Gil Delogne wins his first WASPA tournament

Belgium has been one of the hot places in the WASPA circuit in the last few days.

The big surprise of the week-end was to see the first appearance of a true legend of the game in the WASPA circuit. Gil Delogne was the special guest of the Stembert tournament held on Saturday.

The man from Brussels, who is a former FISTF world champion, proved to have kept his skill and won the tournament after beating Sébastien Scheen in the final.

The invitational tournament, played by 8 players, had many close games.

Noah Janssens took the third place of the tournament after beating Pascal Scheen while Valéry Willot won the consolation tournament.

Matthias Averlant winner in Templeuve

In Templeuve, the monthly WASPA tournament was played by 11 players from different clubs. 4 French players were taking part and Sébastien Sorge was the best of them, finishing in 4th position.

After many interesting games, 3 wins and a draw were enough for Matthias Averlant to win the tournament.

Geoffrey Marain was runner-up and Michaël Dupret was 3rd.

Returning player Sébastien Rochez proved to be one of the players to follow for the forthcoming events.

The Templeuve players will have the vsit of Romania's Cezar Stoilescu next month and will organize a special event in his honor.

Daniel Scheen wins SC Flanders tournament in Antwerp

In Antwerp, the SC Flanders guys decided to hold their latest event on Saturday.

Seven players competed in a league format. Daniel Scheen and Yves Peremans ended the day with five wins and a draw but Daniel Scheen was crowded as winner on goal-difference.

David Wouters was 3rd, Marco de Bruin 4th, Jos Ceulemans 5th, Frank Lannoy 6th and Gary Moore 7th.

Timpano brothers win consolation events in the FISTF Satellites in Huy

Finally, last week two FISTF Satellites were played in Huy. The consolation tournaments were played under WASPA banner. on Saturday Bruno Timpano took the honors after defeating Jean Grosdent in the final. René Bolte and Emeric Delcroix made it to the semis. On Saturday, Antonio Timpano beat Noah Dirick to claim the title. Xavier Outters and Bruno Mottet made it to the last 4.

First WASPA results of January 2024

Things slowly go back to normal and we are happy to publish the first results of January 2024. We collected results from Belgium, Czech Republic, Australia, England and Wales and we are happy to see so much motivation among players and clubs.

Two events were played in Belgium. The first WASPA tournament was held at Tcha Four's HQ and the event was limited to six players. 3 wins and 2 draws were enough to give Sébastien Scheen the trophy of the day while Daniel Scheen was runner-up.

Final table
1. Sébastien Scheen
2. Daniel Scheen
3. Stelio Tsangouris
4. Joffray Laurent
5. Maxime Rairoux
6. Christophe Dheur

In the South of Belgium, the club of Wamme held a tournament for 7 of their players. Noah Dirick proved to be one of the most improving players in the Belgian circuit and was undefeated. Dirick won the tournament while Jean Grosden was runner-up.

1. Noah Dirick
2. Jean Grosdent
3. Thomas Janssens
4. Ralf Grégoire (USC Huy)
5. Noah Janssens
6. Maxim Grosdent
7. Lulani Verhoeven

Australia: latest Western Flickers tournament

Western Flickers TFC gathered at our Altona HQ, and kicked off the new year with a Welcome 2024 New Year WASPA! 

Four passionate flickers took part in the tournament on a very hot summers day in Altona, Melbourne. The format was a round robin group stage with the top 2 playing off in a Grand Final for honours. 

Adrian stormed out of the blocks with convincing wins over Benjamin and Peter in the first two rounds. Meanwhile, former Asian junior champion Benjamin scored a very late goal (finishing off a beautiful sequence of quick flicks) to snatch a surpise draw against Benny. 

This meant that Adrian had secured his spot in the grand final, with Benny needing to beat Adrian in the final group round to get to the final. As it turned out, Benny overcame Adrian in a very tight 1-0 game to finish top of the round-robin group. 

In the grand final, it was an exciting match with Adrian's pacy attacking game against Benny's counter attacking strategy. Taking advantage of the few chances with some clinical finishing, Benny came out tops with a 3-1 victory - despite a beautiful goal of the day by Adrian.

In the 3rd / 4th placing match, Benjamin came out trumps over an improving Peter.

All in all, it was a fun day of flicks with good company. A great way to kick start 2024! 

Happy New Year to the Australian Subbuteo table football community from Western Flickers, and may 2024 be a fantastic table football year for everyone !

