The 2023 Mallorca Fives kicked off our 17th season of European tournaments and was our 14th tournament on the sunshine island of Mallorca. The event hosted our annual double header of Open Age and Veterans competition and for the first time our Veterans competition was larger than the Open Age section.

It meant the teams in the Open Age had the luxury of a lie-in. Whilst the Veterans kicked off at 10.00am, the Open Age would kick-off at 12.00. With 30 teams overall, we would have 10 teams in the Open Age representing the CIS, Ecuador, England, France, Poland and Spain. It was quite the international jamboree and we couldn't wait to get started.

First up in Group A was FC Tpaktop (CIS) versus Gosham Lions 98 (Eng). FC Tpaktop were unable to enjoy that lie-in as they were competing in both the Veterans and the Open Age. They'd already played three games in the Veterans tournament so were nice and warmed up for when they entertained Gosham Rangers. However, it was the freshness of the English side that claimed the first goal with Ollie Holmes scoring his team's first in the tournament.

FC Tpaktop hit back before half-time though and kicked off the second period level at 1-1. The CIS team completed the turnaround in this game as they moved 2-1 ahead and extended that lead to a winning margin of 3-1. They had Petr Tolmanov and Oleg Bogoslavskiy to thank for their goals and a winning start.

The final team in Group A to get their campaign underway was Riptide (Spa) versus FC Tpaktop (CIS). Riptide were the only team in Group A yet to complete in our tournaments before and as such we had no form guide for how they may perform.

FC Tpaktop (CIS) joined us for the first time at the 2021 Barcelona Fives. They opened up with a 1-1 draw against eventual Plate winners FC Maroon before a narrow 2-1 defeat to eventual group winners FC Maresmex of Spain. A 1-1 draw followed against 2019 Amsterdam Fives winners Epsilon Rovers (who are still the current holders at the time of writing). They then finished the group off with a 3-2 win versus The Basemen who were Cup Semi-Finalists at the 2022 Lisbon Tournament earlier this month.

Those results meant they finished in second place in the league table to qualify for the elite Cup competition. They were the only travelling team amongst three Spanish teams in the Cup Semi-Finals. That's where their challenge ended as they narrowly missed out on the Cup Final, 3-2. FC Tpaktop are a team of international friends from Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Lithuania and Latvia.

Last year they competed at our inaugural Sevens event – the 2022 Amsterdam Sevens. The team got off to a sticky start with consecutive 3-0 defeats to Turn Down For Watford and Colonel Getafe. They put their first win on the board with a 1-0 victory over Murder on Zidane's Floor before a narrow defeat to eventual champions Humble Goats, 2-1. They finished off the group with a 2-1 win against JK Silvertown that secured fourth place in the table and qualification for the Plate tournament. They met a strong Milner Street team who ended their day on the pitch, 3-0.

FC Tpaktop opened up with a 3-1 win today but were unable to make it 2 wins out of 2. They did remain unbeaten though as this game finished without a goal at 0-0. They were top of the table and Riptide had a solid platform to kick-on from in their next game.

Gosham Lions 98 were next in action on Pitch B as they entertained AFC Blue Boys. The former were were looking to avenge opening game defeat whilst the latter were looking to build on an opening game draw.

Gosham Lions competed here at the 2019 Mallorca Fives. They began well with a 3-0 win over LMH FC before running into eventual champions Ecuador 100% and lost 3-0. A 1-1 draw with Mamamuu French Team followed. A disappointing end to the group in terms of results saw them lose 2-0 to Valencia's Naranjitos and 7-1 to Deddington Sea Cats. It meant a 5 th placed finish which would see them through to the Plate. They picked up a 3-0 win over Policia Local before an epic Semi-Final against AFC Basemen. At one point they were heading out as they trailed 1-0 but a Mark Sanders goal earned a 1-1 draw and a penalty shoot-out. Luke Attrill saved the opening two penalties to give Gosham Rangers two bites at the cherry to win a place in the Plate Final. They couldn't have got much closer hitting the post but the shoot-out went into sudden death and ultimately AFC Basemen went through despite Attrill almost saving a third penalty.

Gosham fell behind in this one as Jakub Kociemski opened the scoring for the Polish but the English team hit back. Aaron Newman equalized before Mark Sanders put them ahead for a 2-1 half-time lead. After the break it was AFC Blue Boys turn to level things up with Jakub Kociemski on target again. Gosham Lions 98 forged ahead again with Abdullah Delmir scoring for 3-2. Kociemski was the thorn in Gosham Lions side though as he drew AFC Blue Boys level again with his hat-trick goal.

It was a thrilling game with honours even at full-time, 3-3.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group A was to be Santander FC versus Riptide. Both teams drew their first game and were in cluster of 4 teams separated by just one point between 2nd and 5th position. A win for either side would see them join FC Tpaktop at the summit of Group A.

Santander FC were from the stable of Relentless FC who debuted here at the 2016 Mallorca Tournament and made a great first impression at our events. They opened up with 2 victories over Los Pibes (2-0) and Valecuatro (3-0) before a bit of a blip against Bede FC (1-6). They steadied the ship with a 2-2 draw against Big Wille's before finishing off the group phase with a third victory (2-1) against The Average Joes. They finished joint second in the group table and earned qualification to the Cup. They drew the eventual winners Peluqueria Mariano and left the tournament at the Quarter-Final stage.

Here in 2023 they fell behind in their second game as James McConnelogue put Riptide ahead with their first goal in the tournament. The goal afforded the Spanish team a 1-0 lead at the break. In their first game Santander FC were 2-0 up before drawing 2-2. This time it was they who staged the comeback as Bill Tulett levelled the scores in the second half.

For both these teams it was a second successive draw in what was a very tight group.

Open Age

(For the Veterans, click introduction and then select the relevant Veterans section)