Welcome to Barcelona! The stage was set for our thirteenth Barcelona tournament and the tenth edition of the Barcelona Fives. This annual event has been staged every year since 2008 and 2017 sees our joint-largest ever single tournament. Our 5-a-side tournament saw us welcome 32-teams assembled from Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Lithuania, Oman, Spain, Switzerland and Wales.

The first phase of the 2017 Barcelona Fives would be decided on a group basis. There was four groups with 8 teams in each group. Each team played each other team in their group once and therefore 7 group games. After which, depending on position, they will progress to the Cup (teams in 1st and 2nd), Plate (teams in 3rd and 4th) or Trophy (teams in 5th and 6th) competition.

First up on Pitch A was Bolivar versus Sigurdsson's Advice Bureau as Spain was due to meet England to kick off the tournament. However, as the referee was ready to kick off and Sigurdsson's Advice Bureau were ready, there was no sign of the Spanish team who had won the Trophy competition in each of the last 2 seasons. Sigurdsson's Advice Bureau were therefore awarded a 3-0 victory.

So, with a false start on pitch A all eyes were on the adjacent pitch B to witness the kick-off between Spider Mans & Eagle (Eng) and CBD Boys (Oman).

CBD Boys made the journey from Muscat (via Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam) to compete in the 2017 Barcelona Fives. A monumental effort and they deserve a lot of credit for the air miles they put in to participate in the tournament. It was their second visit to Barcelona and their third to Spain having competed in the 2011 Barca Fives and 2012 Valencia Fives. They reached Quarter-Finals on both those occasions (Plate in Barcelona, Cup in Valencia).

The team representing Oman would have a tough opening game against Spider Mans and Eagle. Spider Mans & Eagle were making their 8 th eurofootballfives.com appearance and had qualified for the Cup on 5 of those 7 previous appearances reaching the Cup Final at the 2016 Krakow Trophy and winning the Plate at the inaugural Amsterdam Sixes earlier this year in 2017.

It was a successful start for Spider Mans & Eagle with a Nick McIntosh goal and an Ash Booth clean sheet helping them on their way to a 1-0 win.

The next fixture in the opening round of Group A was Deportivo Dooradoyle (Ire) versus L'Albicelerste (Fra).

Deportivo Dooradoyle's were making their 6 th eurofootballfives.com appearance. Their most recent performance was at the 2015 Barcelona Fives where they competed as Depo Legends. Depo Legends won two and lost two to finish third in Group D and qualify for the Plate. They defeated Saladmode FC 2-1 in the Quarter-Finals before their day was ended (1-0) by Hardly Athletic.

L'Albiceleste arrived in Barcelona as the most decorated team in the draw with 2 titles to their name. Under the name of Grant Thornton they won the 2013 Mallorca Fives and as L'Albiceleste they won the 2016 Riga Tournament. Their Riga campaign was their most recent and wht a successful one! They won 4 out of 5 games to win Group A and set-up a thriller of a Quarter-Final with Melee FC which finished 3-3. The French team won through on penalties, 1-0. They produced a sensational 6-0 Cup Semi-Final win over FC Dad in the Semi-Final to set up a Cup Final against Leilupe. The game finished 2-2 in normal time but L'Albiceleste were successful at penalties once again to lift the title.

L'Albiceleste continued here in Barcelona from where they left off in Latvia as they got off to a winning start. Cedric Castarede and Thibault Kerouredan both scored as the French team completed a solid 2-0 win.

The final fixture in the opening round of Group A was due to be an all English encounter between Leek High Boys and Fylingdales FC.

The legendary Barcelona nightlife had claimed another victim as after a heavy Friday night, Leek High Boys slept in and missed the coach to the tournament. They would later arrive to partake in the tournament but for now they conceded a 3-0 walkover to Fylingdales FC.