Eugene Plytas with Flaming Flickers tournament

A great turnout and a great atmosphere

The latest Flaming flickers tournament was a real success as our greek friends decided to run their December event with three different categories. 26 players from many different clubs were taking part.

Eugene Plytas receiving his trophy

In the main event, Eugene Plytas was the best of 12 players after defeating Markos Kapsabelis (1-0) in the final. Alekos Apatzis and Manolis Papadakis were the semi-finalists.

Podium of the B category

The B category had 10 players with two groups of 5 and then knock-out games. Achilleas Bogdanidis took the honors after beating Vasilios Argyropoulos (3-0) in the final.

The Juniors

Finally, the Junior category consisted in a group of four with Christian Tsakalakis finishing on top of the table and Nikos Jr Psomiadis being runner-up.

Huge thanks to the Flaming Flickers for another amazing event!

John Imbrogiano wins Swiss Cup tournament in Eschenbach

Players having a great day in Eschenbach

We continue our review of January events with the great news from Switzerland where after a long absence of more than two years, there was a tournament again under WASPA banner. The Swiss Cup event held in Eschenbach and organized by the Linth Sliders Club had a turnout of five players including South Africa's Clinton Gahwlier. John Imbrogiano (subbuteo.ch) won the tournament, finishing on top of the league with 3 wins and a draw. Peter Erb was runner-up (7 points), Clinton (7) took a great third third place while Roman Bernharsgrütter (3) and Martin Wiesmann (1) were the other competitors.

"The absolute highlight though was the friendships forged and the amazing hospitality shown particularly by Peter Erb and Martin Wiessman. It was also fantastic to meet Subbuteo legend Willi Hofmann who popped in unexpectedly at the WASPA event", commented Clinton Gahwlier on the Cape Town City Facebook page.

Huge thanks to Roman Bernharsgrütter for his great job to organize the tournament and also to bring back Switzerland in the WASPA circuit! A much appreciated effort!

Giulio Astengo wins inaugural event in Cardiff

We are starting publishing the news of January 2020 with the first report of the year. The Cardiff Bluebirds club in Wales was the host of the first tournament of the season on January 2.

Congratulationss to Giulio Astengo for winning the Cardiff WASPA event, the 1st Subbuteo event of the year. Not exactly a goal fest. Both semi-finals (Aaron Skinner v Darren John Barnes & Giulio v Dave Samuel) finished 0-0.

The final between Darren & Guilio was decided on shots after a 1-1 draw.

Finally thanks to the mystery guest turning up to present the trophy.

December 2019: news from around the world

Here is a quick review of some events held under WASPA banner in December. We are waiting for the last few results of last month to publish the december rankings. Hopefully everything will be ready by the end of the week.

3 dedicated players in Javea

Spain: one more tournament in Javea
The Marina Citerior Club held a 15th "Tea Time Tournament" int he beginning of the month. Unfortunately the club is struggling to get new players but the usual members of the clubs are still very motivated to play together. italy's Pasquale Carrassi finished on top of a small league (with home and away games) with David Mc Aulay being runner-up and Bill Dunham taking the third place.

Presentation of trophies in Ilioupolis

Greece: Roligans Christmas Cup
The Roligans club organized a Christmas tournament on December 21. There were 13 competitors including a special guest of the new club of Ippovotes Chalkida Club. Evangelos Kotrotsos (U15) won the tournament while the runner-up was Tassos Priftis. This time the event was a knockout tournament and the players eliminated played for Category B. Therefore the winner of the B tournament was Dimitrios Rembis.

Players in Thessaloniki

Greece: Panorama still doing well
Also in Greece, the Panorama 1978 SC Thessaloniki organized a tournament with 6 players involved. This time Ioannis Terzidis took the honors after defeating Constantios Giapoutzis in the final (2-0) while Stavros Giapoutzis won the game for the third place.

Some good games in Donegal

Ireland: action in Donegal
Also the Republic of ireland saw some Subbuteo action in the end of December with three players competing in a group format in Donegal. Local organizer Brendan Rodgers finished on top of the table while clubmate Oisin McKeogh was runner-up and special guest from England Nick Pearson took the third place.

