A warm welcome to Mallorca (and it was warm!) for our 14th tournament on this wonderful island. As well as our eight Mallorca Tournaments we have also run the Mallorca Fives in 2013, 2017 and 2018 and the Mallorca Veterans in 2015, 2017 and 2018. It is easy to see why the events are so popular - 5-a-side football next to the beach, with two bars on site and all under the rays of the Spanish sun. What a setting and what a day we had in store with 22-teams confirmed in the Open Age (12) and Veterans (10) categories.

From our previous Open Age events we have so far had winners from England (x4), France, Ireland and Spain (x4). We've had competitors from Argentina, Belgium, Ecuador, England, France, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and Wales.

The first two challengers to get us underway in Group A on Pitch A this year would be Yac Club (Eng) versus Burritos (Eng). Both teams had graced our tournaments before and we will preview their past experience in more detail as we progress with this post-tour report.

On the day here in 2018 though, it was a really close contest to get us started. The game remained at 0-0 for much of the game and it seemed that the teams may share the points. Matthew Lee had other ideas though as he struck a late winner to take all 3 points for Burritos, 1-0.

Game 2 of Group A was Fiorentina Turner 2 versus Purnell Youth 1.

For those wondering about how the format of today's action, we would start with two groups of 6 teams each. Each team would play each other once and therefore 5 group games each. The teams finishing 1 st through to 4 th would qualify for the Cup. The Cup competition would be played on a Quarter-Final, Semi-Final and Final basis. The teams finishing in 5th and 6th position from each group would progress to the Plate and play off on a Semi-Final and Final basis.

In fixture 2 of Group A it was Purnell Youth who broke the deadlock. Lewis Young was the man with the honour of scoring their first goal of the day. The goal would not earn all three points for his team though as Nick Parkinson struck back for Fiorentina Turner 2.

The match finished 1-1. Only time would tell if this was a point gained or two points dropped for these two teams.

The final two teams in Group A were Urbansport of Spain and Bar Maruru - also of Spain.

These two teams met at the 2018 Mallorca Fives back in May of this year. 4 months ago it was Bar Maruru who enjoyed a comfortable victory. Toni Torres (2), Farid Echanghoufi (2) and Vicens Matas all scored in a memorable 5-0 win. Bar Maruru had 3 players from that squad in May on show here today. Of the goalscorers, only Toni Torres remained.

It didn't seem to make too much difference as Bar Maruru forged ahead to make it 6 goals without reply against these opponents. Marcus Almazou was the man on target today on his individual debut in our tournaments.

Urbansport appeared to be made of sterner stuff than in May. They hit back to equalize through Antonio Lobo who had scored on a number of occasions before at these events. His goal earned Urbansport a 1-1 draw.

It was a solid start for both teams.