The 2015 Algarve Open was our tenth tournament in Portugal (9 Algarve / 1 Lisbon). With home wins in 2007 and 2008, it took Olympic Phil Babb to break Portuguese dominance in 2009 to take the coveted trophy home. In 2010 and 2011, Athletico Do Hollande flew in from Amsterdam to claim glory and become the first ever (and only) team to retain a eurofootballfives.com title. It was then England's turn to take glory from France as in 2012 ManDem United (Eng) overcame CFC (Fra) in the Cup Final. In 2013, FC Radbroke also defeated CFC to the coveted prize. In 2014, there was a first Portuguese victory since 2008 as Stand Cristina won an all-Portuguese final against Water Boy.

The first two challengers to get us underway in Group A on Pitch A this year would be Water Boy (Por) versus Kazakhstan FC (Eng). Water Boy were playing on the exact same pitch that saw them miss out on the ultimate prize last year.

It was a daunting opening fixture for Kazakhstan FC who were making their fifth eurofootballfives.com appearance and first in Portugal after 4 appearances in Spain. It was job well done in the first half as they held the home team to a 0-0 score-line at the break.

After the break Joao Mendonca broke the deadlock and fired Water Boy into a 1-0 lead in what was the only goal of the game. Despite defeat, it was a promising start for Kazakhstan in a tough game.

Game 2 of Group A was Lacey Green FC versus AFC Shooters A.

Lacey Green FC made their debut at the 2009 Barcelona Fives (as 3 Lions FC) and finished second in their group with 2 wins, 1 draw and a defeat. In the Cup Quarter-Finals they knocked out defending champions Rapid Bosco Navas on penalties. In the Semi-Finals they lost 1-0 to eventual winners Anglo Knights of Spain.

They then appeared at the 2011 Valencia Fives when an injury hit squad struggled in the group stages and had to forefeit their Wooden Spoon Semi-Final. They will hope for a fully fit squad to mount a proper challenge here at the Algarve Open.

AFC Shooters were on debut and seemed to take to the competition like a duck to water. They were immediately competitive and shared the spoils in the opening period as goals from JJ Monserat (AFC Shooters) and Steve Evans (Lacey Green) meant it was 1-1 at half-time.

In the second half AFC Shooters had chances to win the game and take all 3 points but there was to be no addition to the score and the teams took a point each.

The final two teams in Group A were Galacticos of Portugal and Club Tropicana Drinks FC.

What followed was a strange one and a first such incident in 9 years of eurofootballfives.com football. Two teams assembled at Pitch C for kick-off, one was Club Tropicana and one was Deportivo Dooradoyle. The referee didn't check the two teams he had and kicked-off. The two teams played the entire game and Michael Trotter ensured it was a 1-0 victory for Club Tropicana on the pitch. Off the pitch, due to the non-appearance (which turned out to be a late appearance) of Galacticos it meant Club Tropicana were awarded a 3-0 win.

Maybe it wasn't a bad thing for Club Tropicana as they avoided missing out on football due to the walkover and they got their campaign underway. They also got 2 “free” goals to boot. For the Depo team we're not quite sure what happened other than to say we will remind referees to be more careful with teams reporting to pitches.