Welcome to Krakow for the 13th edition of the Krakow Trophy football tournament in Poland. The 2022 tournament was special in that it marked the first time our Veterans tournament visited this great city. Our June Veterans tournament debuted in 2013 and proved so popular we added a September Veterans event to our schedule in 2017. So far, our winners of this event have been:

2017 Lisbon: Talhos Mariete (Por)

2018 Mallorca: Policia Local (Spa)

2019 Budapest: Elcombe Old Boys (Eng)

Following the enforced hiatus over recent years due to Covid, we were delighted to be back underway as we had 10 teams signed up to be the latest recipients of our late summer Veterans trophy.

We kicked off Group A with a Polish derby as Wtorek Veterans met Krwiodawcy. Both teams were competing in their eurofootballfives.com debut and so we had no idea of their form coming into the game. It was Wtorek Veterans who made the initial first impression. Kevin Ezequiel was the man to open the scoring before Julien Clemet made it 2-0 at half-time.

Wtorek Veterens increased their lead in the second half with two further goals. Both came from Julien Clemet who completed a personal hat-trick. With a clean sheet for Georgi Bath it was the perfect start for Wtorek.

The last team to get their campaign underway was Eggy Bhaji FC as they took on Wtorek Veterans.

Eggy Bhaji FC were making their fifth eurofootballfives.com appearance following a debut in Portugal's sunny 2010 Algarve Open and then the 2011 Barcelona Fives. They entered two teams on each occasion with the Your Mum's Athletic squad going furthest in Portugal losing in the Plate Semi-Finals to winners Vodafone FC. In Barcelona again the Your Mum's Athletic team was the more successful reaching the Cup Quarter-Finals.

A name change in 2012 to Exeter Gently saw them travel to Budapest and finish joint 2 nd in their group but in a dead heat with Mersey White Sox. A penalty shoot-out decided they would finish 3 rd which meant they had to face ABC United in the QF where they lost 7-0 (no shame against the superb 2012 Budapest Fives & 2013 Berlin Fives champions). Their most recent appearance was at the 2014 Berlin Fives where they finished 4th in their group. It meant they qualified for the Plate where they had a 3-2 Quarter-Final win before going out to Plate Winners Scandittack FC, 3-1, in the Semi-Finals.

Krakow will mark their first appearance at our Veterans events playing as Eggy Bhaji FC. They looked to have a tough opening game against Wtorek Veterans who had won 4-0 first time out and so it proved. Daniel Tonev, Julien Clemet and Kevin Ezequiel were all on target for the Polish team in a fine 3-0 win.

Krwiodawcy were next in action on Pitch A as they entertained Bure Park Old Boys. Both teams were looking to avenge opening game defeats and record their first points and hopefully win of the day.

It was Krwiodawcy who seemed to be able to put that opening game disappointment behind them first as they drew first blood in this game. Dariusz Zyta was the man with his team's opening goal as he became the first man to score for his team in eurofootballfives.com competition. He did not have to wait too long for a second as he doubled Krwiodawcy's lead before the change of ends.

Bure Park Old Boys had it all to do in the second half and they reduced the deficit to 2-1 thanks to a strike from Ian Mansley. Alas for the English team, it only proved to be a consolation as the home team had enough in the tank to see out victory and move up to third place in the early Group A table.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group A was to be Galbarnia versus Eggy Bhaji FC.

Galbarnia were on debut but they did have eurofootballfives.com experience in their ranks in the form if Ian Corkill. He was the tournament top-scorer at the 2012 edition of the tournament with 9 for Cracow United. He was also part of the winning Banerka team just 12 months ago at the 2021 Krakow Trophy where he played as goalkeeper with 4 clean sheets in 6 games. Today, he was back in striker mode and with two goals in his opening game he added to his tournament tally with two more at the start of this game. He put Galbarnia 2-0 up before Mariusz Wrwl made it 3-0 at half-time.

There was no respite for Eggy Bhaji FC after the break either as Galbarnia were ruthless. Mariusz Wrwl , Bohdan Hryhoriv and Michal Patula all found the net to make the final winning margin, 6-0.

The result meant Galbarnia shared top spot at the halfway stage but they lead on goal difference.