Great to see all four Sydney clubs represented.
It came down to the last round of the Swiss to determine second place, where virtually anyone could have snapped it up. But Adrian G's win took him home.
Karlsruhe, Germany
For the records, Milan Knezevic defeated John Imbrogiano (2-1) in the big final to win the tournament.
1. Milan Knezevic (Serbia)
2. John Imbrogiano (Switzerland)
3. Janus Gersie (Germany)
4. Peter Erb (Switzerland)
5. Pierre Troestler (France)
6. Nicola Mariconda (Italy)
7. Alessandro Indellii (Italy)
8. Charlotte Troestler (France)
9. Pascal Chevalier (France)
10. Daniele Giulianelli (Switzerland)
11. Gionatan Luppolo (Italy)
Limassol, Cyprus
Main event:
1. Giorgos Zangylos (Famagusta)
2. Petros Kosmas (Famagusta)
3. Marcos Kalopsidiotis (Salamis)
4. Marios Nikolaou (Phoenix)
5. Giorgos Stylianou (Famagusta)
Beginners:
1. Christos Panaretos (Phoenix)
2. Christos Andreou (Salamis)
Gouda, the Netherlands
Last week the Dutch Legends held another WASPA event with 9 players taking part. Three groups of three in the first round and some three other groups of 3 in the second rounds managed to define the final ranking. Fabrizio cavazza was the big winner. Congratulations.
Final table:
1. Fabrizio Cavazza (Gorizia)
2. Nico Marks (Dutch Legends)
3. Jarno Marks (Dutch Legends)
4. Marco de Bruin (Dutch Legends)
5. Xavier Aret (Dutch Legends)
6. Maurice Montone (no club)
7. Rinaldo van Dijk (Rijnmond)
8. Richard Oranje (Dutch Legends)
9. Cailim Marks (Dutch Legends)
Genova, Italy
Final: Massimo Garatti - Tommaso Sani 0-1
Final 3-4: Samuele Bignardi - Luca Bignardi 2-1
Final 5-6: Filippo Careddu - Alessandro Gandin 1-3
Final 7-8: Rononio Rossi - Massimo Togo 2-0
Final 9-10: Andrea Gandin - Simone Pennati 3-0
Tralee, Ireland
In Ireland, the Tralee club held their latest tournament on January 20. 8 players from 2 different clubs (Tralee and Cork) were taking part and after the 5 sessions of the Swiss system, William Magnier was the big winner. It was also James Murphy's first tournament so we are glad to see another beginner from Ireland.
"Very well done to William who took first place in the Monday night WASPA in Tralee. An excellent turnout of 8 players and with 4 missing through illness the numbers are improving. A closely fought contest with the Cork man just shading it. Keep a close eye on our new recruit James. One point behind in his second outing. Undoubtedly one to watch for the future", commented David Elton.
Final standings:
1. William Magnier (Cork)
2. David Elton (Tralee)
3. Cian Hogan (Tralee)
4. James Murphy (Tralee)
5. Jeff Murphy (Cork)
6. Silvia Martin Simal (Spain/Tralee)
7. Barry Higgins (Cork)
8. Sean O'Connell (Tralee)
Johannesburg, South Africa
The ETS club in Johannesburg, South Africa had 2 small tournaments on December 24. The first one was held to re-introduce Shaun Majendie to the game and the other one was a group format with five players before everyone went on leave. The next ETS tournament will be in February for the club's Anniversary Birthday (5 Years).
First tournament (every player met each other twice)
1. Jason Kennedy (ETS Club)
2. Shaun Majendie (ETS Club)
3. Johan Niewenhuis (Johannesburg TFC)
Second tournament (group of 5)
1. Clifford Graaff (Johannesburg TFC)
2. Jason Kennedy (ETS Club)
3. Fernando Rodrigues (ETS Club)
4. Shaun Majendie (ETS Club)
5. Liam Chapman (ETS Club)
8 players battled out in the usual Swiss system, 4 players each from the Western Sydney Subbuteo and Northern Falcons clubs. The temperatures had cooled to a very pleasant low-20ºs, allowing the outdoor pitches to come into play on a picturesque evening with a high level of excitment in the air.