Richard Ruffolo - Howard Christie - Mike Sgro

Canada: Howard Christie does it again
This month's tournament in Toronto had a small turnout of three but there were many close games. Defending champion Mike Sgro could not win another event as Howard Christie won the final against Mike to win the "tournament of the decade".

Isle of Man: Joseph Kinrade is a winner
We have been extremely glad to see some action on the Isle of Man where Joseph Kinrade won the "Ellan Vannin WASPA Christmas Cup" after defeating brian Kinrade in the final. The tournament had a good turnout of four players including first time player Lisa Warren from England. The tournament was played as a group of five with the top 2 qualifying for the grand final.

Martin Wiesmann bringing Switzerland back on the WASPA map

Switzerland: Test match in Wil
Just a few days before the WASPA tournament in Eschenbach of January 5 (results coming soon), there was a test match between local player Martin Wiesmann and South Africa's Clinton Gahwiler from Cape Town. The game ended as a draw but more importantly it was a good way to have Switzerland coming back to the WASPA circuit with more good news coming up soon.

Anas Bin Rahamat wins 2019 Xsmas cup in Singapore

(L to R): Bernard Lim, Nic Tan, Anas Rahamat, Ashley Tan, Den Mulia Yusni, Arjuna Hanafi, Rizal Taib, Michael Choong,
Vikkram Kumar, Vikas Chandiramani, Luke Lim, Isaac Lim, John Edwards, Bolkiah Musa, Rudy Hesty Roselan

The final tournament in the Singapore Table Football calendar with SG Ranking points took place on 29 Dec 2019 at the Singapore Sports Hub Library.  The Xmas Cup was organized under the banner of SG Lions Table Football Club and saw a turnout of 15 players.

The 15 players were randomly drawn into 4 groups for the round-robin Group Stage. The top 2 in each Group qualified for the Cup quarter-finals while the bottom 2 competed in the Plate quarter-finals.  Play-offs for respective placing in the Cup and Plate also took place for players eliminated at the quarter-finals.  Each player gets at least 5 games.

In the Cup Final, Anas continued his domination of the local table football scene to win 1-0 over Rudy to win the Xmas Cup!!  While in the Plate Final, Rizal defeated Vikas 2-1 to win the consolation final.

Final Placings
Champion: Anas Rahamat
Runner-Up: Rudy Hesty Roselan
3rd Place: Nic Tan
4th Place: Ashley Tan
5th Place: Michael Choong
6th Place: Den Mulia Yusni
7th Place: Bernard Lim
8th Place: Isaac Lim
9th Place: Rizal Taib
10th Place: Vikas Chandiramani
11th Place: Bolkiah Musa
12th Place: Vikkram Kumar
13th Place: John Edwards
14th Place: Luke Lim
15th Place: Arjuna Hanafi

Congratulations to all winners!!

Martinog Bradley wins Christmas Cup

A team of 5 played out a league format Christmas Cup in derry (Northern Ireland), with Martinog Bradley taking the honours with 4 wins. Oisin Mor played runner-up with two solid wins over veteran, Paul Boyle, and newcomer Jude Morrow. Great nights craic for the last flicks of the decade!

Final standings: 
1. Martinog Bradley
2. Oisin Mor
3. Lawrence Watson
4. Jude Morrow
5. Paul Boyle

30th birthday of the Templeuve United club

A special logo for the birthday of the club

In December, the Templeuve United players celebrated the 30th birthday of the club. It was indeed in December 1989 that 2 teenagers of the small Belgian village (population of 3500) started their own club.

Final 4 of the promotional event: Benjamin Marain - Sébastien Dohet - Daniel Boistelle - Giulio Bonfanti

The club had a national tournament on December 21 with 22 players taking part. The "C category" was a WASPA promotional tournament with 10 players competing. There were 2 groups of five, semi-finals and consolation games. Sébastien Dohet (USC Huy) won his very first tournament after defeating Daniel Boistelle (Wamme SC) in a close final (1-0). Giulio Bonfanti (Wamme) and U12 player Benjamin Marain (Templeuve) made it to the semi-finals.

