Budapest Celtic were making their eurofootballfives.com debut and their Lions squad had an incredibly tough baptism of fire. They met Olympic Phil Babb who are the only team to have won three eurofootballfives.com events. They come to Budapest looking to make it four wins out of four after success in the 2008 Amsterdam Fives, 2009 Algarve Open and 2010 Prague Masters.

They have an incredible eurofootballfives.com record with a 75% win percentage of 15 wins, 4 draws and 1 defeat – two of those draws they turned into wins via a golden goal and penalty shoot-out. The one defeat came in a dead tie at the end of a group they had already won. It would be a brave man to bet against Olympic Phil Babb in Budapest.

James Cooper set the English side on their way with a first-half goal. Alex Woolston made it 2-0 before Martin Abel pegged them back to 2-1. That's how it finished. It was a good performance from Budapest Celtic Lions who were far from overawed and they would hope for easier games as the tournament progressed. Olympic Phil Babb were on their way with 3 good points.

A Magyar Pekseg is the team from Sweden with the Hungarian name. The name means “The Hungarian Bakery” and is the name of their Sunday League team in Sweden which explains why they are travelling to Budapest on tour. They also became the first Swedish team in eurofootballfives competition. They met Whiteley FC who were making their 3rd appearance in European action following their debut in the 2008 Amsterdam Fives where they reached the Cup Semi-Finals. In 2010, they played in the Algarve Open winning Group D before going out in the quarter-finals to Portuguese team Water Boy.

On the field it was first blood to the Swedish team as captain Bjorn Lofgren gave his side the perfect start to the tournament. Whiteley FC had it all to do and they got back on level terms in the second period when Matty Hayes made it 1-1.

We then witnessed a third and decisive goal as Emlyn Hughes completed a great comeback for Whiteley FC as they came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory.

Real So So Bad were the final team in Group B to get their campaign underway as they met local side Budapest Celtic Lions. The Hungarian team had come unstuck against English opposition in the opening fixture but were faring better in this game as Cillian O'Donoghue and Mark Ryan fired the Lions into a 2-0 lead.

Real So So Bad fought hard but were unable to beat Matthew Watson-Broughton in the Lions goal as he kept the first clean sheet in Group B and helped secure all 3 points. It was just what they needed after defeat in the first game. Real So So Bad had three more games to make their mark in the tournament.

All eyes were on Olympic Phil Babb to see if the tournament favourites would continue their successful start to the competition. They fought hard to claim a 2-1 victory in their first game but seemingly found life easier against Swedish team A Magyar Pekseg.

They quickly got into their stride and scored three first-half goals to effectively kill the tie. James Cooper opened the scoring for the second successive game before Chris Jarrett and James Batty each scored their first of the day. It was always going to be tough for the Swedes from here but they applied themselves well and limited the damage to 3-0. After two difficult games they found themselves winless and propping up Group B.

The game that would take us to the half way stage of Group B was Whiteley FC against Real So So Bad. The all-England tie would prove to be the most evenly matched to date. The teams reached half-time and then full time with the scores all even at 0-0. In fact, the only job for the scorers was to take down Dale Matthews and book him for kicking the ball away (sorry Dale!).

The result was good enough to put Whiteley FC in second place in the Group. For Real So So Bad it was a first point of the day and gave them something to build on.