Marco Zucchi wins in Hungary

Marco Zucchi in action

There was subbuteo action last Friday in Köszeg, Hungary where a few players met to prepare the Austrian team championship and it was nice to see them competing under WASPA banner. Marco Zucchi finished on top of a group of 4 while Gábor Baross was runner-up, Lászlo Csibor was 3rd and András Hicz took the 4th place.

Trevor Schott on top in North Wales

A part of the players

Action at the Parrot

Trevor Schott won the final

Last Sunday London Road Subbuteo Club was holding the monthly WASPA regional tournament with a new record of 13 entries. On of them was the club's new member Martin Blanchard. Organizers decided to do their best to give as many games as possible to everyone so the first round was played with two groups of 6 and 7 players. After the group stage, the top four players from each group qualified for the last 8 round. In the end, there was a surprising final between Trevor Schott and Tony McCann while usal finalists Brian Daley and Richard Stock were stopped in the semis. Trevor won the final (3-0) to claim the title. Yani Kelly defeated Cayne Matthews on shots in the Plate final.

The club's next WASPA regional tournament will be held at the Parrot, Drury on March 18.

Lincoln Flickers Copa Libertadores

WASPA event 3 - February 25, 2018
Mathew Atkin (River Plate) wins his first Lincoln tournament after a closely fought contest with Andrew Garbutt (Flamengo) which ended goalless after golden goal extra-time. Atkin kept his cool winning on shots 3-1.

The players

Jeremy Boothman (Peñarol) took third spot with a 3-1 win over Andy Boyer (Independiente).

The Plate competition was won by Richard Meddings who narrowly missed out on the semis losing to Andy Boyer in play-off shots also 1-3. Rich went on to win 2 and draw one of his Plate games.

Richard Meddings (Internacional) W2 D1 7pts
Connor Atkin (Chapecoense) W1 D1 4pts (beat Santos 2-0 on shots after a golden goal play-off)
Clinton J Simpson (Santos) W1 D1 4pts (new WASPA player – Lincoln Flickers)
John Devaney (São Paulo) D3 3pts
Cameron Simpson (Atlético Juniors) D2 2 pts (new WASPA player – Lincoln Flickers)

The final

Well done to everyone. It is good to see young Connor’s game developing well, threatening coming forward! Good also to see Cameron and dad, Clint, at their first WASPA event; early days and showing lots of promise – shame the new teams hadn’t arrived in time. John Devaney bravely played with Old Subbuteo including his flats having just missed out on a chance to go through to the semis on goals he had three goalless games in the Plate.

Thanks to all the members of the club who took some interest in the event and the squash players who helped with the store cupboard! Final thanks to Julia running the bar.

Next event is the Eostre Cup, 22 April.

Fernando Gomez wins another MontGoal Tournament

Fernando wins the trophy

On Saturday there was some action again in Spain as the club of Marina Citerior was holding the 4th MontGoal Tournament. It was a good event with seven players, a total of 25 matches played and the participation of two of the winners of the Spanish Championship by the Spanish Table Soccer Association, Alex Iliev and Stefka Pirova. A league formula was played and then the semi-finals between the first four and the finals. The clear winner was Fernando Gómez, followed by Pedro Benavente and Pasquale Carrassi third. The Hall of Honor is now two victories each for Pasquale and Fernando. The Peter Adolph cup will be assigned to the first  player able to reach a total of five victories.

Final table:
1. Fernando Gomez (Spain)
2. Pedro Benavente (Spain)
3. Pasquale Carrassi (Italy)
4. Alex Iliev (Bulgaria)
5. David Mc Aulay (Scotland)
6. Stefka Pirova (Bulgaria)
7. Lisa Carrassi (Italy)

Promotional event

To be noted Marina Citerior Subbuteo Club also held a small promotional tournament earlier this month with three players. Pasquale Carrassi finished on top of the group while David Mc Aulay was runner-up and Lisa Carrassi took the third place.

The Winter cup for Mark McCrossan

Last Monday Derry City TFC was holding a Winter Cup with six players involved. Organizers decided to use a new format with three ties between players, with home and away. An extra point was added for winning a tie between players. A final was then played with top two. Mark McCrossan winner on shots following a scoreless draw.