1. Benny Ng
2. Adrian Connolly
3. Benjamin Ng
4. Peter Benholm

Western Flickers group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/839480459489854

Subbuteo action in Prague

The final

On January 6, 8 players met in Hotel Augustus, Prague for a WASPA tournament. There were many good games and players met also for lunch and a few beers. Marco Zucchi defeated Gábor Baross (hungary) in the final (3-0) to claim the title. Semi-finalists were Austria's Alfred Strommer and Czech player Jiri Uchytil.

Final table
1st: Marco Zucchi
2nd: Gabor Barros
3rd: Jiri Uchitil
4th: Alfred Strommer
5th: Lukaš Zima
6th: Paolo Di Stefano
7th: Paolo Ortolani
8th: Tomaš Zima 

Jann Segers and Marco Bevilacqua winners in Leeds

During the recenet FISTF Open in Leeds, two consolation tournaments were played under WASPA banner. AS Hennuyer player Jann Segers won another WASPA trophy after beating Wolverhamption's Mick Hammonds in the final. In the other event, Scotland's Marco Bevilacqua beat Craig Heward by a single goal to claim the honors!

In Australia, the Perth players met for the latest tournament organized by the Sports TFC of Western Australia. Singapore's Tan Yew Loy finished on top of the league while host Hugh Best was runner-up. Noel Mani was third and Chris Thorn fourth.

Wales: Darren Barnes winner in Cardiff

Bad luck for the Cardiff players as their latest event was limited to six players due to the snow and the clod. Darren Barnes ended as winner but xwe are sure the Cardiff guys will have a great tournament again soon.

1. Darren Barnes
2. John Lauder
3. Colin Lewis
4. David Samuel
5. Alan Hounsell
6. David Lauder

North Shields tournament

Tom Heslop wins his second WASPA CUP title in Shields. A tight little tournament saw Tom snatch victory and the Cup from Nigel who has held it since August 2023. Good mornings play lads. Well done!

1. Tom Heslop
2. Chris Kaberry
3. Nigel Lamond

North Shields STF on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northshieldssubbuteotablefootball

WASPA rankings of December 2023

Dear friends, you will find in the attached files the results, statistics and rankings as per December 2024.

Excel file (rankings)

PDF file (results)

We had 32 regional tournaments, 3 promotional events, 3 tournaments with the old rules and 2 test-matches.

Special thanks to all organizers for the hard work to host great tournaments.

We had our first event of the season in Germany, Malta and Austria and the first regional tournaments in Scotland. 20 players attended their very first WASPA tournament, which is great.

I stay at your disposal for more questions about the WASPA circuit.

Please keep the address vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com for sending tournament results!

As a final note, I send my best wishes for 2024 to all Subbuteo fans around the world. Keep on flicking!

Vincent Coppenolle, WASPA Organizer

See hereunder a selection of the best pictures of the month.

December 2023: last results of the year

Just before we finalize the rankings of December, it's important to have a look at the latest results we collected in December. Thanks once again to all organizers who put energy to host WASPA events.
You can note there will be events on January 6 in Letham, Scotland (organized by Dundee United) and in Prague, Czech Republic.

Brian Daley winner in North Wales

The latest London Road WASPA tournament took place on december 10. 

London Road players were joined by Shaun Dunne, Lenny Parsons and Nick Pearson, a 7 players league was the format. Brian Daley was undefeated and took the honors.

1. Brian Daley
2. Shaun Dunne
3. Cayne Matthews
4. Len Parsons
5. Ruby Matthews
6. Nick Pearson
7. Brendan Ashley

London Road SC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1699324517049032

Richard Wilson makes it in Sydney

On December 17 the 7th Edition of the traditional Sydney TFC Christmas Cup has taken place. 10 players competed into this FISTF Satellite tournament to conquer the title of Christmas Champion 2023. Thank you everyone who made it possible with a special mention to Richard Wilson who came from South coast to play and won our December WASPA. Congratulations to Eliot Kennedy to claim the trophy after an intense final with our captain Fabrizio Coco won 2-1 at extra time. 

1. Richard Wilson
2. Paolo Credentino
3. Vincent Coco
4. Louis Dettre

Sydney TFC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sydneytfc

Christmas Cup in Austria

In Austria David Busch organized a Christmas tournament and finished on top of the league after home and away fixtures!