Templeuve players after the national tournament

The rest of the table was as follows:
5. Jean-Luc Platiaux (Templeuve)
6. Eric Caillaux (France/Templeuve)
7. Sébastien Sorge (France/Templeuve)
8. Esteban Boistelle (Wamme)
9. Didier Moons (Templeuve)
10. Jordan Bonte (Templeuve)

Players at the regional tournament

A few days later, on December 27, the monthly "regional" tournament had a small turnout of 7. The tournament was played in Swiss system and geoffrey marain was the winner once again. The good news is that there were visitors coming to see the games with possible new players for the future meetings.

Final standings of the régional tournament:
1. Geoffrey Marain
2. Matthias Averlant
3. Vincent Coppenolle
4. Didier Moons
5. Renald Deloose
6. Arthur Clique
7. Jordan Bonte

Eliot Kennedy and Tan Yew Loy winners in Australia

Some news from Australia where there was Subbuteo action in both Sydney and Perth in December.

2nd annual Christmas Binge tournament

For the second year running, Western Sydney Subbuteo closed out the year with a tournament squished into that wasteland between Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, just to keep everyone in celebration mode. Four hardy competitors dragged themselves and their extra kilos off their couches to take part.

Steve - Geoff - Eliot - Adrian

In the opening round of matches Geoff played a brilliant defensive game, only for Eliot to settle in and squeeze a winner later in the game. Meanwhile Steve's first half lead was cancelled out by a second half equaliser from Adrian during a riveting draw. The second round saw Geoff take an early lead keeping up his impressive displays...for half a game at least. Steve took command in the second half and slotted home 4 unanswered goals. Meanwhile, on the other table, Eliot commanded possession, as expected, but Adrian defended stoutly, keeping clear chances to a minimum, until 45 seconds before half time, when Eliot finally got into clear space and slotted home comfortably. The second half provided great entertainment as Eliot searched for the sealing goal, opening up his defense in the process. This gave Adrian space on the counter and he began to trouble Eliot. Then , in the evening's most spectacular moment, Eliot wound back the clock to 1977. After one too many attacking flicks went awry, he picked up the offending figure and hurled it across Good Games, reminding everyone of how he got a reputation as an emotional firebrand is his younger years. Adrian later managed an equaliser which cheered Eliot up no end.

Which meant that 3 players were still in with a chance to win the tournament heading into the final game. Adrian partly did his part, with a 1 goal victory over Geoff, but the woodwork continually hindered him from building up the goal difference he really needed. Steve and Eliot were still scoreless at the break in their game, with everything still in the balance. A goal part way through the second half, however, was enough to confirm the title for Eliot.

Steve 1 - 1 Adrian
Geoff 0 - 1 Eliot

Eliot 1 - 1 Adrian
Steve 4 - 1 Geoff

Steve 0 - 1 Eliot
Geoff 0 - 1 Adrian

Final standings:
1. Eliot Kennedy
2. Adrian Elmer
3. Steve Dettre
4. Geoff Sirmai

Original link

Tan Yew Loy winner in Perth

A bit earlier in the month, Tan Yew Loy won the monthly Perth tournament. The Singapore player eneded on top of a group of 5 while Alan Kimber was runner-up.

Final standings:
1. Tan Yew Loy
2. Alan Kimber
3. Hugh Best
4. Ron Byrne
5. Chris Thorn

Italy: results from Borgo Vercelli and Firenze

Riccardo Bruno receives his award for his victory

Italy has been active in the WASPA circuit in December with tournaments held in Borgo Vercelli and Firenze.

The Christmas Cup in Borgo Vercelli had two categories in the books. The Open section consisted in a group of five with Riccardo Bruno finishing on top to claim his first WASPA title.

Open category standings:
1. Riccardo Bruno
2. Ferdinando Marino
3. Andrea Gennari
4. Gabriele Montaldi
5. Alberto Cirio

The Junior players together during the presentation of prizes

Alessandro Cirio
receives his medal
from Paolo Milan

The Junior section had a turnout of 6 players with a group stage and then knock-out games. Alessandro Cirio defeated Edoardo Montaldi in the final (2-1) while Marco Tagliavini won the game for the third place against Gabriele Saveriano. Matteo Comello won the game for the 5th place against Edoardo Beccati.

Thanks to Andrea Lessona for the good work to organize the event!

Luigi Di Vito (Eagles Napoli) winner in Firenze

In Firenze, the local club had the visit of Luigi Di Vito in the beginning of the month and the tournament organized under WASPA banner was played in Swiss system by 9 players. Luigi Di Vito proved to be the best player after winning three game and sharing points against local organizer Marco Bonciani.