Table
Martinog Bradley - 21
Mark McCrossan - 19
Craig Stewart - 11
Brendan Rodgers - 5
Lawrence Watson - 4
Patrick McKeever - 0

Final
Martinog Bradley - Mark McCrossan 0-0 (1-3)

A first test match in Florida

A test match was conducted between Dario Passadore and Bryan Arnold, members of the American Subbuteo Association, on February 16th. Dario, of the Florida Sharks Subbuteo Club, showed his great skill and style during each of his three wins on the day. A spirited defense and counter attacking were offered by Bryan, of the NoVA Union Subbuteo Club, but he was never able to present more competitiveness against his opponent, a long time Subbuteo player.

Test Match scores:
Dario 6-1 Bryan
Dario 3-1 Bryan
Dario 3-1 Bryan

George Ebejer wins in Attard

Attard Subbuteo Club was back in action last Sunday. The Maltese guys had their first tournament of the season with a great turnout of 12. George Ebejer managed to win the tournament. The Bormla player defeated Miguel Zahra in the final. Thomas Ebejer and Stanley Farrugia Randon were the semi-finalists. There will be another tournament in Attard on February 25. Interested players can contact Joseph Debono at jmdebono@onvol.net
Special thanks to William Attard for the beautiful pictures.

Davide Visani is a winner in Firenze

Last monday the club of Firenze had another great tournament with 17 players involved. It was nice to see players from the Italian club competing in a fair spirit.

Davide Visani defeated Luca Pini in the final and Marco Bonciani and Matteo Cherici managed to reach the semi-finals.

Congratulations to all the players involved.

TFAS League 2018 Match Day 2

The second TFAS League session for 2018 kicked off with seven players on 11 February. It was to safe to say that all the players for this month’s League session are quite equally matched, with goal galore and several tight matches!
A 4-round Swiss System was played. Results were exciting, and after the third round, five of the players were fighting for top spot! Anas and Rudy were on top with 7 points each, Den was close behind with 6 points. Michael and Bernard were not so far behind with 4 points.
Rudy managed to win his final game against Haikal by a close shave, while Anas failed to do the same, with a 1-1 draw against Nic. Hence Rudy came out tops!
Den was surprisingly outplayed by Bernard, converting his potential 2nd place finish into 5th.

Results are as follows:
Nic 1 v 2 Michael
Haikal 1 v 3 Bernard
Anas 2 v 1 Den
Rudy 1 v 0 Bye
Bernard 2 v 2 Michael
Rudy 0 v 0 Anas
Nic 1 v 2 Den
Haikal 1 v 0 Bye
Haikal 3 v 4 Den
Anas 4 v 2 Bernard
Rudy 2 v 1 Michael
Nic 1 v 0 Bye
Anas 1 v 1 Nic
Bernard 3 v 1 Den
Rudy 1 v 0 Haikal
Michael 1 v 0 Bye

Standings
1. Rudy
2. Anas
3. Bernard
4. Michael
5. Den
6. Nic
7. Haikal

Dan Nicholls wins in Knighton

Five players attended the WASPA regional event held in Knighton on Sunday. Dan Nicholls finished on top with 12 points while Danny Bird was runner-up with 9 points. The next event in Wales will be the London Road tournament in Drury next Sunday.

Final standings:
1. Dan Nicholls (Knighton TFC)
2. Danny Bird (London Road SC)
3. Tom Taylor (Knighton TFC)
4. Kenny Evans (Knighton TFC)
5. Nick Stimpson (Knighton TFC)

Jean Grosdent wins in Bande

There was a small WASPA tournament with six players involved last Friday in Bande, Belgium. The players competed in a round robin so that everyone had 5 games. Jean Grosdent finished on top with 13 points while his childrens Henri (12) and Aurore (10) also finished on the podium. Giulio Bonfanti was 4th, finishing ahead of Philippe Thys and Maxim Grosdent. A good evening and a great way to prepare the national interclubs day to be played on the next day.

