EFBLU European Tour 3: Empark (Lisbon, Portugal)
17 June 2019 /
Empark triumph in EFBLU European Tour 3
17 June 2019 /
| In an all-Iberian final, the Portuguese team Empark defeated their Spanish rivals Alfa Microgés on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the regular time! Interestingly, both teams also met in the last round of the group stage and that game was won by 2-0 by the representative of the host country. EFBLU European Tour 3, organized by FutbolEmpresas in the Spanish capital of Madrid, featured 12 teams from 7 European countries - Spain (3), Poland (2), Romania (2), Georgia (2), Portugal (1), Andorra (1), and Bulgaria (1) - and referees from Spain and Romania. The future champions started the tournament with a 2-2 draw against the strong Bulgarian team SBTech from Plovdiv and continued with a convincing 6-0 win over Policia d'Andorra before losing to Alfa Microgés and finishing third in the group standings! In the quarterfinals, Empark faced Army, the winners of the Georgian Business Champions League, and recorded a valuable 2-1 win. In the last step before the final, the Portuguese side faced SBTech again and again the regular time was not enough to determine the winner. Empark were trailing 1-3 but managed to level the score with 2 late goals and win the match on penalties. Ronaldo Lumungo Afonso, the young star of the Lisbon team, played a key role in the successful campaign as he topped the goalscoring charts with 10 goals and was selected the best player of the tournament. His rival in the final, Jorge Abad of Alfa Microgés, took the individual award for the best goalkeeper. The bronze medals went to the team of Marco Vet from the Romanian capital of Bucharest who defeated SBTech by 5-2 in the small final. Interestingly, the players of the veterinary hospital Marco Vet met with their Romanian compatriots PepsiCo in the quarterfinals and recorded an impressive 6-1 win. This was the only case when two teams from the same country faced each other in the tournament. We have to mention the fantastic fans from Andorra who created an amazing atmosphere around the pitches and cheered for all teams. Having such a great support, we are not surprised that the players of Policia d'Andorra (Andorra) participated in the two highest scoring games of the tournament. Both of these games came against rivals from Poland - an 8-4 defeat at the hands of PKO Bank Polski (Warsaw) and a 6-5 win over BorgWarner (Rzeszów). Final standings: 1. Empark (Lisbon Portugal) 2. Alfa Microgés (Madrid, Spain) 3. Marco Vet (Bucharest, Romania) 4. SBTech (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) 5. PepsiCo (Bucharest, Romania) 6. Army (Tbilisi, Georgia) 7. Iberdrola (Madrid, Spain) 8. Patrol Police (Tbilisi, Georgia) 9. PKO Bank Polski (Warsaw, Poland) 10. Deloitte (Madrid, Spain) 11. Policia d'Andorra (Andorra) 12. BorgWarner (Rzeszów, Poland) |  
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