The Birds would barely miss out on the knockout stages of the Trophy of Legends despite winning both matches on the third day, finishing 82nd of 7342 participants with seven victories and a single defeat. Estonian Meistriliiga challengers FC Luttijad - who had also won the Eesti Karikas two seasons ago - were Grilled's first victims, and largely at the feet of Chan Ze Han, who sparkled with a hat-trick in a 5-1 thumping. FC Luttijad were actually more than capable all over, but there was no stopping Chan in that sort of mood. French striker Thomas Ballin secured their consolation with a perfectly-timed dash past Jeftić.

Although it remained highly probably that Grilled would miss out even with another win, due to the qualifying criteria being based on the round of their loss, the Birds would still give their all in the final game against German Division Six team Fürstenberg 49ers. A 4-0 result was on the cards after Mateja Jeftić converted a 32nd minute penalty to break their resistance, with Bilal Mohammad Harun heading home in injury time to round it off. Alas, it was indeed not enough.

Kalle ter Berg felt that it had been a fine tournament for all that. "It was tough luck meeting FC VPA that early on, but we beat some excellent teams elsewise. Good sign for next season."

The Farmer Bunnies were 236th of 2494 clubs, with a 5-2-1 record, as they also concluded with two wins, and without conceding at all. Swiss VI.379 winners Pirates of Boniswil played right into the Buns' hands, with Maurizio Bombaci continually neutralized by the defence, and two good counters towards the end was all it took. Lim Su Liang came in to score off Vishnu Tallapaka's run up the right side in the 61st minute, and Tallapaka would repeat with a cross to Mushtag Al-Nameeri.

Tallapaka then turned matchwinner against Dutch fifth divisioners De Zeezuipers, with a 54th minute free-kick going in against the Amsterdam side. German goalkeeper Stamatis Markatos was sure that the referee hadn't allowed the kick to be taken, but he would be badly mistaken.

Grilled International's fate would be high-scoring draws as they finished 1333rd of 5858 hopefuls in the Heroes of 2017 Trophy, the first a 5-5 rollercoaster against Andorran H.I. IV.50 side Robophobia. Seemingly down and out after Enzo Riebel gave the opponents a 3-1 lead, they had Didi Reidenbach's reply in turn smothered as Robophobia went 5-2 up in the 60th minute. It would be the Andorrans hanging on for dear life in the last ten minutes, against all odds, as Osertz Indurain led an eye-popping rally for International.

The same pattern would be seen against another H.I. club in Italy's Barbieri international, as the fellow Division Four competitors too went 3-1 up, in the 58th minute from a Sebastian Murena run. Fausto Perono answered with a bending free-kick, though, and yes, it was Indurain again having Barbieri on the ropes.

The man was disappointed that International had not managed to follow through for the win on either occasion, however. "We ran out of time."