Sydney TFC tournament - February 2018

On Tuesday 13 february we played our monthly WASPA tournament at our club house in Burwood.
7 Players all up were battling out to claim the tournament.
It was very good seeing Oliver Ollnow and Torben Pfister (Northern Falcons) playing very well not conceding much to players as Daniele Lombardi, Fabrizio Coco, Tony Credentino, Hermann Kruse and Kostas Barbaris. So very well done guys!!!
However, Daniele Lombardi has imposed his signature on this tournament, climing it beating in final Fabrizio Coco 3-1 after an intense final which has seen Daniele leading 2-0. Than, Fabrizio came back a few minutes to the end of the game taking out his "cazzimma" but, trying to equalise Daniele scored the goal that closed definitely the match on 3-1.
Congratulations and very well done to all who made this tournament possible, we'll see you next month for another waspa hosted by Sydney TFC!
Stay tuned for updates guys!

(Report by Fabrizio Coco)

The 9th Trieste Cup for Sandro Ceppi

Our friend Davorin Korosec reports the 9th edition of the Triste Cup was held this week with a great field of 8 players. Players were dropped into 2 groups of 4. Sandro Ceppi of the neighboring club DLF Gorizia took the honors after defeating Davorin in the final on shots. Orazio Torrisi and Diego Giorio were stopped in the semi-finals. In March the 10th tournament in Trieste will probably be even bigger but the exact date will be confirmed soon.

Geoffrey Marain best of 18 in Templeuve

Top 3 of the evening: Steffen Despretz - Geoffrey Marain - Matthias Averlant

5 of the 6 juniors involved 

Five veterans playing with the younger generation

The players

The monthly tournament in Templeuve had a great field of 18 on tuesday with 6 players from AS Hennuyer and 3 from Tournai visiting the Templeuve club. Geoffrey Marain won the event with no surprise as he won his four games while clubmate Steffen Despretz was runner-up and Matthias Averlant was the best Junior. The U19 Templeuve player finishe din third position with 9 points. There were 2 French players and also a total of 5 juniors. it was nice to see Kevin Bonvarlet's first appearance in a tournament and the come-back of jean-Luc Canfin after a long Hyatus. Thanks to all the players involved!

Final standings:
1. Geoffrey Marain (BEL/AS Hennuyer)
2. Steffen Despretz (BEL/AS Hennuyer)
3. Matthias Averlant (BEL/Templeuve)
4. Michaël Dupret (BEL/Tournai)
5. Vincent Coppenolle (BEL/Templeuve)
6. Corentin Boltz (BEL/AS Hennuyer)
7. Alain Flament (BEL/SCAF Quévy)
8. Benoit Lagneau (BEL/AS Hennuyer)
9ea André Boltz (BEL/AS Hennuyer)
9ea Jean-Luc Canfin (BEL/Tournai)
11. Franck Santer (FRA/Templeuve)
12. Léa Despretz (BEL/AS Hennuyer)
13. Eric Caillaux (FRA/Templeuve)
14. Florian Renaut (BEL/Templeuve)
15. Benjamin Marain (BEL/Warcoing Ducks)
16ea Julie Taquin (BEL/Templeuve)
16ea Jordan Bonte (BEL/Templeuve)
18. Kevin Bonvarlet (BEL/Tournai)

Subbuteo Parramatta – February 2018 WASPA

Subbuteo Parramatta’s February WASPA tournament saw 4 of the club’s stalwarts head to the clubhouse at Bella Vista to battle out a very tight competition. Richard Wilson immediately put himself in the bad books by loudly declaring that this would be his first tournament officially as an Illawarra Table Football Club player – he had abandoned the club that had given him so much in getting him back into the game. On top of this, he was also getting his board, long stored at the clubhouse, and taking it home to Kiama at the end of the night. Not a good way to get onside with his opponents.

The first round of games saw Mat Barrie completely dominate Dave Sultana only to find that the woodwork was harder to beat than Dave’s ‘keeper. In the end, the woodwork proved to be the winner, a 0-0 scoreline ensuing. On the Extreme pitch, Adrian Elmer was in unfamiliar territory, dominating his opponent, Richard, instead of spending much of the game defending, as is his usual game plan. A number of half chances were easily batted away by Richard’s ‘keeper until, 20 seconds before the half time break, Richard made a swift counter attack and, with his first shot on goal of the game, went 1-0 up. Adrian equalised early in the second, before Richard took a decisive leave with a couple of minutes to go with a mishit shot that trickled inside the far post beyond Adrian’s stagnant ‘keeper. 2-1 to Richard.