Final standings of the Firenze tournament:
1. Luigi Di Vito
2. Gabriele Casati
3. Matteo Cherici
4. Stefano Barducci
5. Mirko Masini
6. Marco Bonciani
7. Francesco Gori
8. Tiberio Becucci
9. Mirko Pasquini

Terje Ellefsen wins Romjulscup in Norway

Sørensen (on the left) and Schjølberg. The luckiest price winners

Brekke (left) against Schjølberg

The "Romjulscup '19" was played on the 28th of December in Kragerø, Norway. Organizers decided to go for a NBFF+WASPA tournament again. It was a very nice tournament played in a round robin format. Hosts had sponsored prices for all players that were randomly picked. The most lucky one was Sørensen who won a cruise for 4 people from Larvik to Bergen with Fjordline. Second most lucky was Schjølberg who won a wireless charger for cellphone. :-) The most exciting match was probably the narrow 4-3 win for Brekke against Sørensen. Sørensen who made a comeback last month after 10 years away from the sport is already showing signs of old greatness. Sørensen was the junior Champion of Norway in 1994 and played in the Paris World Cup the same year. It will be very interesting to see how his form develops in the coming weeks and months. The two other comeback players F. Ellefsen and Schølberg plus the beginner Aabøe are also making good progress for every game.

Finals standings:
1. Terje Ellefsen (Kragerø BFK)
2. Svein Arne Brekke (Skien Wildcats)
3. Fredrik Sørensen (Kragerø BFK)
4. Frode Ellefsen (Kragerø BFK)
5. Geir Kristian Aabøe (Kragerø BFK)
6. Kenneth Schjølberg (Kragerø BFK)

Noor Haikal wins Merlion Cup WASPA tournament

The Merlion Cup 2019 saw some interesting matches, together with some surprise eliminations from the main tournament. The eliminated players were eligible for the plates event.

After a series of knockout matches, it was seasoned player, Noor Haikal, against Hong Kong Dragons’ youngest player, Nicholas Carabillo in the Plates Final. Nicholas managed to hold off Haikal’s relentless attacks in the first part of the final, but Nicholas’ defence finally gave way, with Haikal bagging in 2 goals in the net. Well done to the players!

Dimitris Stamatopoulos wins Boxing Day tournament

The Piraeus Lions "Boxing day" took place on Sunday with a great field of 16 players. Dimitris Stamatopoulos was the winner and the finalist was Lazaros Papakonstantinou.

Leonidas Koutroumanos and Vasilis Argyropoulos reched the semis.

Many thanks to the Piraeus organizers for another good event.

Jean Carl Tabone wins Christmas tournament in Attard

Attard Subbuteo Club held a WASPA tournament on Sunday as a good way to celebrate christmas among flickers. 9 players were taking part and there was a very strong field with representatives of different clubs from Malta.

Jean Carl Tabone, who currently plays for the Italian squad of FCD Mortellito Barcellona PG, defeated Jason Pisani in the final while semi-finalists were Jamie Bonnici and Josef Camilleri. Spencer Conti and Mario Fleri Soler reached the barrage round.

"Thanks to Mario Fleri Soler for organizing all the fixtures", commented Joseph Debono after the event.

Brian Daley wins London Road Christmas Cup

The London Road Subbuteo Club MySubbuteo Xmas WASPA was held last Sunday at the Parrot in Drury. 7 players took part in a league format and there were many good games. Lothe event had a really mixed bag of results. Brian Daley wins again after winning every game, Chris Bedford came second but it great to see Ruby Matthews finishing third.

Final standings:
1. Brian Daley
2. Chris Bedford
3. Ruby Matthews
4. Raoul Newton
5. Cayne Matthews
6. Dave Merrilees-Kelly
7. Lucasz Whittle

Chris Kotrotsos wins Tavros Christmas Cup

Finalists Klaus and Christos

Nikos and Dimitris

As Christmas holidays are approaching rapidly, the Engineering department and the "Tavros Technical School Indoor Sports Club" organized a table tennis and table soccer tournament.