Some notable results included Dave upsetting Jonny 1-0 in the first round, before finishing the night on high with a 1-0 victory of the aforementioned Steve Di. He was unable to be consistent with this, unfortunately, to the point of conceding not one, but two stranded goalkeeper goals in a drubbing by Adrian. Franck got his evening off to a flyer with his best result ever over Adrian, a 2-0 victory, before crashing back to earth in the second round against Eliot. Eliot himself had started well with a crushing win over Louis, followed by a 2-0 win over Franck. In his next game he took until the final 30 seconds against Steve De to finally get his bearings on target and score a winning goal, setting himself up well before the final round.
Louis had a tough evening, his first back on the pitch for a number of months, conceding lots of goal until his final game, the Dettre Derby, where he opened the scoring within 20 seconds of flick-off. Unfortunately for Louis, Steve De was able to turn it around with two goals in reply. Jonny had an up and down night, following that opening loss to Dave, with draws against Steve De and Franck and a win over Louis. Steve Di also had a mixed bag of results, drawing against Jonny and in the Steve Derby, before losing narrowly to both Franck and Dave. Adrian exorcised his frustrations at losing to Franck with convincing wins over Louis and Dave, setting himself up for a final round encounter with Eliot to decide the title. He elected to use the homeground advantage of playing on the 1970s cotton pitch which did go some way to helping him. But, in the end, a 0-0 result was enough to leave Eliot at the top of the pile, without conceding a goal all evening, and Adrian being pipped at the post to second place by virtue of Franck's head-to-head win in their earlier encounter.
The pileup of players on similar points in the middle of the table was testament to the overall evenness of the evening's games, with all players loving every second, though Steve Di, unaccustomed to 4 straight games in tournament play, did pull the out the old man complaint about his back becoming sore. No doubt he'll bring himself up to speed with his subbuteo fitness if he can venture out a little more regularly for future tournaments.
The players of Atlas TFC organized a tournament in Swiss system. After 4 sessions, Makis Arvanitakis was the big winner of the night.
The final standings were as follows:
1. Makis Arvanitakis
2. Giorgos Karatarakis
3. Yannis Bougiouris
4. Kostas Seses
5. Markos Kapsabelis
6. Kostas Kechris
7. Alberto Di Maggio
8. George Papadopoulos
9. Giannis Nikolaidis
10. Konstantinos Sourlas
11. Miltiadis Giochalas
12. Lazaros Papakonstantinou
A few days later, the Piraeus Lions TSC held a WASPA tournament to celebrate the memory of Manos Tsardoulias. Alberto Di Maggio took the honors after defeating Dimitris Kourabas in the final.
Semi-finals: Kostas Kordatos - Alberto Di Maggio 2-3 ; Dimitris Kourabas - Nikos Probonas 2-0
Final: Alberto Di Maggio - Dimitris Kourabas 4-0
Semi-finals: Markos Kapsabelis - Kostas Karasavvas 3-1 ; Leonidas Koutromanos - Nikos Probonas 4-2
Final: Markos Kapsabelis - Leonidas Koutromanos 3-1
The Northern Phoenix Table Football Club will organize leg 2.
The event was also a WASPA tournament played in Swiss system and Benny Ng (Western Flickers) took the honors after winning his four games while Luke Radziminski was runner-up!
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Daniel Cranston defeated Paul Eyes (1-0) in the final. "It was a light turnout because of a snowstorm, but what better way to spend it playing subbuteo", commented Collin Dohner.
The recent New Year Challenge Cup organized by Easterns TFC had a good field of 9 players taking part. Ian Clarke, who is currently number 5 in the WASPA Open ranking won the tournament after defeating Fernando Rodrigues (1-0) in the final. Jarrys Westerdale won the Plate final.