Round two saw a couple of dour struggles. Adrian and Dave did their best to not upset the other’s ‘keeper in any way and finished at 0-0. Richard went to the half time break 1-0 up in his match against Mat though, again, had been dominated by his opponent. Mat got the equaliser he was looking for in the second half and the game finished at 1-1.

Going into the final round, everything was still to play for. A win to Richard would see him take the title and, with his opponent, Dave, yet to register a goal, was the clear favourite. Mat needed a big win and results to go his way on the other pitch and started strongly against Adrian. However, late in the half, and intricate dribbling sequence by Adrian’s attackers through Mat’s defence saw Adrian slip a goal past Mat’s stunned ‘keeper. Mat came out more determined in the second half and piled on some pressure, the game opening up. However, with time ticking away, things were slipping out of Mat’s hands. With 20 seconds to go in the game, Mat earned a flick in deep in his own area and mounted a quick attack. However, a rule debate saw the clock stopped and a deep discussion amongst the four players ensuing. In the end, the decision was made to replay the scenario with the time reinstalled. Mat took off – but forgot to touch the ball with his second flick. Adrian swiftly moved forward, got into the shooting area in one sweeping movement and put the ball in Mat’s goal with the final action of the game. One the Astrobase pitch, a tense struggle took place, with neither player being able to get on top in the first half. In the second half, though, the unbelievable happened, Dave finally bothering the scorer! He held on for a famous victory, throwing the entire table into chaos. When the dust settled, all realised that Dave had emerged as the tournament victor. All that was left was to work out the minor placings. Adrian was in second place on goal difference, but a heated debate ensued as Richard argued the head to head result between equal players should be used, which would give him the second placing. As voices were raised, Richard stormed out with his board on his back and drove home to Kiama. Meanwhile, Dave went home satisfied – his pre tournament goal of finishing ahead of Mat achieved.

Subbuteo Parramatta’s next club meeting will be on Thursday March 1, with the next WASPA tournament on Thursday, March 15, both at Good Games Bella Vista.

(note: some events in this report may be exaggerated for dramatic effect)

Richard 2-1 Adrian
Mat 0-0 Dave

Adrian 0-0 Dave
Richard 1-1 Mat

Mat 0-2 Adrian
Dave 1-0 Richard

…………..P   W   D   L  GF  GA  P
Dave      3   1     2   0   1    0    5
Richard 3   1     1   1   3    3    4
Adrian   3   1     1   1   3    2    4
Mat        3   0     2   1   1    2    2

(Report by Adrian Elmer)

Brian Daley wins in Glasgow

Brian with young clubmate Ruby Matthews

The FISTF Grand Prix of Scotland took place this week-end in Glasgow. The tournament was run by the Glasgow TSA and attracted players from many different nations. If Sergio Ramos (Portugal) in Open category, Antonio Montaño (Spain) in the veterans, Noé Scheen (Belgium) in the U19 and Thomas Price (England) in the U15 took the honors, there was also a Plate tournament run under WASPA banner. Brian Daley (London Road SC) defeated Martin Bellefontaine in the final to finish on top of a grat field of 16 players. Scotland's David Baxter and Baver Bari reached the semi-finals. Congratulations to Brian and thanks to Tom Burns and the GTSA players for a great week-end in a nice venue.

Lake Effect Trophy in Michigan

Organizing a tournament in winter in Michigan is what makes Grand Rapids TSC’s Lake Effect Trophy special. Even heavy snow accumulation on Sunday, February 11, could not stop Paul Pate and Joe Legatz from driving 70 miles (120km) from Grand Rapids to East Lansing! Four players completed a round robin, and then in the semifinals Paul beat Joe 1-0 on a spectacular long shot, while Peter defeated newcomer Bernardo Maestrini. In the final, Peter ran away with the match against Paul in the second half to claim the 2018 Lake Effect Trophy. In the consolation final, Joe beat Bernardo to take third place.

