The 2024 Mallorca Fives kicked off our 17th season of European tournaments and was our 15th tournament on the sunshine island of Mallorca. The event hosted our annual double header of Open Age and Veterans competition with 28 teams in total. Of those, 10 would compete in the Veterans section. We had teams assembled representing China, Ecuador, England, Poland, mainland Spain and the island of Mallorca itself.

First up in Group A was Beijing Rockets (Chn) versus AFC Blue Boys (Pol). These two teams had met as recently as the 2023 Barcelona Veterans Fives where they played in a Group A decider. They finished as #1 and #2 in their 7-team group and were both expected to challenge for honours today. In Barcelona it was Beijing Rockets who emerged victorious (2-0) thanks to goals from Nick Petman and Jamie Yates.

This was shaping up to be a close encounter and there was nothing to separate the two sides as they changed ends level at 0-0. Defences continued to be on top after the break and when the referee blew for full-times the teams were still locked at 0-0. It was a solid start for both teams and given the quality of their opposition both would potentially see it as a point gained rather than two lost.

The final team in Group A to get their campaign underway was Trojans (Spa) representing the island of Mallorca. They would take on Beijing Rockets who had already warmed up with a 0-0 draw against AFC Blue Boys.

Beijing Rockets became the first team to represent China in our events when they made their debut at the 2023 Barcelona Veterans. They did so with aplomb as they recorded 5 wins from 6 games and scored 11 goals whilst conceding just 2 as they won Group A. They were quickly into their stride with successive 3-0 wins over Atletico Funk and Bure Park Seniors. 2-1 and 1-0 wins over TNF and JK Silvertown followed. Their 100% record ended 1-0 to Lucanos Locos but were back to winning ways to crown Group A with a 2-0 victory over AFC Blue Boys. This setup a tasty Cup Semi-Final match against FC Poloboc. It looked a really close contest on paper and so it proved on the pitch as the game was decided by a solitary strike. Sadly for Beijing Rockets it was FC Poloboc who broke the deadlock and went through.

The Rockets opened the scoring in the first half here with Nick Petman scoring their first goal of the tournament. In the second half the goals flowed with Petman initially doubling Beijing Rockets lead. Trojans hit back to reduce the arrears through Arseniy but that just seemed to spur the Rockets on. Irving Guzman, Steve Hutt and Sean Rymell all opened their personal accounts as Beijing Rockets ran out 4-1 victors.

AFC Blue Boys and VTF Reserves were next in action on Campo C as they both looked to continue their unbeaten start to Group A.

AFC Blue Boys had their most successful campaign with us at the 2023 Barcelona Veterans Fives. They opened up with a 1-1 draw against JK Silvertown before a run of 4 successive victories (3-2 v Lucanos Locos, 2-0 v Atletico Funk, 2-1 v Bure Park Seniors and 5-1 v TNF) before setting up a group decider against Beijing Rockets. AFC Blue Boys lost 2-0 but had done enough to secure Cup qualification in 2 nd place. In the Cup Semi-Finals they had a tough opponent in Hungary's FC Miracle but secured a 1-1 draw and then won the penalty shoot-out 2-0. This set up a final against Moldova's FC Poloboc but it was a match too far this time as Poloboc won 3-0.

The Polish team opened up with a 0-0 win today against Beijing Rockets and were soon to break their tournament duck when Marcin Zaluga scored to make it 1-0. Pat McHale levelled the score for VTF Reserves at 1-1 but it was only a temporary reprieve as Krystian Waledziak restored the lead before half-time. In the second half Artur Sukiennik opened up a 2 goal cushion for his team to make it 3-1 before Krystian Waledziak finished off a fine team performance, 4-1.

VTF Reserves had tasted defeat today for the first time but they were still well placed in the table just a point behind the current leaders.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group A was to be Los Guerreros and Trojans. Both teams were looking for their first points of the day and they served up a thrilling contest.

It was a six-goal thriller with Los Guerreros surging ahead in the opening period. Pete Conway was the man to bag both goals for his team before James Edgar pulled a goal back for Trojans. It was a lifeline for the local team and kept them in touching distance going into the second half.

In the second half Trojans were level with Alen on target. Having seen their two goal lead slip away we must give great credit to Los Guerreros who regained the ascendency in this match with a Lee Liquorish goal. However, it would still not be enough for all 3 points as Trojans responded again.

Arseniy was a scorer for Trojans in their first match and he was on target for the second match in a row as he scored an equaliser for his team. The match finished 3-3 and both teams had their first point on the board although would remain in fourth and fifth positions.

Veterans

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