Semi-finals: Ian Clarke - Johan Niewenhuis 4-0 & Christopher Paolini - Fernando Rodrigues 0-2
Final: Ian Clarke - Fernando Rodrigues 1-0
Plate final: Jarryd Westerdale - Keegan Paolini 2-0
Final standings:
1. Marco Perotti (SC Terni 2014)
2. Luca Di Lullo (ASD Alba Subbuteo Roma)
3. Ernesto Poncetta (SS Lazio TFC Roma)
4. Francesco Di Lullo (ASD Alba Subbuteo Roma)
5. Andrea Alfonsi (ASD Alba Subbuteo Roma)
6. Valerio Lombardo (SS Lazio TFC Roma)
Haverhill, December 4
1. Martin Hodds (Yorkshire)
2. Peter Holmes (Haverhill)
3. David McCartney (White Notley)
4. Gerry Harrington (IRL/Haverhill)
5. Callum Course (Haverhill)
6. Euan (Haverhill)
7. Ebbie Hart (Haverhill)
Dudley-Kingswinford, December 15
1. Derek Air (SCO/Dudley-Kingswinford)
2. Jordan Clee (Dudley-Kingswinford)
3. Andy Lane (Dudley-Kingswinford)
Morecambe Bay, December 17
1. Dan Nicholls (Morecambe Bay)
2. Luca Lanzani (Morecambe Bay)
3. Stuart Andrews (Morecambe Bay)
4. Perry Sinacola (Morecambe Bay)
5. Rob Wilkinson (Morecambe Bay)
6. Keith Carman (Morecambe Bay)
Stanway, December 17
The Stanway “Santaway Cup” was a full on fun filled festive flick-fest (try saying that with a mouthful of eggnog), that brought more joy than a stocking full of top spin balls. Kev Cordell was the undisputed king of the Christmas waspa, flicking his way to victory with all the tenacity of a Santa’s elf. Marco Ghigliotti nicked second place by the skin the cold custard on a his mince pie, just pipping Martin Hodds on goal difference—Martin is still claiming he was robbed of his spot by being on the "naughty list".
Young Jamie needs an honorary mention for his jingle-bell energy by finishing a respectable fourth, despite sending a few players off the table like a reindeer off a slippery roof. The tournament was full of festive cheer, “thanks to Marco’s bottle of bubbly and some chocs”. and the occasional cry of “that’s not in the Christmas spirit!”.
Also great to see the two new players from Haverhill, Ebbie and Callum who are picking up the game very well. It was truly a Subbuteo winter wonderland!
1. Kevin Cordell (Stanway)
2. Marco Ghigliotti (Harrow)
3. Martin Hodds (Yorkshire)
4. Jamie Samuel Warren (Stanway)
5. Ian Welby (Stanway)
6. Gerry Harrington (Haverhill)
7. Adam Douglas (Stanway)
8t. Rob Fitch (Stanway)
8t. Peter Holmes (Haverhill)
10. Callum Course (Haverhill)
11. Ebbie Hart (Haverhill)
Bristol, December 17
1. Steve Wonnacott (Bristol)
2. Stuart Briffett (Bristol)
3. Phillip Bryant (Bristol)
4. Taylor Randles (Bristol)
5. Malcolm Jarvis (Bristol)
6. Dave Fletcher (Bristol)
7. Bob Fairbrother (Bristol)
8. David Pawsey (Bristol)
9. Aaron Skinner (Bristol)
10. Andy Jarvis (Bristol)
11. Lyndon Davies (Bristol)
12. Simon Bodily (Pedmore)
13. Richard Roper (Pedmore)
14. Alex Salter (Bristol)
15. David Samuel (WAL/Cardiff)
16. John Lauder (WAL/Cardiff)
17. Dennis Perry (Bristol)
18. Matthew Rowley (WAL/Cardiff)
19. Gareth Hughes (Bristol)
20. Mick Hammonds (Wolverhampton)
Worthing, December 18
Dagenham, December 23
1. Victor Jones (Harrow)
2. Adam Jackson (Chasers)
3. Gary Gladwell (Chasers)
4. Martin Colwell (Kent)
5. Mark West (Chasers)
6. John Kiely (Chasers)
7. Samantha Levy (Chasers)
8. Jack Cossington (Chasers)
9. Michele Claydon (Chasers)
Pedmore, December 29
Additional thanks to: Wolverhampton TFC for allowing us to host the Roy Holden Trophy on their behalf, Rudi Peters for his continued guidance and to Shaun Dunne for his help & support (as Ever) along with the guys from Wolverhampton TFC.