1. David Busch
2. Katharina Waldorf-Busch
3. Florian Daxböck
4. Theresa Waldorf

Luca Lanzani wins on December 31

Last week-end the Morecambe Bay subbuteo club held a small tournament with 4 players. 2 wins and a draw were enough to give Luca Lanzani the trophy of the day.

1. Luca Lanzani
2. Stuart Andrews
3. Rob Wilkinson
4. Keith Carman

Morecambe Bay SC: https://www.facebook.com/themorecambebaysubbuteo

Justin Finch in a great day in Pedmore

Here is Richard Roper's report of the recent Pedmore tournament:

Young players also attended the event

"32 Players contested the Pedmore Subbuteo & Table Football Club “Festive Flick-Off” World Amateur Subbuteo Players Association (WASPA) Open Event on December 29. It was a great day and a big shout out to all who attended and travelled the distances that you did to play in the event… Awesome support! Big Shout outs to Robert Ramsay, Nathan Prentice & Quarry Bank Social Club for the venue. I would also like to thank Simon Bodily and Graham Harwood for their efforts and the guys from Wolves TFC for their help and support.

Main Event Winner – Justin Finch

Plate Winner – Simon Bodily

S’ Fortunato Finger (Otherwise Known as the Shield) Winner – Dave Samuel.

PS - Robert Ramsay, standing in (sorry Kneeling in) for his Son Zach Ramsay in the picture showing the 4 Under 17's Entrants.

A Huge Thanks to Tesco Dudley Street, Wolverhampton (Helen Smith) & Tesco Birches Barn (Matt Smith) & to Richard Badger for the support with the Raffle Prizes."

Quarter-finals: Brian Daley - Alan Lee 0-2 ; Bob Varney - Shaun Dunne 5-0 ; Miguel Pereira - Chris Short 1-4 ; Chris Short - Justin Finch 4-5.

Semi-finals: Alan Lee - Bob Varney 1-0 ; Chris Short - Justin Finch 0-2.

Final: Alan Lee - Justin Finch 0-3.

Consolation semi-finals: Gage Badger - Robert Ramsay 1-3 ; Graham Harwood - Simon Bodily 1-2.

Final: Robert Ramsay - Simon Bodily 2-3

Pedmore TFC: https://www.facebook.com/groups/176810971922999

3 winners in Sydney

The Western Sydney Christmas Binge attracted 11 players from 2 different clubs. The event was played in wiss system but the ASA power ranking system was also used (the system takes into account the relative strength of your opponent when you win or draw). In the end, organizers decided on a 3-way tie for first position as Steve, Eliot and Adrian had all played each other and all had draws against each other!

1. Eliot Kennedy (Northern Falcons)
1. Adrian Elmer (Western Sydney)
1. Steve Dettre (Northern Falcons)
4. Tim Phokos (Western Sydney)
4. Æowyn Elmer (Western Sydney)
6. David Wright (Western Sydney)
7. Adrian Grunbach (*) (Northern Falcons)
8. Imojjen Elmer (Western Sydney)
9. Katelyn Grunbach (Northern Falcons)
10. Paul Magee (Western Sydney)
11. Tom Bednarek (Western Sydney)

PS: Steve Dettre winner in WASPA records, Eliot Kennedy 2nd and Adrian Elmer 3rd but the 3 players get same ranking points (decision of the organizer)

PS2: David Wright 4th in WASPA records but Æowyn Elmer and Tim Phokos get the ranking points of 4th place (decision of the organizer)

Western Sydney Subbuteo: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1379501845629782

Charles Aquilina wins Christmas Cup in Malta

Bormla SC held a WASPA tournament in Saturday. It was great to see Charles Aquilina taking the honors!

1. Charles Aquilina
2. George Ebejer
3. John Zammit
4. Mauro Camilleri
5. Josef Camilleri

Bormla SC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057403241271

Leicester WASPA tournament

Here are the standings of the latest Leicester WASPA tournament played in Swiss ladder. It was nice for the organizers to have new players Richard Wilkinson and Neil Fletcher involved.

1. Trevor Arthur
2. Graham Harwood
3. Mark Weaver
4. Jay Williams
5. Alex Ashcroft
6. Andy Henly
7. Trevor Allen
8. Scott Hunt
9. Nigel Edwards
10. Kevin Coleman
11. Richard Wilkinson
12. Neil Fletcher

Leicester Foxes SC: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1388271968705973/

Miguel Pereira wins in Gillingham

Miguel Pereira takes the win over Kye Arnold in the Kent Invicta New Year’s Eve WASPA.

