High fives for our winning five-a-side teams

SOUTH Africa’s five-a-side teams put on dominant displays at the Five-ASide World Championship hosted at Fives Futbol in Century City over the weekend.

The men celebrated a 5-2 victory over a strong Colombian team in a nail-biting final, while the women enjoyed a 3-2 home-soil victory in extra time over their Chinese rivals.

“It was fantastic to watch our local fives teams put on such an impressive display over the weekend and each walk home with deserving wins,” said Fives Futbol chief executive Adam Fine. “The level of talent globally in this tournament is at an all-time high, which really puts into perspective the impressive victories by our teams.

“I am such an advocate of the sport. It’s been incredible to watch the South African talent and development over the past few years,” Fine said.

South Africa was announced as hosts of the sixth annual Five-A-SideWorld Championship for the second consecutive year.

As the biggest amateur football event in the world, the tournament attracted McDonald’s South Africa as title sponsor, and other big name sponsors, Powerade, Totalsports, IOL, Budweiser and ISPS Handa.

This year’s championship kicked off at the beginning of the year with more than 150 000 players competing in knock-out games from 27 countries in a six-month-long qualifying league.

Twenty-seven teams from across the world headed to Cape Town to participate in the finals this past weekend.

For more information on five-aside football, see https://f5wc.com/