2018 LAKE EFFECT TROPHY (WASPA)
East Lansing, Michigan

ROUND ROBIN
Paul Pate-Joe Legatz 1-1
Peter Alegi-Bernardo Maestrini 5-0
Paul-Bernardo 2-0
Joe-Peter 0-4
Paul-Peter 1-5
Joe-Bernardo 2-0

STANDINGS
Peter 9 points (14 GF 1 GA)
Paul 4 (4-6)
Joe 4 (3-5)
Bernardo (0-9)

SEMIS
Paul-Joe 1-0
Peter-Bernardo 7-0

FINAL
1st Place
Paul vs Peter 0-6

3rd Place
Bernardo vs Joe 0-2

WASPA youth project - Your opinion counts

Dear all, in the last few days, I have had several contacts with players asking me if WASPA is having a project for the youth. It is true that when you look at the different websites, event FISTF and WASPA pages, we see a lot of older players involved on pictures. If we want to prepare the future, it is necessary to think about the new generation. I don't know how we can reach new markets but I believe WASPA could be a good place to start a project to promote the game among youngsters.

An idea could be to have 2 juniors categories:
- U20 (players born in 1999 or later);
- U16 (players born in 2003 or later).
At every WASPA tournament, we could post an extra picture of U20 and U16 categories and promote clubs who do their best to attract new players. The junior events could also be organized as consolation tournaments besides the main event.

To motivate clubs to have events for juniors and to try to recruit new blood, we could create a special status for club who really want to join the project. We already have the "top clubs" project but WASPA would love to create the "Youth in action" project. Every club with at least 3 juniors could be involved in the project. There would be some duties for the clubs though:
- Clubs should send a request to be part of the project;
- Players involved must send their birthdate.

Just to motivate players, a ranking of clubs would be created:
- For U20 sections (points of the top 3 U20 and U16 players of each club);
- For U16 sections (points of the top 3 U16 players of each club).

In case we manage to see growing interest from clubs to get youth involved, we could try to find partners who could offer some goodies or prizes at the end of the season.

I really don't know how to make this idea a success. It depends on clubs and players and we have to see how many people want to be involved.

The question is "do we really care to prepare the next generation of Subbuteo players?"

Right now this is only a project so I'm waiting feedback from as many people as possible to see how we can get something going.

Please remember WASPA is made by the players and for the players and we really need support from everybody!

Please also note in the near future 2 other projects will be developed on the WASPA blog:
- pictures of the best club jerseys
- "Russia 2018" for Subbuteo club wanting to run tournaments under the theme of the forthcoming FIFA world cup in Russia.

Please send your feedback to vincent.cop@rsca.com

Best regards,

Vincent

International news - Results of 6 events

Reports from several events held in Spain, Austria, Malta, Northern Ireland, Wales and Belgium in the last few days. Enjoy!

3rd Mont Goal tournament in Javea

In Spain, the 3rd "Mont Goal" tournament in Javea had a small turnout of 3 after several players dropped out due to the flu. Players met each other twice and in the end Pasquale Carrassi (Italy) defeated David Mc Aulay (Scotland) in the final (4-) to claim the title.

Top picture: Alfie get his medal
Left picture: David and Pasquale






Roland Schwacha is a winner in Ebenfurth
In Austria, the second tournament in Ebenfurth saw the victory of Roland Schwacha who finished on top of a group of 4. Horst Deimel was runner-up while Hungary's András Hicz took the 3rd place. Robert Lengyel was fourth. To be noted Robert, Horst and András finished with the same number of points and the goal-difference was needed to decide the winner.

Action in Malta during the FISTF Satellite

WASPA games durung a FISTF tournament in Malta. Thank you Josef Camilleri!

The FISTF Satellite of Bormla in Malta had a consolation tournament under WASPA banner. Melvin Barun took the honors after defeating Jamie Bonnici in the final. Thanks to Josef Camilleri for making things happen!

