After the success of last year’s inaugural competition, it took two in Liverpool, as the best male and female 5-a-side teams in the country battled it out for supremacy.

In the end, it was the underdogs Kings 5 and Cov Uni who beat off the competition to be crowned the best men and women’s side in the country. In doing so, they secured themselves a spot at the World Finals, set to take place in São Paulo from 12- 13th July.

Following in the footsteps of The Eagles last year, the team will now represent the UK at the Global Finals and will also enjoy the unique opportunity of meeting the Brazilian superstar in his own backyard. 

In what was a fascinating tournament, it was Cov Uni who claimed a 4-1 victory in an end-to-end and Kings 5s who claimed a dominant 5-0 victory final played at Bramley-More Dock.

Cov Uni captain, Daniella Granato, said: “It’s hard to put it into words really – we are all still in shock. We came in here as the underdogs and I’m just so proud of the girls considering the dropouts we had. We’ve got a really strong side and I don’t see why we can’t win in Brazil. The girls were all saying what an amazing experience it will be to meet Neymar as well, so we just can’t wait now.”

Kings 5s captain, Reion McFarlane, said: “To lose in the National Final last year was absolutely heart-breaking so that makes this extra special. We came here not only to make amends but to prove that we are the best team in the UK and we did exactly that. We’re obviously buzzing to head over to Brazil now and hopefully, we’ll get the chance to not only meet Neymar but win the competition as well!”

Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five is a concept that was dreamt up by the Brazilian forward himself. Fast-paced, unique and fun; the format gives sides 10 minutes to eliminate their opponents by scoring, with each goal leading to the opposition losing a player. After 10 minutes, the team with the most amount of players left on the pitch wins. However, if tied after 10 minutes, the tie is settled by a 1v1 knockout. 

With qualifiers taking place across 48 countries and six continents, Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five is the biggest 5-a-side football tournament in the world in terms of locations and participants. For Cov Uni, all roads now lead to Brazil as they will look to go one step further than The Eagles who crashed out in the knockout phases last year. After Brazil’s very own Resenha 013 became the inaugural women’s world champions in 2018, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top at the Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr in Praia Grande, on July 13th this year.

To find out if Cov Uni and Kings Fives can do it, you can use #redbullneymarjrsfive to follow all the action in Brazil as GiveMeSport Women will be in Brazil with RedBull to bring you all the latest.