STREET football teams from all over the country descended on Bolton on Sunday for a fast and furious soccer competition with a difference.

The freestyle skill-based sport is popular across Europe, especially in Holland, and is now starting to catch on in the UK.

The teams on Sunday played panna, one of the most popular variants of the game, in which the object is to nutmeg your opponents as well as score goals.

The name is derived from the Dutch and Surinamese word for a nutmeg.

The competition was set to a backdrop of loud hip-hop music being pumped into the arena by DJ L Double.

A single fast-paced three-a-side game, played in a small walled arena, lasts just three minutes - the length of one musical track.

Teams from Bolton, Gateshead, Liverpool, Preston and Aberdeen were among those competing for the top spot on Sunday in Harper Green Leisure Centre, Farnworth.

The day was eventually won by a team called Phillip Kevin Boyle, from Gateshead, named in honour of one of their team members who did not turn up.

They beat New Bury’s NBC in the final.

The event was organised by junior football team manager Martin O’Gorman.

He said: “It was absolutely brilliant. The feedback on the day off all the lads was all really good. Some of them said ‘why can’t we have this every week - we’d be down here all the time’.

“There were some really good skills on display. One team, Breightmet Elite, was really turning on the style at the end.”

Sunday’s final was preceded by a street football open day on Saturday, in which youngsters were invited to give the sport a go and learn skills from professional street football coaches.