A team of Portuguese Catholic priests has achieved European footballing glory for the second year in a row, winning 2016’s European Futsal Championship of Priests on Thursday (February 4), beating Poland 2-1 in the final.
It was a flawless tournament for the Portuguese team, beating Italy and Ukraine 2-0 in the group stages of the competition, followed by wins in the quarter finals against Belarus (5-0) and in the semi finals against Bosnia (2-0).
The team includes priests from Porto, Lamego, Vila Real, Viana do Castelo and Braga and was coached by Porto priest Manuel Fernando.
Portugal won the title last year in Austria.
The tournament was created in 2003, again in Austria, “out of the desire for a friendly competition that would unite priests around soccer”.
Now, it is considered “one of the biggest sports events of the Christian world.”
