Welcome to Lisbon for the eighth edition of the Lisbon Tournament - 5-a-side football under the Portuguese sun on a glorious day in the capital. With 15-teams assembled we were ready to continue the eurofootballfives.com 2025 season - our 19th season of European action. We welcomed teams representing Brazil, England, France, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

First up in Group A was RAF2 (Por) versus Sloane FC (Eng). The latter were on debut in our events so we could get our first glimpse of them in action. The former however had appeared in every edition of the Lisbon Tournament from 2019 – we will preview them in more detail later.

It looked like being a perfect start to the day for the English team as they lead early on through Rron Sylejmani. He will go down in the history books as scoring his side's first goal in Europe. It was a lead his team would maintain until the half-time break. RAF2 kicked off the second half a goal behind but they were to get back on track when Guilherme Rodrigues levelled up the match. It was to be a valuable goal as it earned his team a point. Only time would tell if this would be a point gained or two points dropped. Both teams were up and running in the Group A table.

In Game 2 of Group A at the 2025 Lisbon Tournament, debutants Brixton Gas faced off against an experienced AC Motxto International side from Madrid. Just 12 months ago the Spanish competed at our Prague Veterans Tournament. They began well with a 3-2 win over Mitre FC Vets before a pair of 1-1 draws with Southgate Tourists and IFC Prague. They then suffered a first defeat against FC Mahou, 2-1. Another defeat followed to FC Tpaktop I (2-0) but they finished their group campaign on a high with a 2-0 win against Alea Iacta Est. They finished 4th of 7 teams to reach the Plate. In the Quarter-Finals they lost 1-0 to FC Tpaktop II.

As with the opening match of Group A it was the English debutants who got off to a brighter start compared to their more experienced European friends. With #99 on his back, it was Adam Brown who scored goal #1 for Brixton Gas in European tournament action. It was a goal that gave Brixton Gas a 1-0 lead at half-time.

As we all know, you're never safe at 1-0 as RAF2 versus Sloane FC proved in the previous fixture. Could AC Motxto secure an equaliser and put a point on the board or could Brixton Gas claim that crucial 2nd goal to give them a cushion and take a big stride to all 3 points. Step forward Fred Makelele of Brixton Gas to put his team 2-0 up. At the back there was a clean shoot to boot as Brixton Gas ran out 2-0 winners. Easy this European football lark, eh?

Game 3 in Group A would feature our defending champions PFC of Brazil. 2 years ago at the last edition of this event, they began well with a 2-0 win over Dutch side Semen Padang before a 1-1 draw with compatriots RAF2. They then defeated Dolce & Lallana (3-1) and Bugiels Athletic (3-0) before slipping to a 2-1 defeat against Swiss side FC C(h)ampagne. They were back to winning ways with a 3-0 defeat of Lindfield FC to win Group B. In the Cup Semi-Finals they defeated RAF1 narrowly 1-0 to set up a Cup Final re-match against Lindfield FC. This time the game was much closer ending 1-1 in normal time. The match went to penalties as PFC emerged victorious, 2-1 on spot-kicks.

Their opponents at the start of their 2025 campaign was RAF2 who they drew with 1-1 a couple of years ago. Today, RAF2 had opened up with a 1-1 draw against Sloane FC. A solid platform upon which to kickstart their campaign.

RAF2 found themselves a goal down in their opening fixture and they were to do so again here as Claudio Faustino opened his team's account for the day. The two teams went into half-time at 1-0 with the Brazilians ahead. PFC showed the form in the second half that had earned them the title last time out. Andre Tomas, an imposing figure up front, extended the lead to 2-0 and added another to make it 3-0. RAF2 had staged a second half comeback last time out but there was to be no repeat in this one. The champions title defence was off to a successful start.

The first phase of the tournament would be decided on a group basis. There was three groups with 5 teams in each group. Each team would play each other team in their group once and therefore 4 group games. After which, depending on position, they would progress to the Cup or Plate competition.

The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in each group plus the two best 3rd placed teams would progress to the Cup competition. This was to be played as a knock-out phase with Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final. The remaining 3rd placed team plus the teams finishing 4th and 5th in each group would progress to the Plate competition. This was to be played as a knock-out phase with Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final.

Game 4 of Group A was Sloane FC against AC Motxto International. Sloane FC had begun well with a 1-1 draw against RAF2. AC Motxto, the oldest team in the tournament, had slipped to a 2-0 loss to Brixton Gas. Sloane FC broke the deadlock as they did in their opening game. This time it was Cam Holmes-Price on target.

Sloane FC lead 1-0 at the break as they did in their opening game but that's where the similarity ends. This time they got the crucial second goal (through Giovanni Boffa) to put their first win on the board. It meant, that as things stood, they were top of Group A.

The match that took us to the halfway stage of Group A saw Brixton Gas meet PFC. Brixton Gas had opened up with an excellent 2-0 win in their first game. Their second game looked, on paper at least, to be a much tougher proposition.

PFC became the first team representing Brazil to claim a eurofootballfives.com title when they were victorious at the 2017 Lisbon Tournament. They made a superb start winning their first 4 games and scoring 15 goals. They then found themselves suffering a 3-0 defeat to Cruz Del Sur A. This proved to be a mere blip as two more wins meant they claimed the Group B title. They continued their form in the knock-out phase with a 2-0 win over Leave It FC in the Quarter-Finals, a 4-1 win over Indoorsoccer in the Semi-Finals and then a 2-1 win over Wonderleague in the Cup Final. As we mentioned above, they won the title again in 2023 and will be looking for a historic hat-trick of titles today. In their first game they had swept RAF2 aside, 3-0.

Brixton Gas would soon empathise with how RAF2 must have felt. PFC raced into a 2-0 half-time lead. Francisco Alves opened the scoring before Claudio Faustino scored for the second match in a row. In the second half, player-manager Wendell Santos made it 3-0. Brixton Gas had a moment to celebrate as Tom Ross opened his personal account. It proved to be a consolation only as PFC continued their hot streak in front of goal with Andre Tomas taking his tally to the day to 3 and Afonso Dinis scoring to make it 5-1. The champions were looking good!