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

Marco Zucchi wins March tournament in Prague

Earlier in March, players of the local group based in Prague had the visit of Gábor Baross from Budapest. It was the prefect time to hold a WASPA tournament and the five players competed in a league format. Marco Zucchi won all his games to win the tournament while the special guest of the day was runner-up. Marco Zucchi also commented that when visitors spend some time in Prague for holidays, they are always welcome to play a few games!

1. Marco Zucchi
2. Gábor Baross
3. David Young
4. Pasquale Carrassi
5. Jiri Uchytil

Marco Zucchi wins Befana tournament in Prague

After a long hyatus, table football was back in Prague, Czech Republic, on January 6.

Six players met to play the "Befana tournament" with the surprise to see three different nations taking part.

There were some Italians, two English players and old Czech legend Lucas Zima who played his very first WASPA tournament.

Paolo Di Stefano and David Young won their respective group but lost their semi-finals against Pasquale Carrassi (on shots) and Marco Zucchi.

Marco Zucchi won the final against Paquale Carrassi who recently moved from Spain to Prague and will be a great addition for the local group of players.

David Young wins in Prague - Welcome Russia

First Russian appearance int he WASPA circuit with Galina Rudkina

During the FISTF Satellite of Prague, a WASPA tournament was played by six players with a group stage and a knock-our round. David Young defeated Jiri Uchytil (3-0) in the final while 13 years old Viktor Katona from Hungary defeated Miklos Szekely in the game for the third place.

The tournament saw also the first appearance of Galina Rudkina, the first representative of Russia in the WASPA circuit. We are very pleased to see Russia being part of the show! Welcome!

Picture (left): Jiri Uchytil, David Young, organizer Marco Zucchi and Viktor Katona.

Marco Zucchi wins the Czech Cup

This Saturday the National cup in Czech Republic was organized in Prague under WASPA banner. 8 players were competing and among them a few Czech legends were registered. As always, the tournament took place in the "Subbuteo friendly Hotel" so that players could enjoy some rest between games. Some sweet food, vegetables and italian sausages were provided from Marco and Paolo who cooked the sausages for all players in the evening. "It was a great time together, also playing a little bit of football with Paolo's childrens", reported Marco Zucchi!
The tournament was played as a league so that everyoneone played 7 games. In the end, Marco Zucchi was the champion, taking the honors while David Vaccke was runner-up and David Young was third. Other players in the ranking were Radek Cjainik, Martin Novotny, Paolo De Stefano, Jiri Uchytil and Paolo De Falco.

A very international event in Prague

This Saturday there was another tournament in Prague, Czech Republic. It was a great day with seven players playing a league format so that everyone could play six games. Organizers, who prepared sandwiches and cakes and hosted the event in their "Subbuteo Hotel", were happy to host Anika Hentrich and Filippo Vitali from Berlin but also Martin Novotny who was back on the pitch after a break of 20 years and beginner Cedric Farrugia from Malta. In the end, Marco Zucchi finished on top with 16 points to take his second WASPA title. David Young (14) was runner-up and Filippo Vitali (13) took the third place. Jiri Uchytil finished on 4th place, Martin Novotny was 5th, Anika Hentrich 6th and Cedric Farrugia 7th. Thanks to all the players for their fair spirit.

Marco Zucchi wins in Prague

This week, the city of Prague i Czech Republic hosted a WASPA event in a hotel. Marco Zucchi reported the location as "the only Subbuteo Hotel in Europe". It was nice to see David Vacke back in action and the first appearance of Cedric Farrugia, a Maltese who is now living in Prague.

Marco Zucchi finished on top of the group while David Vake was runner-up, David Young took the third place and Cedric Farrugia took the fourth place. Well done!

Action in Czech Republic

On September 22, David Young, Jiri Uchityl and Marco Zucchi met in a wine cellar in Prague to play some games.

It was not really a tournament, more a way to play games and to promote Subbuteo. It was a nice evening of play without pressure of competition, in particular for David who is recovering after having broken his leg a few months ago. The good news is that David is going better and playing games.

There will be more action on October 15 and, depending on numbers, this might be a WASPA tournament this time.

Well done to Czech Subbuteo Tym 2014 for their efforts of promotion.

A national cup for Marco Zucchi

This week-end Marco Zucchi won the Czech Subbuteo Cup 3-1 in the final against Radoslav Cajnik. The tournament attracted a small turnout of five players but shows again that Czech Republic is alive in the international subbuteo circuit.

A very international event in Prague

Gabriele Silveri receives his prize from Marco Zucchi

Last week-end, during the FISTF Open of Prague (Czech Republic), some players were invited to play a WASPA tournament. Five players competed in a group system and Gabriele Silveri (ITA/Fiamme Azzurre) took the honors with 10 points, finishing ahead of Igor Ljubisavjevic (SER/Wiener Neustadt), Zucchi Marco (CZE/Czech Subbuteo Team), Howard Romain (ENG/London & Essex United) and Mathias Eppensteiner (AUT/TFKN). Congratulations to Gabriele and well done to the Czech hosts for a good week-end!

Home win for Arnold Mair in Rain

The final between Arnold Mair (left) and Marco Zucchi

Last saturday the FISTF Open of Rain took place in Germany and the organizers decided to run a WASPA consolation in the afternoon to give more games to eliminated players. The small event attracted 15 players from 4 nations and had a local winner as TSG Rain's Arnold Mair defeated Marco Zucchi (Czech Subbuteo Team 2014) in the final. Daniele Gamba, also from the Czech club, and Germany's Tom Horn were the semi-finalists. It was another good sign of cooperation between FISTF and WASPA and we are thankful to Thomas Vulpes and his clubmates for making things happen.

Robert Green wins in Prague

This saturday the Czech Republic made a great come back in the FISTF circuit with and International Open organized in Prague. Organizers had also decided to give the WASPA status to the consolation tournament and 16 players from 7 nations took part. The final was very international between Australia's Robert Green and Austria's Markus Ziergoi. Finally Green took the honors after defeating Ziergoi (2-1). Semi-finalists were Hans Ruf (Germany) and Martin Bellefontaine (England).

News from around the world

Australia: the Northern Falcons TFC has a new home. The club from the Sydney area will play at the GOOD GAMES store in Chastwood (http://www.goodgames.com.au/stores/nsw/chatswood.html). "The first games night will take place on October 22", reported Steve Dettre.

Austria: "Champ 22" is the new table football center in Vienna. The guys from TSC Royal 7! are putting a lot of energy to promote table football in thr main city of the country and to attract many young players. Well done!
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Champ-22/303723709818678

Czech Republic: there are plans to see the first WASPA tournament in Czech Republic soon. Things are moving in Prague and the country will hold a FISTF Open on February 28 and March 1.

South Africa: Johannesburg and Pretoria are not the only cities where subbuteo is alive in the country. A group of six players is now meeting in Cape Town and will soon have their first WAPA tournament. More to follow soon.

USA: the 2014 Delaware Valley Open will be held on Sunday, November 9, 2014 at 10 AM in Avondale, Pennsylvania. Cost of the event is $5.00 with food and drinks provided. If interest, please contact Andrew Zunino at andy62269@msn.com