5th tournament of the season in Derry

Players in Derry

In Derry, league night number 6 was run as the club's 5th WASPA tournament of the season. 6 players competed in the league format with Martinog Bradley coming out on top, closely followed by Brendan Rodgers. The next Derry tournament will be held on January 19.

Final standings:
Martinog Bradley - 13 (13:1)
Brendan Rodgers - 11 (13:2)
Lawrence Watson - 5 (2:6)
Craig Stewart - 3 (3:7)
Liam Monaghan - 3 (3:10)
Martin Bradley - 3 (1:9)

Dan Nicholls wins in Knighton
A Promotional tournament was held in Knighton on Sunday. Dan Nicholls finished on top of a group of 4 while Tom Taylor was runner-up, Danny Bird took the 3rd place and Kenny Evans was 4th.

Jos Ceulemans still on top in Belgium

Jos Ceulemans, in the center of the picture, celebrates his victory

Finally, the 46th WASPA tournament of SC Flanders took place on Monday in Hofstade-Zemst, Belgium. Six players were attending in Swiss system and Jos Ceulemans won his four games to finish on top of the Swiss ladder. Great job!

Final table:
1. Jos Ceulemans (12)
2. Geert Leys (7)
3. Johan Lourdon (7)
4. Bart Vandevliet (4)
5. Willy Debandt (3)
6. Danny De Greef (1)

Rudi Peterschinigg on top in Wolverhampton

The Roy Holden Trophy 2018 and WSFC's 1st Anniversary Plate took place on January 28 with a fantastic turnout of 22 players.

Congratulations to Rudi Peterschinigg on winning the 2nd Roy Holden Trophy while Steve George was runner-up and Robert Ramsay took the third place. Peter Sleeth won the club's 1st Anniversary plate while Andrew Garbutt reached the final.

Organizers wanted to thank Roy's brother Keith for taking part and Roy's daughters Joanne and Samantha for attending.

"It was an amazing day, a fantastic atmosphere with games played in the true spirit of the game. Well done to everyone who attended today, another great success!" reported the organizers on their Facebook page.

Brisbane 4th Anniversary Cup

Brisbane Subbuteo Club  4th Anniversary WASPA Competition - 27th January 2018
Venue, Sunshine Coast, Queensland Australia

Only one of our original three founding members was present for our 4th Anniversary competition, sadly our Giuseppe has moved back to Italy and Rik’s work load kept him away.
Despite our missing comrades, we had five competitors, of which Darren (Gus’s brother) was to play for the first time in over 30 years. It would be a round robin, with the top two playing a final.
It was a very steamy day on the Sunshine Coast, and the pedestal fans didn’t really cut it, but our flicking warriors were not to be stopped.
In the first round, our November champ Andrew showed Darren how to play generously and notched a safe 2-0 win. Gerry and Shane fought out a very nervy and tight 1-0 win to Shane, Gerry historically doesn’t start too well.
The second round so our host and only founder member Gus get a 2-0 win over Shane whilst Gerry had settled his nerves and fought out a classic 3-4 with Andrew, having been 3-2 up.
The 3rd round saw Gerry get his first points beating Darren 2-1.  The two favourites for the final were in a tight battle, with Gus scoring with his first possession, only for Andrew to quickly equalise. Gus snuck 1 in just before half time to lead 2-1. What happened next was totally unexpected, Gus really got into the groove and smashed five past Andy in the second half, Gus just couldn’t miss. The score ending up 7-1 to Gus.
Round 4 saw Andrew win to secure his final birth with a 2-0 win over Shane,  whilst the Gillespie brothers had a close game (like all those years ago) with Gus coming out on top 2-1.
The last round coughed up two draws, with Gerry doing really well to get a 1-1 with Gus, Gerry leading for a good period. Darren got his only point of the day off Shane with a 0-0.
So the final was to be between Gus and Andrew, Andrew promising no repeat of his 7-1 loss. Andrew was to be proved correct, though Gus took an early lead, Andrew had the majority of possession, hitting the post twice and the crossbar once. Despite his best efforts Andrew failed to find the equaliser, and Gus held on to win 1-0 and claim back to back Anniversary Competition wins.
A very much needed cold beer and some awesome pizza went down well after. Big thanks to Shane for travelling so far with his awesome table.

