The eurofootballfives Veterans Tournament is a moveable feast. We have now covered 6 editions of early Summer June event. Our recently added late Summer September event has now reached its second year. Following the September debut in Lisbon in 2017, we moved onto the veritable delights of Mallorca for 2018!

Previous winners:

2013: Sao Marcos (Por)

2014: Palmesanos (Spa)

2015: Mini FC (Por)

2016: Sago (Por)   

2017: FC Radbroke (Eng)

2017 (Sep): Talhos Mariete (Por)

2018: Mini FC (Por)

2018 (Sep): Watch this space!

First up in Group A was Peebles All Stars versus Bure Park Seniors. At last year's 2017 Lisbon Veterans Tournament Peebles All Stars met one of the Bure Park teams (Where's Dave). Where's Dave won 3-1 on that occasion but only two of those players started for Bure Park Seniors today as the majority of today's Seniors squad played for the Saga Louts team in Lisbon.

This was a fresh challenge and a clean slate at the start of the 2018 Mallorca Veterans Tournament. There was just one goal to separate the two teams and it was the English who enjoyed victory as they had done so last year. Ian Mansley was the scorer of the only goal which earned all 3 points for his team.

Today's format was due to be two groups with 5 teams in each group. The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in each group would progress to the Cup competition to be played as a knock-out phase with Semi-Finals and Final.

The teams finishing 3rd and 4th in each group would progress to the Plate competition to be played as a knock-out phase with Semi-Finals and Final. The teams finishing 5 th in each group would be eliminated at this stage.

Blue Water CF who played at the 2017 Mallorca Veterans event had to cancel at the 11 th hour on the eve of the tournament. So, we had to re-arrange Group A with teams now playing on a “home” and “away” basis. Up next we had the “home” fixture for Legends of the Vale versus Policia Local de Palma.

It was the Policia who opened the scoring with Carlos Alohar Amoros breaking the deadlock. Legends of the Vale were soon to be level though. Steve Finnis provided the assist, Mark Eldridge provided the goal. Honours even, 1-1.

Peebles All Stars were next in action against Policia de Local. Peebles All Stars became the first team to represent Scotland in the Veterans category of our tournaments last year. They produced 1 win and 1 draw from their group games which included the biggest win of the tournament (7-1). It was not quite enough to lift them into the Plate qualification places as they finished in fifth position.

Due to the fixture re-arrangements, some teams would have to play twice in a row. Now was the turn of Policia Local de Palma so this may be seen as a good time to play them. Policia Local de Palma proved otherwise though. The other side of the argument was that the Policia were now warmed up after the previous fixture so were able to hit their rhythm quickly.

The local team raced into a 3-0 lead with Jose Manuel Garrido Jimenez opening the scoring. Carlos Alohar Amoros scored for the second game running to make it 2-0 before Mario Gonzalez Parra gave them a very solid lead. Peebles All Stars would have the final say though – Scott Hutcheson reduced the deficit to 3-1. Alas for the Scots, it was merely to be a consolation on this occasion.

Bure Park Seniors were making their second appearance in our Veterans events and 10 th tournament appearance overall with eurofootballfives.com.

The Bure Park Seniors squad today comprised 5 of the squad that played as Saga Louts at the 2017 Lisbon Veterans Tournament. The Saga Louts squad found it tough going in Lisbon with 1 win but 4 defeats from the group phase. However, they already had a win under their belts today. Could they make it 2 out of 2?

Legends of the Vale had opened up with a very creditable 1-1 draw in their opener against the 2011 Mallorca Tournament (open age) champions. This game proved to be another tight contest. Legends of the Vale fell behind for the second game in a row but this time they were unable to rescue a draw as they slipped to defeat.

For Bure Park Seniors it was a second 1-0 victory on the bounce. Chris Weedon was their scorer in match 4 of Group A. It was a fantastic start for Bure Park Seniors who were yet to concede.

The next game was Peebles All Stars versus Legends of the Vale. Each of these teams had a similar introduction in our tournaments. Both had made their debut in our open age Barcelona Fives tournament before subsequently joining our Veterans circuit. Peebles All Stars made the trip to Barcelona in 2014 but Legends of the Vale missed them by a year, 2015.

The teams had similar results. In the group phase, Peebles All Stars collected 1 draw and 3 defeats as they finished fifth. It qualified them for our third-tier knock-out competition, the Trophy. They drew German side SV Zoo and it was the team from Berlin who progressed (3-1) to the Semi-Finals. Legends of the Vale found it tough going with 4 defeats from 4 games before defeat in the Trophy Play-off.

With such similar records it was perhaps no surprise that this was a close contest. So close in fact that the teams could not be separated. When the referee drew the game to a close the teams were locked together at 0-0.

Bure Park Seniors had made a great start and boasted a 100% record. This would be their toughest encounter yet as they played the team immediately below them in the table – Policia Local de Palma.

Policia Local de Palma played in our first ever Mallorca Tournament – and won it! They defeated Ecuador's Quayaquil 100% in an entertaining final, 5-2. In 2012 they found the competition tougher finishing 3rd in their group behind Sportsman Arenal and FC Radbroke (2011 Prague Masters and 2013 Algarve Open winners). They then went out 2-0 in the Cup Quarter-Finals, in a quirk of fate, as they drew Sportsman Arenal again. In the 2013 Mallorca Fives in May they failed to qualify for the Cup for the first time and went out in the Plate Semi-Finals. Normal service was resumed in June 2013's Mallorca Tournament as they won Group B but were surprisingly knocked out at the Quarter-Final stage, 2-1, by Tommy's Tits.

In 2015 they finished Group B in 3rd place with 3 wins and 2 defeats and qualified for the Cup as one of the best third placed finishers. They defeated Son Gual 2-1 in the QF before a 5-0 defeat to eventual winners – Saipan FC (Ire). In 2016, it was 4 wins out of 5 in Group D as they finished 2 nd and qualified for the Cup once more. They won their Quarter-Final 5-3 against FC Radbroke before Los Pibes defeated them 4-0 in the Cup Semi-Final. Could they win that elusive 2 nd tournament here at our Veterans event in 2018?

A win here would see them leapfrog their opponents and jump to the top of Group A. They secured those 3 points as they edged a close game, 1-0. Miguel A Borday Cardona scored the vital goal.