The Pan European Football Championship took place in A Coruña, Spain this year being the final tournament of the season. Our ladies’ football team had great success and continued their unbeaten streak by completing the double on the day, winning the Senior and Intermediate Championship. The Belgium men’s team were competing in the senior championship, where they qualified for the semi finals but lost to the Champions of the day.
The Belgium GAA men’s football team made the trip to Galicia fielding one team that had a great quality of players. They won their first game against Berlin, beating them by a point with a final score of 0:09 – 1:05. A tougher task was ahead in the next group game where they fell short of Valencia 0:04 – 2:03. The men still managed to qualify out of their group finishing 2nd and were drawn against a strong Madrid team in the senior semi final. The eventual champions of the day were too strong for the Belgium side and lost to Madrid 0:04-0:10.
The Belgium GAA ladies’ team were at full strength as they brought two teams to the Galician province, where both squads were competing in the Senior and Intermediate Championship. Belgium ‘B’ lost their first game of the day to Aurlense/Herderlas with a final score of 0:05-1:05. In their 2nd match of the group, Belgium ‘B’ overcame Nantes 2:03-2:02. This meant that Belgium ‘B’ qualified for the semi final of the Intermediate Championship where they were drawn against Fillas. The teams could not be split at full time, but the women managed to beat Fillas after extra time by one point. In the final, Belgium ‘B’ showed a great performance as they overcame Paris to win the Pan European Intermediate Championship.
Belgium ‘A’ started their morning by having comfortable wins against Independiente and Estrela. This meant that Belgium ‘A’ topped their group qualifying for the senior semi final where they overcame Madrid Harps. It was a repeat of the last Pan European Senior Final in 2019, Belgium vs Warsaw. With torrential rain throughout the whole day, the women knew this would be one of their toughest fixtures of the year. At half time, Belgium were leading after two well-taken goals from Clara Lambert with a score of 2:02 – 0:05. In the 2nd half, the women dug deep to keep that 3-point lead intact and won the Pan European Champions with a final score of 2:05 – 1:05. If you missed the final, you can watch the replay of the full stream here: http://www.crtvg.es/tvg/a-carta/futbol-gaelico-final-feminina-cpto-europa-de-clubs-5847561?t=990
Overall, it was another successful day for the women of Belgium GAA where they won every competition they participated in this season. This is a huge achievement for them which has the Belgium Ladies Football team as the most successful team, across all codes, in Europe winning 13 Pan European Championships. It was also great to have the GAA President, Larry McCarthy, and the LGFA President, Michael Naughton present on the day to see this historical achievement. Congratulations to Florina Tobon Escobar for being awarded the Senior player of the tournament and Aisling (from Rennes but played with Belgium B) for winning the Intermediate player of the tournament!
For the Men’s team, the year has come to an end with one of the highlights of the season winning at the first tournament of the year in Maastricht. For the Belgium GAA Ladies’ football team, the season is not over yet as they are competing in the All Ireland Junior Championship against the British Champions on November 5/6th (venue TBC). Best of luck to all involved in that fixture and the club have your full support!
Belgium GAA 
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