(Report by Gus Gillespie)

Asian Cup of Table Football 2018 program kicks off with official warm up event

A supebr venue for a great tournament

On January 17 the program of events for the 2018 Asian Cup kicked off with the official WASPA warm up event. The event was held at Lakeside Futsal, the venue for the weekends' CASTFA Asian Cup events. It was a valuable exercise for organisers and players to test out the facility, with all attendees suitably impressed by this magnificent venue.

The tournament was held in the Swiss format with Open and Junior categories. There was a great turnout of eager players, with 18 in the Open and 6 juniors. Four rounds were played in each competition, with two later arrivals joining in after round one of the Open category.

Luke Radziminski won the Open section

From the offset the large contingent of travelling players from overseas and interstate impressed the locals, dominating the top half of the table. However, in somewhat of an upset it was Melbourne's own Luke Radziminski who took out the event after a series of impressive results. Well done Luke. The next seven spots were somewhat more predicatable, with all spots taken up by players seeded for Saturday's Open event based on their FISTF world rankings.

Those looking for some goalmouth action on the weekend should perhaps follow Adrian Connolly after there we 17 goals in his 4 games! At the other end of the spectrum, Rafa Lombardi failed to concede a goal on the night, the only player to do so. He and Luke were joined by two others, Antonio Carabillo and Anas Rahamat as undefeated on the night. Anas, the number 1 ranked Asian player, finished 4th, just a win off top, despite playing a game less. All this left fans of the game with no greater idea of who may be favourite for the main individual event on the weekend. It is looking likely that the hook line from the official Asian Cup of Table Football 2018 song "Shooter ready - Keeper ready - Shoot" may be heard many times on the weekend to help decide games.

In the junior category it was Oliver Ollnow who came out on top of proceedings. He was the only player undefeated, and finished with an impressive 10 goals from his 4 games to build his confidence going into the weekend. Torban Pfister took out second place on goal difference from Gabriel Lombardi. The Wright siblings, Billy and Charlotte were close behind with young Taylor Lombardi having some fun too making up the field.

Open standings:
1. Luke Radziminski
2. Bernard Lim
3. Raffaele Lombardi
4. Antonio Carabillo
5. Anas bin Rahamat
6. Den Mulia
7. Benji Batten
8. Vikas K. Chandiramani
9. Hermann Kruse
10. Steve Wright
11. Steve Dettre
12. Benny Ng
13. Adrian Connolly
14. Simon Briffa
15. Mohd Rizal Taib
16. Kevin Grant
17. Anthony Madiona
18. Beth Eveleigh

Juniors standings:
1. Ollie Ollnow
2. Thorben Pfister
3. Gabriel Lombardi
4. Billy Wright
5. Charlotte Wright
6. Taylor Lombardi

WASPA report of January 2018

Dear all, here are the standings of the WASPA circuit at the end of January.

We have had 34 regional events, 1 tournament with advanced rules and 3 promotional events added in the records but also 6 stages of the NETFA Brigantes mini-leagues and 3 test-matches.

Maybe some results didn't arrive in due time and will be added next month. For sure the latest Brisbane results will be added in the next edition of the standings.

January was great with a lot of action and a new record of 448 individual entries in tournaments (the average was 277 per month last season).

Great turnouts in Greece

We are extremely glad to see some nations doing a lot of work to promote the WASPA circuit. Belgium had 9 events, Australia 6 and Wales 6.
It was fantastic to see the first WASPA events in Valencia (Spain), Berlin (Germany) and also the first event of "Live Subbuteo" in Greece with streaming during the tournament so that viewers from around the world could follow what happened.
The club of Knighton in Wales made a fantastic debut with three different tournament including a special event with 23 players.
It was nice to see the Netherlands organizing a fantastic event in Hoogezand and the club of GSV de Hyacinth deserves a lot of respect for what they have done.
We were glad to see TSC Royal 78 (Austria), Volos (Greece) back in the circuit.
Tournaments in Greece had great tournaments with up to 32 players, which is awesome.
Australia had a wonderful long week-end with the Asian Cup being one of the best tournaments in the World including several WASPA tournament before and after the main event and it was exciting to see competitors from Singapore, Italy, Japan and Hong Kong being part of the show.
We have also been very happy to see three WASPA events held during the FISTF Major of Rochefort with good turnouts of 16, 16 and 21 players involved.