The Winners were: Main Event: Bob Varney took the Festive Flicker & Roy Holden Trophy 2024 beating Chris Bedford 1 v 0 in the Main event Final.
Plate Event: Warden of the North, Shaun Dunne came out on top beating Stephen Wonnacott 1 v 0 in the final.
Shield Event: Contested by Two Stalwarts of the game (Sure they won’t mind me saying that) Robert Paterson & Jeff Parsons with Rob coming out on Top, Winning 2 v 1 in the final.
S’fortunato Finger final: Riley Duckworth beat Paul Taylor with a golden goal after it was 0 v 0 after full-time.
Under 18’s: Ruby Matthews came out on top (Ruby also made the semi-finals of the Main Event) with Connor Gregory taking the runner’s up spot.
It was a Long Day, but we (Pedmore TFC) were determined to support players of all abilities by holding a Shield & S’fortunato finger event also.
Pictures below of all Trophy winners.
PS: Big Thanks to Quarry Bank Social Club & Nathan Prentice for hosting & for allowing us to hire the room. Just keep flicking.
(PS: original post from the Pedmore Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/176810971922999)
Quarter-finals: Paul Sutton - Richard Badger 2-1
Bob Varney - Gage Badger 6-2
Rudi Peterschinigg - Chris Bedford 0-0*
Ruby Matthews - Jeremy Boothman 5-2
Semi-finals: Paul Sutton - Bob Varney 0-3
Chris Bedford - Ruby Matthews 0*-0
Final: Bob Varney - Chris Bedford 1-0
Shield final: Jeff Parsons - Rob Paterson 1-2
Gillingham, December 29
Solent, December 17
Old rules tournaments
London, October 14 2024, Old Rules English Championship
Final: Rudi Peterschinigg - Victor Jones 1*-1
Plate final: Jason Christopher - Tony Banks 1-0
London, December 15 2024
Plate final: Paolo Agostinelli - Drew Kiely 0-1
London, December 19 2024
1. Victor Jones (Harrow)
2. Simon Goodman (Surrey)
3. Tony Banks (London SC)
4. Gianluca Zucchelli (London SC)
5. Lindsay Reid (London SC)
6. Troy Cowdrey (London SC)
7. Paul Queen (London SC)
Dear friends,
you will find in the enclosed files the updated results and rankings of the WASPA circuit after the 23 regional tournaments, the 3 tournaments with the old rules and 1 tournament played with Finnish rules.
PDF file (results): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MZRAA3TXZVwtoEYQMR4jGAwNkhpYH6ir/view?usp=sharing
Excel file (rankings): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTFZMHn64DizVLij7nCittqNHzbiAdoBiDleU_hD3pv-GARjpkAsj_Yq7fYeb9GGQ/pub?output=xlsx
First of all here is a selection of some good pictures of events held in December.
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| Roligans players in Greece having their Christmas tournament |
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| Great friendship and close games in Melbourne, Australia |
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| 19 players for the Templeuve Christmas tournament in Belgium |
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| Singapore had their first WASPA event of the season |
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| Subbuteo players in Edinburgh, Scotland |
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| Action in Limassol, Cyprus |
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| Carlos Flores was the special guest of the Stembert tournament in Belgium |
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| Players in Perth, Australia |
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| Great turnout again in Breda, Spain |
I will not make more comments about last month's tournaments but I remain at your disposal if you have any question.