With 12 players assembled for a swiftly arranged club meet up, there was some great action as the players put in some good performances in a friendly atmosphere.

In the end Mig was victorious with a 3-2 win over Kye in the final. Martin Colwell was the winner of the plate with a 2-1 (0-0) shots win over David Hunter.

Most improved player of the year for Kent Invicta was u12 player Hadley who put in some strong performances through the last few months. Was also great to see Rob McCormick back playing.

Kent Invicta will be playing in tournaments across the UK and Europe in the New Year and continuing Club Nights at the Gillingham Labour Club from January.

Happy New Year from everyone at Kent Invicta !

Final: Miguel Pereira - Kye Arnold 3-2

Final 3-4: Jason Christopher - Malcolm Jamieson 4-1

Final 5-6: James McCormick - Terry Arnold 2-3

Final 7-8: Thomas Lacey - Max Pereira 0-4

Final 9-10: Martin Colwell - Dave Hunter 0*-0

Final 11-12: Rob McCormick - Hadley Chapman 1-0

Kent Invicta: https://www.facebook.com/KentInvictaTFC/

WASPA wishes for 2024

Dear friends, it's time for me to present my best wishes for 2024. I hope the new year will bring you a lot of satisfaction, good health and prosperity. Of course 2024 will give you many opportunities to play great games of Subbuteo table football.

Having a look in the mirror, the last 12 months have been epic with more than 400 tournaments played under WASPA banner. We have seen huge developments in England and great activty in different nations such as Australia, South Africa, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales,... We were glad also to see some tournaments in Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Malta, Scotland, Spain, France, Greece, Japan, Norway, Singapore, the USA and Switzerland. We also had for the first time a Subbuteo tournament played in Mongolia and we are extremely proud it was played under WASPA banner.

We love the fact tournaments played with the old rules become more and more important. England, Italy and Greece have already old rules tournaments played under WASPA banner and we are sure the development will continue.

The different rankings have been a source of motivation for players and clubs but it's important to repeat once again that ranking points should not be a priority for players. The important things in the WASPA circuit remain the promotion of the game, the connection between players from different games, the creation of dynamic regional circuits and of course the fact that attending tournaments is a good way to practice and to have something more than "training sessions" or "friendly games".

The rankings of clubs have been extremely interesting to follow and now that we have clubs ranked in 3 tables (top clubs, Development league and Conference league), every club can find a good source of motivation to host and play WASPA tournaments.

We must continue to focus on the youth. It's sad that we only have 8 clubs in the "ranking of clubs of juniors" as I believe we have a huge potential to create something much bigger. Never forget that the youth is the future of the game!

Not everything was perfect and I think we have some other points to improve:

- some clubs and players ignore the WASPA handbook and I think it's important to have tournaments announced a few days in avdance in order to give a fair chance to any player to registr in due time.

- some nations still don't support the WASPA circuit. We have seen that WASPA helped the game to grow tremendously in several nations so it is totally unacceptable that some national associations continue to forbif clubs to organize WASPA tournaments. This point makes me extremely angry and upset.

- fair-play remains the key of success. It's extremely rare that we have problems of behavior in tournaments but it should absolutely never happen. Those who play WASPA events should understand that they compete for fun and to promote the game!

- a small detail is that when somebody organizes a tournament, a winner should always be decided. It's extremely complicated to keep records when the organizers says there are tied players at first place (!)

- If you never read the WASPA handbook, you can simply ask me a copy.

Having said all this, I think we can now focus on the future. The WASPA circuit is working really well and it's very exciting to see the enthusiasm of players and clubs. We just really hope we can have tournaments played in more nations in the future! Once again, every national association should see how the English Subbuteo Association is working and how the WASPA circuit has helpd the game in England. This must be a source of inspiration for all other countries!

My last wish of course is to have a big WASPA week-end organized sometimes in the future. We don't need a WASPA world cup but a real big week-end where players from different nations could meet, play a lot of games and enjoy meeting players from different araes. Candidatures are welcome!

Finally, any person ready to help to run the WASPA circuit can of course offer support as it becomes really hard to do everything alone. I'm loonking for help for the following things:

- writing stories about tournaments for the WASPA blog;

- help in development of the WASPA circuit in countries where not many tournaments are yet organized;

- People who can search for partners and possible sponsors.

Thank you once again to all those who have organized tournaments in the last few months. I'm sure 2024 will be extremely good and we'll have many developments in different countries!

Keep on flicking!

Vincent Coppenolle, WASPA organizer!