The 2011 Budapest Fives was one of our most cosmopolitan to date with teams from 5 countries participating – in Group A alone there were four countries represented.

We kicked off with Hungary taking on France as Al Kaloida took on Centrale Paris A. The 5 Hungarian teams in the Budapest Fives were the first to represent Hungary in eurofootballfives.com competition. Centrale Paris A had a tough act to follow as the previous French team, Luminy Wolves, stormed to victory in the 2009 Barca Fives.

Centrale Paris A made a good start in emulating their country men as they quickly established a 2-0 lead. Julien Alexandre got the ball rolling with the first goal before Rodrigo Martin doubled the advantage. At half-time they were well on their way to three points. Al Kaloida had no response in the second half and in fact Centrale Paris A extended their lead to 3-0 when Julien Alexandre scored his second of the game.

It was a great start for the French as they went straight to the top but Al Kaloida still had three games left to make their way in Group A.

DHL Prague were making a record 12 th appearance in eurofootballfives competition and as such were highly experience. Their opposition, by contrast, LAD Galaxy were making a welcome return to eurofootballfives.com and playing in their 2nd event after a debut in the 2009 Prague Masters where they entered two teams (Real Sociable Lads and Olympique de Johnny Lauren). The Olympique team went furthest reaching the Cup quarter-finals before going out to 2007 winners Kehar Club.

On paper, this looked to be a close tie and when the teams reached half-time they were locked together at 0-0. In the second half we were to see goals as Jeremie Touret, the French man playing for the Czechs, made it 1-0. It meant all 4 goals in Group A so far were scored by men from France. David Janecek went on to make it 2-0 and spoil this record but it didn't matter to DHL Prague Blue who had all 3 points. The English team sat in 4th place.

The final team to begin their Group A challenge was Pici Gol of Hungary. They met Al Kaloida in an all-Hungarian fixture. It was first blood Pici Gol as Jakab Arpad made it 1-0. It was to get even better for Pici Gol as Tamas Pekk made it 2-0 and that's the way it stayed at half-time.

This was déjà vu for Al Kaloida as they found themselves 2-0 down at the break for the second game running. Against Centrale Paris A they fell further behind but in this game they managed to reduce arrears to 2-1 thanks to Denes Zoltai. Unfortunately for them they were unable to find an equalizer and slipped to a second successive defeat as they remained in 5th place. Pici Gol were one of three teams at the top of Group A all with one victory.

In Game 4, Centrale Paris A had the opportunity to open up a lead at the top if they could get a result against LAD Galaxy. The English team were looking to bounce back from opening game defeat but their French opponents were too strong for them.

Centrale Paris A hit their opponents for 6 with three goals in each half. The star of the show was Florian Azzopardi who scored four with further strikes from Julien Alexandre (3 in 2 games) and Italian Matteo Antonaci. There was some joy for LAD Galaxy as Adam Borton scored their first goal of the day. Alas, it was a mere consolation as they went down 6-1.

The next game was DHL Prague Blue versus Pici Gol as Czech Republic met Hungary. Both teams had first game wins and a win for either side here would see them join the French at the top of Group A. A result would not be the worst result as they would consolidate second place and at half-time it looked like a draw was on the cards with the teams level at 0-0.

In their first game, DHL Prague were 0-0 at half-time but kicked on to victory. They could not repeat the feat here as Paray popped up with the solitary strike to separate the two teams. The goal gave Pici Gol victory and they joined Centrale Paris A on 6 points but sat in 2nd place on goal difference. DHL Prague occupied 3rd position.