Hereunder you will find my message posted for the New year on the WASPA blog and socials networks.
Best wishes to all of you for 2025!
Yours in sport,
Vincent Coppenolle, WASPA organizer, vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com
Dear Subbuteo friends, it’s time for the season greetings and, as every year, we can have a look in the mirror and see the ups and downs of the WASPA circuit.
2024 was another fantastic year with more than 400 tournaments played under WASPA banner in 23 different countries and on all 5 continents.
The WASPA circuit has helped to develop the game in different emerging nations such as New Zealand or Romania and has also helped to enlarge the base of players in England, South Africa, Australia, Ireland,… or to keep the game alive in some other countries.
The positive comments from many players and clubs motivate me to keep on working for the game and, as someone really told me, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. Therefore, there is no need to make many changes in the near future.
Anyway, I also receive some negative comments from time to time and I think it’s obvious we can work on details. Some of the interesting comments are as follows:
* The rankings are not really about who’s the best player and maybe rankings should have a different system, for instance giving an average of points won by tournament. Honestly, I agree with the comments but it’s just a lot of work to totally change the system and make something much more accurate. After all, rankings are never perfect. Even the FISTF rankings and most national rankings are far from perfect.
* Some nations don’t support WASPA enough. I think it’s really sad to see nations telling their members not to run WASPA tournaments. We have seen how WASPA events have helped the game to grow in different countries and what happened in England, South Africa, Australia,… must be a real source of inspiration for other nations.
* FISTF President Steve Dettre has always been positive about WASPA and has understood that both WASPA and FISTF must help each other. It’s really sad that FISTF recommends to have Plate tournaments played under WASPA banner if not accepted by several countries.
* People often ask me “why is WASPA big in England, Australia or South Africa but absent in Portugal, France or South America?” What should I answer? Some nations don’t really need the WASPA circuit because the domestic circuit is big (for instance in Italy) or because there is no real wish to have tournaments for beginners or for weaker players. We really believe WASPA events remain fantastic for people who don’t have time, money or energy to travel long distances to play “big events”. It’s important to have regular regional events to keep some players motivated.
* Role of the delegates: a few years ago, I tried to have delegates in each country to help to develop the WASPA circuit. We must admit the role of delegate has been a failure because most of the time clubs don’t contact their national delegate before hosting a tournament and because delegates don’t really manage to develop the WASPA circuit in their respective countries. Therefore, in the future we will keep a more central way to work, directly between clubs and WASPA.
* Lack of communication of local organizers: it has been pointed out that many organizers have tournaments without announcing their events in advance. This is unacceptable as WASPA tournaments should be open to all players, not only members of the organizing club.
For the future, we will focus on a few things:
* Organizers who don’t announce their tournament in advance should have reduced ranking points awarded. When this happens, a regional tournament will only be awarded points as in a “promotional tournament” (50% of points). If it happens three times during the same season, no ranking points will be awarded.
* The youth: everybody is aware that the youth is the priority for the future. It is really sad that only a few clubs manage to be involved in the “Junior ranking of clubs” while some elite clubs are not even in the WASPA rankings but manage to send several very young players to the world cup every year. We really need to do something to have more young players involved in WASPA tournament before playing in international events.
* WASPA blog: we hope more organizers will send reports and pictures of their tournaments so that we can publish more good stories.
Before the end of this long message, I would love to give my “personal top 5 highlights” of the year and congratulate a few people who do an amazing job for the sport:
* The English Subbuteo Association for remaining the most active nation in the WASPA circuit, for helping to create new clubs and for running amazing tournaments, including the national league of clubs. Some players in the UK play for different clubs in the FISTF and WASPA circuits but all players continue to respect their clubs (WASPA) and teams (FISTF).
* The club of Rebels Genova in Italy for the amazing job with the kids. This club is a real source of inspiration, and they run regular events under WASPA banner but also continue to travel to big events to gain experience and to become excellent players.
