A first tournament in Valparaiso

From left to right: Flavio Riccomagno, Marco Galindo, Fernando López, Rodrigo López, Benito López, Ignacio López and Andrés Torres.

On October 10 seven players attended the very first tournament played in Valparaiso, Chile under WASPA banner. There were some new players from Chile and there was a special mention for Benito López who is only 11 years old but he is a very enthusiastic young subbuteo player who showed lots of skills. Ignacio Lopez Campbell also reported that he expects more tournaments to be played in Viña del Mar and in Valparaíso in the future. Both cities are “next door” neighbours and there are good plans to work together.

As for the tournament, Flavio Riccomagno defeated Rodrigo López in the final to claim the trophy. Congratulations!

Flavio Riccomagno winner in Chile

Enrique López vs Fernando López

Rodrigo López, Enrique López, Fernando López, Ignacio López and Flavio Riccomagno

Last Sunday a little subbuteo tournament was held in Viña del Mar, Chile. It was a great tournament with many close games. Flavio Riccomagno took the honors with 2 wins and 2 draws in a group of 5 players. Ignacio López reported things are moving in Chile and there might be another tournament soon with more players involved.

New Zealand has international flickers in Palmerston North

The was a Subbuteo tournament on September 23, 2017 in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The tournament was organized by Ignacio López who is the main organizer in the country. 8 players from 5 different nationalities (Chile, new Zealand, Colombia, Germany and... India) were taking part. In the final, it was a family affair between Ignacio López and his daughter Emilia and Ignacio won the game (1-0). Semi-finalists were representatives from "exotic" countries as Carlos Montoya from Colombia and Sunmeet Bhatia from India were on the podium. There are good hopes to see more events in the future in New Zealand and a closer collaboration with players from Australia.

22 players in a tournament in Chile

Records have been broken last saturday in Valdivia where 22 players competed in the "campeonato de otoño de Subbuteo", one of the big moments of the season in the small community of Subbuteo fans in Chile. 18 players competed in the Open section while 4 players played in the junior category. Emilia López was the best junior, winning her three group games to claim the title.

Emilia Lopez was the best junior

The Open category was a bit more open with players dropped in four groups and many close games ended on draws. Among the competitors, there were three players defending the colors of Colombia, one from Ecuador and one from New Zealand, which means it was a real international event.

After the group stage, top players of each group played the semi-finals. Rafael Ardila from Colombia defeated Rodrigo Arias on shots after a draw (1-1) while Ignacio López beat Sergio Vallejos (2-1). Ignacio López was not only the organizer of the tournament as he also won the final, defeating Rafael Ardila (2-0) while Rodrigo Arias finished third and Sergio Vallejos was fourth.

The final

Congratulations to all the players involved. Pictures of the tournament say more than words to explain that the event was mainly played under a very positive and fair spirit. After all, this is how Subbuteo should always be.

Some more pictures...

Big fun in Chile

10 players met this saturday for the "CAMPEONATO DE PRIMAVERA 2014" in Valdivia, Chile. As always, it was a very international tournament with one representative from New Zealand and two from the USA. Players were dropped in 2 groups of 5 with 2 players qulifiying from each group.In the end, Ignacio López beat Emilia López in the final to claim the (beautiful) trophy. Rodrigo Arias Sergio Vallejos reached the semis. The big fun between players was more important than the results. Congratulations to all.

International news

Some short news from around the Subbuteo world

the Netherlands: the for second year, the club of GSV de Hyacinth will organize a tournament called "COBEX / Top of Holland Tournament" on May 16, 2015. The format of the tournament will be the same as last year and will count for the WASPA circuit. Interested players can contact Jacob Bijlstra at jacobbijsltra@hotmail.com

England: the Sliders Tour 2015 will be played in a new format with four tournaments in four different cities; here is the poster of the event and it seems it will be very exciting.

Belgium: Vincent Guyaux, who is playing this season for the Maltese club of Bormla SC, has been elected as new president of the Belgian association. This is very positive for the WASPA circuit as Vincent has done a lot for the sport and he's also supporting all kind of tournaments, at high or low level. Congratulations and good luck.

Gregorio and Ignacio

Argentina: a recent meeting between Buenos Aires's Gregorio Caro Solis and Chile's Ignacio Lopez Campbell could not happen without a subbuteo game. It is very positive to see every opportunity to play an international friendly is taken. Nobody reported the name of the winner though :)

The US: the ASA National will take place on August 8 in Chicago. The next day there will also be an International Open under FISTF banner. To make things exciting for all visitors, there will be a WASPA tournament on saturday afternoon. Hopefully some foreign players will be able to make it.

South Africa: things are moving in the South as there are now different active clubs. The Pretoria Flickers are the most active club in the country right now but Johannesburg and Cape Town (Cape Town City TFC) are also on the up and there are good signs coming up from Verulam in the Province of Natal to have a fourth active club (Verulam Vipers TFC). There will be a tournament again in Johannesburg on December 13. The day will be very important as there will be an AGM of the South Africa association after the tourney to put certain permanent structures in place.

Jurong Central SC players

Singapore: the Jurong Central Subbuteo Club has new premises and new goals for the future. These goals are defined as follows:
1. To be the top club in Singapore
2. To mould club players into effective and competitive table football players
3. To be transparent in club management and organise professional and enjoyable table football events for club players
4. To foster a strong relationship with the community by introducing the sport in schools and community events
5. To encourage and participate in local and international tournaments
6. To continuously have club players being highlighted in the top 10 of Singapore Table Football rankings, top 100 of WASPA ranking and top 300 of FISTF ranking.
Good luck to all JCSC players!

Canada: here is a picture of a nucleus in the Tsawassen/South Delta BC league. Jon Rogers, Mark Rogers, Casey Cumisky and Stuart Neely are on the picture

Busy week-end: there will be a lot of WASPA tournaments this week-end. We'll soon publish the news from Couldson (England), Macerata (Italy), Heckmondwike (England), Valdivia (Chile), Parramatta (Australia), Ebreichsdorf (Austria), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Glasgow (Scotland). Stay tuned!

(Published by Vincent Coppenolle, vincent.cop@rsca.com)

Ignacio López Campbell wins in Valdivia

The "Winter tournament" took place this saturday in Valdivia (Chile). The event was played by 8 players from 3 nationalities (one from the US, one from New Zealand) but the winner was not a surprise as Ignacio López Campbell beat Abigail Warner in the final (2-1). Emilia López  and Alfredo Erlwein were the smei-finalists! Congratulations to all.