra, eighteen on the Saturday and twelve on the Sunday. Places come from a ranking built on the previous period's performances, which closed on 31 August.
Each colla gets up to five rounds and its three best towers count towards the score. A castell carregat, completed to the top but falling on the way down, is worth less than one descarregat, taken apart cleanly, and this year only two carregats can count towards a colla's total. The pilar de set sense folre has been added to the scoring table and the 3 de 7 amb agulla now scores above the 4 de 7 amb agulla.
It was first held in 1932 in the bullring that is now the arena, and has run every two years without a break since 1970.
Castellers de Vilafranca won in 2024 with 9,465 points, a thirteenth title, from Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls on 8,315. Minyons de Terrassa qualified fifth this year and declined to take part. Tickets went by public raffle rather than first come first served, with 2,119 seats for the Saturday and 779 for the Sunday.