* The group of players in Bucharest, Romania as they are proving that even being a nation with no real history of Subbuteo table football, they can build something really nice. Cezar Stoilescu has done an amazing job to promote the game in Bucharest and managed to have new players interested. The next step of course is to have the club growing and to have more tournaments and competitive games.
* The Northern Line Flickers in New Zealand. The group in Auckland has been amazing in the last few months, started playing in a pub, then organizing some WASPA events, later even hosting the first FISTF tournament in the country and now planning to have a team for the tournaments to come in Australia. That’s exactly how things should be, growing step by step!
* All local organizers who keep the faith in what they are doing, sometimes with a lot of personal satisfaction, sometimes with the frustration of having less players than expected. We need local organizers to build a strong future! The faith of local organizers keeps me motivated to continue to run the WASPA circuit
Well, that’s all for now, that’s for the reading and keep in mind I stay at your disposal if you have any question regarding the WASPA circuit!
Have a fantastic year 2025!
Vincent Coppenolle, WASPA organizer
Eliot was a lone Northern Falcon amongst the field of Western Sydney faithful. It took him a while to get past John's new Turtle™ 'keeper but, in the end, he was able to ease to a 2-0 victory. Adrian was on top for a large chunk of his game against Franck until the last 30 seconds when Franck's equaliser drew the two club rivals level yet again. Melvin somehow snuck a goal not only into Imojjen's goal but also out the back, leaving Imojjen bemused, while Tim and Costa played out Costa's favourite score, a 0-0 draw.
The Elmers and Phokoses played out a mini-teams event in the second round. John managed a tight 1-0 win over Imojjen, while Adrian edged it for the Elmers with a 2-0 win over Tim. Costa scored a great goal against Franck, only for it to be ruled off for offside, a common theme in recent times, and leaving him on the wrong end of a 1-0 final scoreline. Meanwhile, Eliot got up to speed with a 3-0 blitz over Melvin.
Eliot continued in style in the next round, slotting another 3 goals, this time against Franck while Melvin bounced back to score 3 of his own against Costa. The Phokoses and Elmers switched opponents. This time, Tim scored 2 unanswered gaols against Imojjen, in spite of the game being much tighter than that. Adrian evened up the Phokos/Elmer ledger with a 2-0 win over John, the second a goal that will help John's goalkeeper positioning for the rest of his career.
The final round saw a couple of family clashes. Tim and John couldn't be separated, meaning the ride home remained comfortable for both players. Meanwhile Imojjen took on her uncle, Costa. In keeping with their record as the two holders of the most drawn games in Australia, there was only ever going to be one outcome - 0-0. Melvin went up 1-0 against Franck but, for the second time on the day, Franck came back, this time pushing on for a 2-1 win. The final game decided the tournament winner, with Adrian needing a win to go past Eliot. The tension lasted for all of 5 or 6 minutes before Eliot took complete control and finished with a 3-0 win.
So, Eliot ended the day untouchable at the top, having scored 11 unanswered goals, with the Western Sydney players strewn out behind him. The afternoon was excellent finish to what has been a great season for Western Sydney Subbuteo, with our biggest ever Spring League and the club having more players enter WASPA tournaments than any other in the entire world.
Original post: https://sites.google.com/view/westernsydneysubbuteo/tournaments?authuser=0#h.sz4u6cru9rhj
2024 was another fantastic year with more than 400 tournaments played under WASPA banner in 23 different countries and on all 5 continents.
The WASPA circuit has helped to develop the game in different emerging nations such as New Zealand or Romania and has also helped to enlarge the base of players in England, South Africa, Australia, Ireland,… or to keep the game alive in some other countries.
The positive comments from many players and clubs motivate me to keep on working for the game and, as someone really told me, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. Therefore, there is no need to make many changes in the near future.
