Thirty Routes Europe delegates took to the pitch on Sunday morning at the Round Stadium (Körcsarnok) to contend in Budapest Airport’s 5-a-side football tournament. Routesonline’s Catherine Makrandreou was in the stands to bring this report…

Separated into five teams, the mood was spirited yet congenial, as the delegates traded their suits for football shorts and some healthy competition. The round robin tournament saw each team playing four matches and culminated in a final showdown between the Green and White teams. Budapest Airport’s Sandor Saly led the Green team to victory in a 1-0 nail-biter, with colleague Marton Vadja scoring the winning goal, a 20-yard ‘pile-driver.’

Notching up convincing victories (3-0 and 2-0) against the Blue and Red teams respectively, the White team made their way to the final in style, creating several scoring chances. The Green team had a more challenging route to the final, winning 1-NIL against the Yellow team and securing a late goal in the tenth and final match of the qualifiers against the Red team.

Budapest Airport’s Aviation Director, Kam Jandu, summed up the rationale motivating the tournament. “Sport brings people together from many different cultures - and there is no bigger sport globally than football - so it naturally fits for us to host this event in combination with the Routes conference, which is also a gathering of different cultures. Most of all, we hope that the players score as many personal goals [today] as they do business goals throughout the conference!”

Scoring four of the White team’s five goals and top goal-scorer of the tournament, Vyacheslav Cheglatonyev, Commercial Director at Lviv International Airport, is awarded the title of The HUB’s ‘Man of the Match.’ Dedicating each of his four goals to his family, Lviv International Airport, Eric Cantona and Sir Alex Ferguson respectively, Cheglatonyev remarked that his top scorer status makes him “feel like Eric Cantona!”

The Green Team was elated by their win, all members acknowledging that their success was thanks to a team effort. Green team player Mark Evenden from Dublin Airport was pleased to participate in the pre-event tournament, commenting “it was great to network and lots of fun – winning was an added bonus.”

easyJet’s Robert Cullemore said that the tournament was “an invigorating start [to Routes Europe]” and jumped at the chance to participate due to his love of football. Echoing their sentiments, Toulouse Airport’s Akram Troussieux commented that “it was a great team experience” and “extremely well-organized.”

*The HUB would like to thank and acknowledge Nikolett Huszák, Airline Marketing Specialist at Budapest Airport for organising a fantastic tournament.