The 9th of September will mark the start of the first ever EMF Seniors Champions League. The European Minifootball Federation is expecting 12 teams of over-40 players from six countries to play for the trophy – from Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Montenegro and Bulgaria.
One of the teams who registered to participate at the first ever EMF Seniors Champions League is local club KMN Meteorplast. After winning the Slovenian Senior Minifootball Championship both in 2016 and 2017, KMN Meteorplast decided to step a league higher and challenge themselves at the EMF Seniors Champions League.
KMN Meteorplast has a long and amazing history. The team was founded in 1986 by a group of 13-14-year old local boys. They started playing together in junior futsal tournaments, and by the time the players of the team turned 16, KMN Meteorplast were regular participants of local and regional futsal tournaments.
After winning several futsal tournaments all around Slovenia, the team joined the second division of the Slovenian Futsal League. KMN Meteorplast won the league in the first year and continued to play in the first division for 8 successful years.
A lot of the team’s players became (11-a-side) football players after, and joined the Slovenian first and second Football League, some of them even making it to international levels. Now all the players are over-40, but they still want to play and show their best at the EMF Seniors Champions League – they want to reach the quarterfinal at least, stated by Saša Makoter, the General Manager and Owner of KMN Meteorplast.
Hungary will also be represented at the EMF Seniors Champions League by 1.FC Corrado, one of the country’s most outstanding minifootball teams, from Budapest’s XXI. district, Csepel.
The team was founded by László Pintye in 1996, who was the football player of Csepel SC between 1972 and 1980. The team’s history is closely linked to the history of football in the district, as 1. FC Corrado has always been heavily based on players from Csepel. 1. FC Corrado minifootball team mostly consists of players who started their careers playing in the junior teams of Csepel SC, while several of them even played in the Hungarian First or Second Division Football Leagues as well.
The majority of the players are now working as junior or adult football coaches, while playing minifootball actively with 1.FC Corrado. By participating at the EMF Seniors Champions League, 1.FC Corrado will try to add their part to the already successful history of Hungarian minifootball.
The EMF Seniors Champions League will take place between the 9th and 11th of September in Terme Čatež, with the group stages being played on the Saturday and Sunday, while the knock-out stage will finish on Monday.