The Almelo City Cup 2025
Predictive verse: Phil C
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| Rico K (coordinator), Andy S, Terry Mc, Graham N, Nigel L. Jon H, Mark K (captain), Paul W. |
Spoiler Alert
Calne Town WFC finished as runners up in the Hendrie Krüzen Cup (Who?) at this years Almelo City Cup competition at Herecles Almelo, Asito Stadion.
It meant that we returned with silverware for the third successive year and improving on the previous two consecutive third place finishes.
A squad comprising Mark Kirkman, Jon Hayton, Graham Newland, Andy Stone, Nigel Loveless, Terry McCosh and international debutant Paul Wigelsworth performed very well against opposition from England, Germany, Belgium, Poland and Denmark as well as the host country, the Netherlands.
Before we kick-off it's worth knowing about a few key differences in the LOTG in this competition, compared to the FA WFLOTG; the goals are smaller and lower, there is no goalkeeper, there is no goal area, the ball is dead when above hip height, a free-kick, side-kick or corner-kick can be dribbled into play, and a penalty is taken from the halfway spot at an empty goal.
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| In the shadow of the Asito Stadion, Almelo. |
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| CTWFC flag and proud flag bearers. |
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| Representatives of the 32 men's & 12 women's teams, and the 13 referees. |
Dag Één
On day one we played against some very tough opponents, two of whom progressed to the Everton Ramos da Silva competition both finishing in the top 5 positions and the hosts - Gold Stars Heracles 1 - who would eventually go on to win the Hendrie Krüzen Cup.
In our opening game against Rosomok Lodz from Poland, we made a good start, going ahead with Paul’s crisp finish from a well-judged pass from Terry. What followed was a difficult period with three goals for our opponents, including one when we were in the process of making a substitution as Andy had suffered an ankle injury. It was a lesson learnt in the use of rolling substitutions and not waiting for the permission of the referee.
Our second game was an eight goal thriller against Gold Stars Heracles 1 finishing 4 v 4 and featuring 2 x 2 goal comebacks from us, as were behind both 0 v 2 and 2 v 4. Another lesson learnt when the ball hit the half-way cone and remained in play, while we expected a kick-in the opposition moved quickly to score their third goal!
Our goal scorers were Paul with two excellent finishes including a cheeky back-heel, Mark and then Terry with a last-minute penalty equaliser following a handball denying a clear goal bound shot. Pressure what pressure!
Our final game on day one was a 0 v 1 defeat against SSV Sung from Germany. We set up to defend more robustly than in our previous game and the tactic very nearly paid dividends as we held out until conceding a late goal.
Dag Twee
Finishing 3rd in our group meant qualification for the Hendrie Kluzen Cup and set up an interesting 2nd day, which started with a 2 v 0 win against OHL Old Stars from Belgium, with two quality finishes from Mark and Nigel. We completely dominated, with Graham, in particular, being very unlucky with an excellent shot from distance which hit the inside of the post.
We then hit six against SV DRL with a very late consolation from the Dutch opponents. Goal scorers were hat-trick hero Terry with Paul, Mark and a clearly delighted Andy, who came on as sub even though still not fully recovered from his injury on day one, adding to the tally.
Our final game against Sonderborg Boldklub from Denmark resulted in a 3 v 0 win for us with two goals from Paul and one from Terry, meaning we topped the group with 9 points from three games securing a place in the semi-finals.
The semi-final against Billericay was a 0 v 0 draw with few chances created by either side. A nervous few minutes followed before we were confirmed as the winners, care of a higher fair play score (not for the first time at Almelo), voted throughout the tournament by the referees and other officials.
The final against Gold Stars Heracles was a 1 v 4 reverse against our hosts, who were the better team on the day and deserved winners. Our late consolation goal was scored by Mark, but the game was already lost by that stage.
Although a disappointing end to the tournament, it was a magnificent effort by all the players, with particular mention to Jon, who performed brilliantly in defending our goal, as well as organising and running matters off the pitch.
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| Collecting the 2e prijs Hendrie Krüzen Cup trophy. Presented by Hendrie Krüzen! |
Bedankt!
Thanks to our sponsors Omnium and Nicola, as well as all the other very supportive WAPS (wives and partners!), including Tina, who watched every game and kept us informed of the qualification permutations at every stage!
And... a special thanks to Rico, our team coordinator.
Thanks also to the organisers, refs, participants and support staff.
Congratulations to the winners of the men's Everton Ramos da Silva Competition - LKS Łódź (PL) & the Hendrie Krüzen Competition - Gold Star Heracles 1 (NL), the women's Elly Wensink Competition - Droylsden (UK) & the Jannie Van Leeuwen Competition - Stars Łódź (PL), and the Ben Hulshof Fair Play Cup - Gold Star Heracles 2 (NL).
See you again next year!
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| Photo: Andy S. |
In A Nutshell
We travelled, we ate and drank freely... scored some goals, conceded a few, did brill, won a cup... football is the winner!
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| Our friends and neighbours Melksham (in blue) collected the 3e prijs trophy. |
For a deeper dive into Almelo City Cup, visit the ACC fb page and the ACC website. And you can download the Tournify app and search 'Herecles Almelo City Cup 2025' for all the results.