New students and new players were involved. As far as it concerns table soccer, eight players took place in a knock-out system tournament. The winner of “students/under 19” award and open 2nd place award was Berhanaj Klaus who was defeated in the final of the “open” cup by the “teacher” Christos Kotrotsos.

Nikos Marandidis and Dimitris Doukas reached the semi finals.

The results is below!

Round of 8
Nikos Marandidis - Orestis Tsaousai 3-0
Klaus Berhanaj - Giannis Maniatis 2-0
Chris Kotrotsos - Cristian Konti 4-0
Antonios Sklavounos - Dimitrios Doukas 0-3

Semi-finals
Chris Kotrotsos - Dimitrios Doukas 4-0
Nikos Marandidis - Klaus Berhanaj 0-0*

Final
Klaus Berhanaj - Chris Kotrotsos 0-3

Manolis Papadakis wins in Piraeus

Some late results from Greece where the Piraeus Lions club held a tournament a few weeks ago. It was the club's first event of the seaosn with 9 players taking part. Manolis Papadakis defeated Giorgos Karatarakis (3-2) in the final while semi-finalists were Stamatis Syrmos and Leonidas Koutromanos. The Piraeus Lions will hold their "Boxing Day" tournament on December 29. Interested players can contact Leonidas Koutromano for details.

Simon Stewart wins in Sankt Pauli

On December 10 Subbuteo St. Pauli held their monthly WASPA-tournament. This time only 5 players were taking part.

Because Sven was in his South Africa-holidays, everyone expected a fight between Simon and Marius for the tournament win.

Surprisingly Marius had a bad day and made only 2 points in his 4 round robin matches.

But Fred from Hannover showed his best performance since he started playing Subbuteo and gave Simon a hard fight.

In the end both rivals had 8 points, but Simon took the win with his 8 goals.

Final standings:
1. Simon Stewart
2. Fred Elesbao
3. Marcos Perianes
4. Marius Willhaus
5. Ralf Offenborn

Malcolm Lees wins first Edinburgh tournament

The first "WASPA Monday Night Subbuteo" action took place in Edinburgh on Monday. There were six players taking part and there were many good games between experienced and novice players. The group stage saw no surprise with favorites of the night qualifying for the next round. In the end, there was a final between Glasgow's Malcolm Lees and local organizer Marco Bevilacqua with Malcolm winning the game 3-0. John Mathieson was third, Martin Campbell fourth while Brian Spoors won the game for the 5th place on shots against French player David Curti.

"It was a great night for our first tournament. I thought that it might not be great if we only had 6 players, but because we only have two tables set up in the pub, it was actually a really good night", commented Marco Bevilacqua after the event.

Thanks to Marco for a great night of action! Hope to see the group playing more WASPA events in the future!

Jos Ceulemans winner in Hofstade

SC Flanders held their 64th WASPA tournament in Hofstade earlier this month with 7 players taking part. There was a beginner, Dirk Sercu, coming back to the game after a very long break and some players competing for glory. Jos Ceulemans finished the evening with 3 wins and a draw, it was enough to claim another victory. Johan Lourdon was runner-up with 9 points while Vincent Wouters was a surprising third. See you all after the New year for the next tournament in the Flanders!

Western Flickers Christmas Cup

Despite a wave of illness causing a few last minute dropouts - including our original host - a small dedicated group of flickers decided to carry on with our year ending WASPA.

MTFC's Luke Radzminski and Nathan Urbaniak made the trip west to join Pelicans Benny, Benjamin and Peter Benholm in a round robin competition.

Junior Pelican Benjamin continued to show he could contest against Open category adult opponents. He played well to finish 3rd by goal difference over rising star Nathan - the surprise WASPA winner at last year's Melbourne IO. No doubt that given time, Nathan will be competing for trophies against Melbourne's best players. Relatively new player Peter also did well against strong opponents and the experience will help him progress on his table football journey.

As expected, Luke and Benny easily won their games resulting in their match-up in the last round being a "Cup final" of sorts. In a tight game - that was well adjudicated by accredited football referee Nathan - both players had numerous chances to win the game. In the end, Benny edged Luke 2-1 to clinch the final WASPA of 2019.

Thanks to all who came - especially our MTFC friends - and made it another enjoyable event.

GO WEST !

Final placings
1. Benny
2. Luke
3. Benjamin
4. Nathan
5. Peter