TSC Royal was back in action

We have now 1567 players from 47 different nations involved in the rankings. That's a bit less than last month but it is good to see that many players play more and more often in WASPA events, which is a proof they are satisfied with our philosophy.

For the very first time, Benny Ng (Australia) is the leader of the individual season ranking and Anas bin Rahamat from Singapore is very close in second position.
In the rankings of nations, Belgium is still on top but the gap with Singapore is getting smaller and there might be a change of leader in the next few months.
The ranking of top clubs is also very exciting to follow with the Flaming Flickers from Greece taking the first place but Jurong Central (Singapore), London Road SC (Wales) and the Western Flickers (Australia) will certainly fight to reach the top till the end of the season.

French player Olivier Sagit won a WASPA event in Rochefort (here with organizer Titi Giaux)

The "top clubs" rankings seems to be a bit complicated to understand but all details are in the WASPA handbook and if you believe your club deserves to become a "top club", don't hesitate to send a message to vincent.cop@rsca.com

Well, you will find the details about the circuit in the attached files:
- the season results (PDF);
- the rankings and statistics (Excel).

Mark McCrossan won the New year Cup in Derry, Northern Ireland

My apologies for the delays to update the blog (due to technical problems with my personal computer). Maybe some stories are missing and some details are not updated in the list of forthcoming events. If you see missing information or news, just send a message to vincent.cop@rsca.com

Well, that's all for now. Please remember you only need 3 players to register your tournament. Don't be scared to join. It's free and tournament requests can be sent by e-mail to vincent.cop@rsca.com

Benny Ng won in Melbourne and becomes number 1 in the season ranking

Keep an eye on the WASPA blog as there are updates almost every day.

Please invite your friends to join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/waspasubbuteo/
We also have a WASPA page here: https://www.facebook.com/WASPA-World-Amateur-Subbuteo-Players-Association-231789816834700/

A nice venue for Dundee United in Scotland

Keep in mind WASPA is also looking for partners. If you know any company ready to support us (we don’t ask for money but we want some win-win agreements so that we can promote each other), don't hesitate to contact me at vincent.cop@rsca.com

Ideas to develop the WASPA circuit, to get new clubs/nations involved or to make things more attractive are always welcome. We stay at your disposal for more info.

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle

News from Scotland, Italy, Wales, Spain

Several WASPA events have been held in the last couple of days. Here is a summary of the different results.

Action in Letham

In Scotland, it was great to see Dundee United TFC running their second event of the month. 7 players were taking part and competed in a league so that everyone had six games. Steve Bennett finished on top with 17 points while Andy Baskaby (15) was runner-up and Rob Conway (12) took the third place. Gareth Christie, David Baxter, Dave Minty and Craig Thom were also taking part. It was already Steve Bennett's 40th WASPA title!

There is a something going on in Wales for sure. The Knighton club had another event on Sunday. Danny Bird (London Road SC) finished on top of a group of 4 with 14 points in 6 games. Danny Bird had 10, Tom Taylor took the third place and Kenny Evans was the 4th player. Who knows is Knighton TFC will not become the next "WASPA top club"?

The players in Valencia

The second tournament of the "Province of Valencia" league took part on Sunday in Valencia (Spain) with seven players from two different clubs: Turia and Marina Citerior. Raul Benita claimed his second WASPA title after defeating Fernando Gomez in the final. Pasquale Carrassi (Italy) defeated Jorge López in the game for the third place. Stefka Pirova (Bulgaria), Abraham Martinez and Scotland's David Mc Aulay were also taking part.

Logo of Subbuteo Firenze

Finally, the club of Firenze in Italy had another successful evening on Monday with 16 players taking part. Marco Bonciani managed to claim his 10th WASPA title after defeating Davide Visani in the final (3-2). Mirko Masini and Matteo Cherici reached the semi-finals. Firenze remains Italy's top club in the WASPA circuit with very nice turnouts at every evening.