5 times European Champions Romania have made history last weekend in Tunisia after winning an international 6 team tournament with Hungary, Portugal, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Iraq.
Romania who are a superpower in Europen Minifootball winning 5 consecutive European titles between 2011-2015, traveled to Tunisia for the International Champions Tournament, hosted and organized by the Tunisian Minifootball Federation. The event was part of the Tunisian preparation for the WMF Minifootball World Cup which will take place in August.
Romania drew Hungary and Iraq in the group stage and finished in 1st position after beating Iraq 6-0 and drawing 0-0 with Hungary. In the semi-final Romania beat Portugal 2-1 and went through to meet rivals and neighbors Hungary for the 2nd time. The final was a tough and tight match like the first meeting between the teams, but this time the Romanians managed to secure a 3-1 victory and win the title.
Attila Tackas, Romanian Minifootball Federation General Secretary was very happy after the final: “Its a great victory for the Romanian national team. This was a fantastic opportunity for Romania to test its strength on an international competition level and the boys gained important experience for the upcoming EURO.” Tackas who is also general secretary of EMF commented on the tournament’s contribution to Minifootball development as a sport: “We were happy to meet countries like Ivory Coast and Iraq, I think its a great thing to see the development of Minifootball across the European continent and beyond, with the sport getting to be bigger and bigger each year. We are always happy to help other countries development the game with our knowledge and experience.”
Finally Attila Tackas and the Romanian team are looking forward to return to Tunisia for the World Cup in August: “We thank the Tunisian Minifootball Association and president Achraf Ben Salha for the invitation and can’t wait to come back.”
Will Romaina be able to win the World Cup in Tunisia in August? Time will tell, but first they have the mission of trying to regain the European title in EURO 2017, coming up June 9th-17th in Brno, Czech Republic.