We wish you a warm welcome to the Netherlands and the twelfth edition of the Amsterdam Fives since our debut in Amsterdam back in July 2008. This current edition had twice been postponed from 2020 to 2021 and again to 2022 so we were champing at the bit to get started.

This tournament was a hugely successful one for English teams with victories from 2008-2011. Since then, we had a period of Dutch success from 2012-2016. England returned to winning ways with BSP FC (2017), Melee FC (2018) and most recently Epsilon Rovers in 2019. Who would be holding the coveted trophy aloft at around 17.00 this afternoon?

The first two challengers to get us underway in Group A on Pitch 1 this year would be FC Kicks (Hol) versus Columbia's Finest FC (Eng). It turned out to be a great start for the Dutch team as they raced into a 3-0 half-time lead. Auke Jager got them off to a flyer with a brace before Jasper Kuipers opened his personal account. Honours were even in the second period as Kuipers extended the lead to 4-0 but Ioan Mortimer reduced the deficit to 4-1 with his side's opening strike of the tournament. Full time, 4-1.

The first phase of the 2022 Amsterdam Fives would be decided on a group basis. There was scheduled to be two groups with 6 teams in each group (now 5 in Group A). The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in each group would progress to the Cup competition. This would be played as a knock-out phase with Semi-Finals and Final. The teams finishing 3rd and 4th in each group would progress to the Plate competition. This would be played as a knock-out phase with Semi-Finals and Final. The teams finishing 5th and 6th in each group would be eliminated at this stage.

The next two teams to take the field in Group A were Real Sosobad (Hol) and Sporting Armada (Eng). The two teams looked to be reasonably well matched but it was the English team who had the edge. They scored a goal in each half and kept a clean sheet to earn themselves a 2-0 win. Will Wood set them on their way with their first goal of the day before Harry Tampsett scored his first after the break. Credit goes to Tom Scott and his defence for shutting out their opponents in front of goal.