The 2017 Mallorca Fives was our 8th tournament on the sunshine island of Mallorca. We kicked off on the 20th May on another glorious day on this stunning destination – 18 teams assembled from 5 proud nations with Argentina, England, France, Holland and Spain all represented. The sun was shining, the teams were ready (some more than others with hangovers fresh)…the big kick-off was upon us.

The first two challengers to get us underway in Group A on Pitch A this year would be FC De Rimmer versus KML. It was Holland versus Holland with both teams from the same travelling group due to play against each other.

We always stage these “derby” games as game 1 in the group to avoid any potential conflicts of interest later in the group and to avoid a situation such as the “Disgrace of Gijon” in 1982. This was the game in the 1982 World Cup where Germany played Austria needing a win by 1 or 2 goals to see both Germany and Austria qualify for the next phase. Germany went 1-0 up after 10 minutes and then the teams effectively stopped playing seriously to secure the result.

From Gijon 1982 to Mallorca 2017 and there was obviously no suggestion of Dutch collusion (we just like to discuss football history). On the field of play in Mallorca it was KML who got off to a fast start as they established 1-0 lead at half-time and stretched this to 3-0 by full-time.

Remy Maduro was the hero of the game with two goals and KML were assisted by an own goal from FC De Rimmer's Rembrandt van Maarsseveen.

The final two teams in Group A were Brioche FS of Spain and FC Maroon of England.

Brioche FS (Spa) made their debut at the 2014 Mallorca Tournament and lost 6-2 in their opening game but it was against the eventual winners Cheesecake FC. They followed this up with a 5-0 win over Taylor's Tigers before slipping to a 6-1 defeat to Universidad Palma. They finished on a high with a 1-0 win over Kazbar FC to finish 3rd in the group and qualify for the Plate. A 3-1 win over Son Gual (Spa) in the Quarter-Finals and a 4-0 win over The A Team (Fra) in the Semi-Finals saw them through to a debut final. They were victorious 3-1 over Athletic 8Minute Bilbao to collect the silverware. At the 2015 tournament they finished 2 nd in Group A on goal difference having collected 4 wins and 1 draw. They then drew 0-0 with ZVC Indoor Gent of Belgium in the Quarter-Finals before going out 3-2 on penalties.

The 2016 Mallorca Tournament was their most successful yet with a 100% Group D record of 5 wins from 5 games scoring 17 goals whilst conceding 5. Their form continued with a 4-0 Quarter-Final win over Old Sedcopians Academy. They then drew 2-2 with Peluqueria Mariano in the Semi-Finals before penalties proved their undoing again – they went out 4-3 in the shootout.

On paper, this promised to be a tough opening test for FC Maroon. On the field of play they made it look comparatively easy and defied the Brioche FS reputation. A first half goal from Matt Alawi and a second half goal from James Alawi settled matters as FC Maroon claimed victory.