Anyway, I also receive some negative comments from times to times and I think it’s obvious we can work on details. Some of the interesting comments are as follows:
* The rankings are not really about who’s the best player and maybe rankings should have a different system, for instance giving and average of points won by tournament. Honestly, I agree with the comments but it’s just a lot of work to totally change the system and make something much more accurate. After all, rankings are never perfect. Even the FISTF rankings and most national rankings are far to be perfect.
* Some nations don’t support WASPA enough. I think it’s really sad to see nations telling their members not to run WASPA tournaments. We have seen how WASPA events have helped the game to grow in different countries and what happened in England, South Africa, Australia,… must be a real source of inspiration for other nations.
* FISTF President Steve Dettre has always been positive about WASPA and has understood that both WASPA and FISTF must help each other. It’s really sad that FISTF recommendations to have Plate tournaments played under WASPA banner if not accepted by several countries.
* People often ask me “why is WASPA big in England, Australia or South Africa but absent in Portugal, France or South America?” What should I answer? Some nations don’t really need the WASPA circuit because the domestic circuit is big (for instance in Italy) or because there is no real wish to have tournaments for beginners or for weaker players. We really believe WASPA events remain fantastic for people who don’t have time, money or energy to travel long distances to play “big events”. It’s important to have regular regional events to keep some players motivated.
* Role of the delegates: a few years ago, I tried to have delegates in each country to help to develop the WASPA circuit. We must admit the role of delegate has been a failure because most of the time clubs don’t contact their national delegate before hosting a tournament and because delegates don’t really manage to develop the WASPA circuit in their respective countries. Therefore, in the future we will keep a more central way to work, directly between clubs and WASPA.
* Lack of communication of local organizers: it has been pointed out that many organizers have tournaments without announcing their events in advance. This is unacceptable as WASPA tournaments should be open to all players, not only members of the organizing club.
For the future, we will focus on a few things:
* Organizers who don’t announce their tournament in advance should have reduced ranking points awarded. When this happens, a regional tournament will only be awarded points as in a “promotional tournament” (50% of points). If it happens three times during the same season, no ranking points will be awarded.
* The youth: everybody is aware that the youth is the priority for the future. It is really sad that only a few clubs manage to be involved in the “Junior ranking of clubs” while some elite clubs are no even in the WASPA rankings but mange to send several very young players to the world cup every year. We really need to do something to have more young players involved in WASPA tournament before playing in international events.
* WASPA blog: we hope more organizers will send reports and pictures of their tournaments so that we can publish more good stories.
Before the end of this long message, I would love to give my “personal top 5 highlights” of the year and congratulate a few people who do an amazing job for the sport:
* The English Subbuteo Association for remaining the most active nation in the WASPA circuit, for helping to create new clubs and for running amazing tournaments, including the national league of clubs. Some players in the UK play for different clubs in the FISTF and WASPA circuits but all players continue to respect their clubs (WASPA) and teams (FISTF).
* The club of Rebels Genova in Italy for the amazing job with the kids. This club is a real source of inspiration, and they run regular events under WASPA banner but also continue to travel to big events to gain experience and to become excellent players.
* The group of players in Bucharest, Romania as they are proving that even being a nation with no real history of Subbuteo table football, they can build something really nice. Cezar Stoilescu has done an amazing job to promote the game in Bucharest and managed to have new players interested. The next step of course is to have the club growing and to have more tournaments and competitive games.
* The Northern Line Flickers in New Zealand. The group in Auckland has been amazing in the last few months, started playing in a pub, then organizing some WASPA events, later even hosting the first FISTF tournament in the country and now planning to have a team for the tournaments to come in Australia. That’s exactly how things should be, growing step by step!
* All local organizers who keep the faith in what they are doing, sometimes with a lot of personal satisfaction, sometimes with the frustration to have less players than expected. We need local organizers to build a strong future! The faith of local organizers keeps me motivated to continue to run the WASPA circuit
Well, that’s all for now, that’s for the reading and keep in mind I stay at your disposal if you have any question regarding the WASPA circuit!
Have a fantastic year 2025!
Vincent Coppenolle, WASPA organizer, vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com
