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. At 20 teams it was our largest Veterans event to date. The teams assembled from 9 proud nations with the CIS, England, France, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Scotland, Spain and Wales all represented with players from yet more countries participating as part of those teams. We had a great day of international competition.…the big kick-off was upon us.

First up in Group A was The Warriors (Eng) versus FC Tpaktop (CIS). These were two experienced teams in our tournaments with The Warriors making a 7th appearance in our competitions. FC Tpaktop were making a third appearance but a first at Veterans level.

The Warriors came into the tournament on the back of a 2 match unbeaten from their appearance at the 2022 Lisbon Veterans where they secured a 0-0 draw and a 2-0 win in their final group fixtures. It was they who struck first with Andy Chraschina putting his team ahead. FC Tpaktop were level before the break though thanks to a strike from Aleksandrs Golubevs.

With honours even at half-time it was FC Tpaktop who forged ahead in the second period with Oleg Bogoslavskiy scoring what eventually proved to be the winner. It was a fine start for FC Tpaktop but an end to that unbeaten run for The Warriors.

The final team in Group A to get their campaign underway was Duktil Balear (Spa) versus The Warriors (Eng). The Spanish team were the only debutants in Group A so we did not know what to expect from them. The Warriors were looking to bounce back from a narrow 2-1 defeat in their opening fixture.

This was The Warriors second appearance here in Mallorca having also competed at the 2017 edition of the event and saw them enjoy success. In the group phase they recorded 2 wins from their 5 games as they finished in fourth place with a positive goal difference of 7-4 to qualify for the Plate. They recorded a 2-1 win over WEEDS Youth in the Semi-Finals and a 2-0 win over Dickie Dogs in the Plate Final to lift the trophy.

The first two group games showed four teams that were pretty evenly matched. Once Duktil Balear stepped onto the field on Pitch A it looked like we had a team that could be title challengers as they displayed a confident passing brand of football. They made an early first impression by racing to a 3-0 lead. Javier Martinez Leon scored their first goal in eurofootballfives.com competition before Victor Mato Suero and Daniel Suarez Rordan opened their personal accounts.

They continued their form in the second half with David Soler Hibernon making it 4-0. Victor Mato Suero and Javier Martinez Leon each scored a second to make the final score 6-0 to Duktil Balear. Final score 6-0.

FC Tpaktop and Les 5 Salopards were next in action on Pitch A as they both looked to continue their winning start to Group A.

Les 5 Salopards (Fra) have previously played twice at our tournaments and reached the Cup Semi-Finals on both occasions. At the 2013 Budapest Fives they made a pretty good debut and opened up with a 1-0 win over Budapest Celtic Tigers. They then slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Shahs of Sunset but soon recovered with a 4-0 win over BBFC1. A 2-2 draw against Wokingham FC and a 2-0 win against The Puskas Dolls meant they finished second in Group A. They qualified for the Cup and continued their fine form with a 3-1 win over Budapest Celtic Pumas. Their run came to an end though when they ran into Rigford Seahawks Omega and lost 2-0 in the Semi-Finals.

9 seasons later we saw a welcome return for Les 5 Salopards and a debut at Veterans level. They began well with a 2-1 win over The Warriors and a 1-0 win over Los Amblos. Their charge was held up with a 1-0 defeat to Santa Maria and a 5-2 defeat to FC Dad. With their place in the Cup hanging in the balance they needed to win their last game to leapfrog their opponents into second place in the table. They did just that with a 3-0 win over AFC Shooters. It set up a mouth-watering Cup Semi-Final against FC Mahou with the English team edging out the French side, 2-1.

Here in Mallorca they got off to a great start against the CIS team with Habri scoring in the first half. After the break they extended their lead to 2-0 (Habri again) with Gazzaoui making it 3-0. FC Tpaktop reduced the arrears to 3-1 thanks to Petr Tolmanov but Habri's hat-trick goal extended the lead to 3 goals again with Les 5 Salopards winning 4-1 to go top of the table.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group A was to be ACE & The Swagmen versus Duktil Balear.

ACE & The Swagmen performed well in their first encounter as they slipped to a narrow 3-2 defeat. If they were watching Duktil Balear's first game they may have entered Pitch A with a bit of trepidation after their 6-0 success over The Warriors.

It was the Spanish team who drew first blood with Victor Mato Suero scoring his third of the day and meaning it was 7 goals without reply for Duktil Balear as they changed ends with a 1-0 lead. ACE & The Swagmen did well to contain their opposition in the first half and it got even better at the start of the second period when Joe Humphreys levelled things up. Parity did not last too long though as Julio Peralta Millan restored Duktil's lead. They had a bit of breathing space when David Soler Hibernon made it 3-1. The points looked safe when Daniel Suarez Rordan scored for 4-1. Daniel Burkwood scored his second in as many games to make it 4-2 but the Spanish had the final word with David Soler Hibernon completing the scoring at 5-2.

2 wins out of 2 for Duktil Balear, 2 defeats out of 2 for ACE & The Swagmen.

Veterans

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