The 11th May 2013 marked the date of eurofootballfives.com's very first Champion of Champions Tournament. It was an invitational event for all teams who had previously reached a Plate Final in our tournaments. Eight teams from the Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary and Ireland accepted the challenge. The winners would be decided upon a league format.

First up was FC Biermeisters versus GBS Reds. FC Biermeisters won one of the greatest ever Plate finals at the 2010 Krakow Cup when they overcame a 3-0 deficit to make it 3-3 in the final minute and then take the trophy in Golden Goal extra-time. They have also reached Cup Semi-Finals at the 2009 Amsterdam Fives and 2010 Manchester Fives where they also lost by Golden Goal and on penalties. Budapest is their 5th eurofootballfives.com appearance.

GBS Reds (f ormerly known as JNJ Global Services) make it eurofootballfives.com appearance number 9 in Budapest. They have previously made six Prague appearances plus overseas tours to the 2010 Krakow Trophy, the 2011 Amsterdam Fives and 2012 Berlin Fives. They have reached 4 Plate Semi-Finals, 2 Cup Quarter-Finals and 2 Plate victories at the 2010 Prague Trophy and 2012 Berlin Fives.

The next fixture was New Milton Eagles versus Csabagyongye. New Milton Eagles have celebrated Plate glory on two occasions. The first win was when they made their debut with us at the 2010 Krakow Trophy when the Eagles Old Boys beat 5-times Plate Finalists DHL Prague Red of the Czech Republic 2-0 on penalties in the final. The second win was in the 2011 Algarve Open when Eagles UnAthletic beat Pimp My Side FC 2-1 in the final.

Csabgyongye made their debut in the 2011 Budapest Fives and almost created history when they were only seconds away from knocking Olympic Phil Babb out in the Cup Semi-Finals and preventing them retaining their (then) 100% record of 4 Cup wins. They then went on to compete in the 2011 Valencia Fives where they won Group A with a 100% record. It was a surprise to see them go out in the Cup Quarter Finals in a 9-goal thriller, 6-3 to Spanish side Rollert FS. In the 2012 Budapest Fives they played their knock-out football in the Plate competition and they went all the way to the final which they won 4-2.

As you would expect with all the teams qualifying at a Plate level this was another close game. Half-time came and went, full-time came and went and we were all square at 0-0.

The final fixture in the opening round was a non-starter as local side Al Kaloida were forced to withdraw late on the eve of the tournament due to injuries. There was no option but to hand a 3-0 walkover win to Saipan FC – the easiest 3 points they'll ever get although I'm sure they'd have preferred to play the game.