Mallorca has proved a hugely popular destination for us since its introduction in 2011. 2013 surpassed all expectations with our June tournament selling out in October last year (2012) so in November we added a second date – The Mallorca Fives, 4th May. The tournament, despite its late addition, to our programme has attracted teams from England, France, Hungary and Spain in good numbers.

To kick us off we had Grant Thornton of France playing Skidmarks of England. It was a humdinger of an opening fixture between two teams with some track record in eurofootballfives.com competition.

Grant Thornton made their debut in the 2012 Budapest Fives as L'Albiceleste. They made a superb debut winning their 6-team group without defeat before a Cup Quarter-Final exit to Hungary's Budapest Celtic Lions, 1-0. For their second tournament in Valencia they secured sponsorship and a name change. They also topped their group and won their Cup Quarter-Final 3-1 versus Team Extreme before a 1-0 defeat to Ireland's Mestallaban in the Semi-Final. So, a QF then a SF…how about a Final in Mallorca?

It was going to be a tough opener against Skidmarks who had won their previous two eurofootballfives.com tournaments – the 2011 Valencia Fives and 2012 Krakow Trophy.

The opening half of football proved as close as we may have expected with neither side making the breakthough, 0-0. After the break Grant Thornton captain Cedric Castarede broke the deadlock to give the French the lead. The goal looked like securing all three points until a Seb Palin free-kick in the dying stages earned Skidmarks a 1-1 draw.

The final two teams to begin their challenge in Group A were Policia Mallorca and Son Gual – both of Spain. Policia Mallorca are one of three previous eurofootballfives.com winners in the Mallorca line-up. They won our first ever Mallorca Tournament when they defeated Ecuador's Quayaquil 100% in an entertaining final, 5-2. In 2012 they found the competition tougher finishing 3 rd in their group behind Sportsman Arenal and FC Radbroke (2011 Prague Masters winners). They then went out 2-0 in the Cup Quarter-Finals, in a quirk of fate, as they drew Sportsman Arenal again.

Son Gual are making their second appearance at the Mallorca Fives. They had a tough introduction at the 2012 Mallorca Tournament as they were drawn in a group with 2 previous eurofootballfives.com winners (Inter Women and 4 x winners Olympic Phil Babb). They finished 4th in their 6 team group to qualify for the Plate Quarter-Finals where they exited 4-2 at the hands of Whiteley Stags.

You would probably have made Policia Mallorca favourites on past records but on the day there was nothing to separate the two teams. The final whistle blew with neither team troubling the scorers, 0-0.