EFBLU European Cup 2 in numbers
31 December 2018 /
EFBLU in 2018
31 December 2018 /
2018 was a successful year for EFBLU as we organized two international tournaments and welcomed five new member leagues from four different countries to our organization.
EFBLU European Tour 1
We launched a new tournament, opened to all teams from our member and partner leagues, and named it “EFBLU European Tour”. Its first edition took place in the Latvian capital of Riga on 5th May and featured 10 teams from 6 European countries - Minskenergo (Minsk, Belarus), Zakład Metalurgiczny "WSK Rzeszów" (Rzeszów, Poland), Baltic International Bank (Riga, Latvia), PKO Bank Polski (Warsaw, Poland), Hegvita (Vilnius, Lithuania), STRONG (Riga, Latvia), Klaipeda City (Klaipėda, Lithuania), ELRON (Tallinn, Estonia), Intel (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) and Rīgas pašvaldības policija (Riga, Latvia). The 6-a-side teams played indoor on the artificial grass pitches of the Elektrum Olympic Centre and showed really good football in an atmosphere of fun and fair play.
At the end of day, the players of Minskenergo won the beautiful handmade trophy after beating Zakład Metalurgiczny "WSK Rzeszów" by 5-1 in the final. The bronze medals went to the team of Baltic International Bank who recorded a convincing 5-2 win over PKO Bank Polski in the match for the third place.
Moreover, players of the top three teams won the major individual awards. Minskenergo’s star Anton Galay topped the goalscoring charts with 7 goals, Baltic International Bank’s leader Mihails Nosiks was selected as the MVP and Marcin Szaro of Zakład Metalurgiczny "WSK Rzeszów" became the best goalkeeper after keeping 4 clean sheets.
The long football day was closed with a glamorous award ceremony and a fantastic integration party. Our friends and local organizers Latvijas korporatīvā sporta turnīru asociācija and Riga Football Federation made a great effort to deliver a great tournament, a tournament which was enjoyed by all participants and will live long in their memories!
EFBLU European Cup 2
In the autumn we organized our second European championship – EFBLU European Cup 2! Together with our member leagues we decided that our major tournament for the best teams will be taking place once per year, in September. Slovenian alpine resort Kranjska Gora hosted the second edition of the competition on 15th-16th September and for the first time an EFBLU tournament lasted 2 days.
A record number of twelve teams from six European countries gathered in the Julian Alps to challenge for the prestigious trophy. These were Patrol Police (Tbilisi, Georgia), Empark (Lisbon, Portugal), SBTech (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), MB Aerospace (Rzeszów, Poland), PKO Bank Polski (Warsaw, Poland), AD Auto Total (Bucharest, Romania), Andip-92 (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), MAGNA (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), Cinkarna Celje (Celje, Slovenia), Hood Burger United (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Marmor Hotavlje (Hotavlje, Slovenia) and Helios Group (Ljubljana, Slovenia). The 6-a-side teams played outdoor on the fantastic natural grass pitches of B4 Sport Camps.
The final featured two teams from the south-eastern and south-western corners of Europe, two teams from cities situated at a geographical distance of 4518 km from each other. In the decisive match for the title, Patrol Police from Tbilisi managed to grab a 1-0 win over Empark from Lisbon thanks to the spectacular long-range goal of Giorgi Chanturia. Furthermore, SB Tech from Bulgaria won the bronze medals with a 3-2 victory over MB Aerospace from Poland in the small final.
Apart from scoring the winning goal in the final, Giorgi Chanturia was selected as the MVP. AD Auto Total’s Cristian Iordan claimed the goalscoring crown with 13 goals while Empark’s Herlânder Afonso Rodrigues de Sousa became the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Many thanks to EFBLU founding members and local organizers Poslovna nogometna liga for this fantastic tournament in the amazingly beautiful Kranjska Gora!
New EFBLU members
In 2018 we managed to double the number of EFBLU members! Our organization entered the year with 5 member leagues and closes it with 10!
First, in February we welcomed Silesian Business League – elite sport competitions for firms and institutions in Poland’s Silesian region. In the same month, the Bucharest-based Liga Companiilor, which organizes high quality leagues and tournaments for companies in Romania, also joined our ranks and later sent its champion AD Auto Total to EFBLU European Cup 2.
Liga Firm Rzeszów, the biggest organizer of sport competitions for companies and institutions in Poland’s Subcarpathian region, became an EFBLU member in July and we had the pleasure to see their representatives Zakład Metalurgiczny "WSK Rzeszów" and MB Aerospace at EFBLU European Tour 1 and EFBLU European Cup 2, respectively.
Towards the end of the year, EFBLU grew further by attracting two new members with high reputation from the south-western and north-eastern corners of Europe. We are very happy to have Futbolempresas from the Spanish capital of Madrid and Spordipilet from the Estonian capital of Tallinn with us and we are looking forward to seeing their teams at the EFBLU tournaments in 2019!
