Live update: EFBLU European Tour 4
9 December 2019 /
Intel triumph in Milan
9 December 2019 /
| The team of Intel from the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod held off strong challenges from a number of Romanian teams to win EFBLU European Tour 4, organized by Serie i and CUN Company in Milan on 7th-8th December 2019. The players from Russia began their campaign with a 2-0 win against familiar rivals - the Belarusian side Energetik, whom they know from the first two editions of EFBLU European Tour in Riga. In their next match, Intel defeated PepsiCo from Romania by 3-0. Having guaranteed themselves the first place in the group standings, the eventual champions lost their last group match to Slovenian Cinkarna Celje by 3-2. In the phase of direct elimination, Intel had to face three Romanian teams on their way to the title. First, in the quarterfinals, they beat Rompetrol by 3-1 and followed that success with a very impressive 5-1 win over Hidroconstrucția in the semifinals. Catena Racing Team was the last challenge for Intel in the final match. The Romanian side opened the scoring but the Russian team managed to equalize and the regular time of 25 minutes ended 1-1. In the penalty shootout, the players of Intel showed more composure and won by 3-1. Interestingly, the final matches of the last four EFBLU tournaments ended 1-1 and the winner was determined in a penalty shoot-out. Silver medalists Catena Racing Team cruised through the group stage with a perfct record - 3 wins against Rompetrol, Odelo Slovenija and Credipass. In the quarterfinals and semifinals they eliminated Energetik and Gemini Solutions with the same 2-0 score. The bronze medals went to Gemini Solutions, who defeated Hidroconstrucția by 5-1 in the small final. EFBLU European Tour 4 featured 16 teams from 8 countries and both these numbers are record for EFBLU tournaments. Another records for most participating teams from a country and a league were set by Romania and Romanian Liga Companiilor, who sent 5 teams to Milan. Following the group stage, the teams were divided into two separate tournaments - Gold and Silver. The top two teams from each group competed in the Gold one and the remaining 8 teams played in the Silver one. PepsiCo claimed the Silver trophy after beating Latvian OB serviss by 7-6 in a highly entertaining game. Final standings: 1. Intel (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) 2. Catena Racing Team (Bucharest, Romania) 3. Gemini Solutions (Bucharest, Romania) 4. Hidroconstrucția (Bucharest, Romania) 5. Rompetrol (Bucharest, Romania) 6. Energetik (Minsk, Belarus) 7. PKO Bank Polski (Warsaw, Poland) 8. Raben (Czechowice-Dziedzice, Poland) 9. PepsiCo (Bucharest, Romania) 10. OB serviss (Riga, Latvia) 11. Cinkarna Celje (Celje, Slovenia) 12. Funsports (Lisbon, Portugal) 13. Odelo Slovenija (Prebold, Slovenia) 14. BEST Trasport (Milan, Italy) 15. Network Pentagono (Milan, Italy) 16. Credipass (Milan, Italy) Individual awards: Best player: Mihai-Iulian Cană (Catena Racing Team) Best goalkeeper: Răzvan-Nicolae Grancea (Gemini Solutions) Top goalscorer: Artyom Tyulnev (Intel) We would like to thank Serie i and CUN Company for the organization of EFBLU European Tour 4 and all the teams for their participation! We would also like to use this opportunity to invite all interested teams to our next EFBLU European Tour 5 which will be organized by our Turkish members Corporate Champions League (CCL Cup) and SportFest in the beautiful Turkish Mediterranean resort Antalya on 25th-26th April 2020! |    |
