African Cup tournament in Greece

16 players representing African teams wompeted in a recent WASPA AFCON version tournament in Kallithea, Greece. Players where using Subbuteo teams with Hasbro bases. The tournament was divided between a group stage and then a knock-out round. Mike Tastsoglou (Ghana) took the best on Chris Panagiotides (Zaire) in the final while Antonis Krysilas (Tunisia) and Manos Chiotis (Ivory Coast) were the unlucky semi-finalists.

You can watch all the action here

Pascal Scheen and Geoffrey Marain winners in Belgium

On Friday two WASPA tournaments took place in Belgium. The geographical situation of the country is such that two events took part at more than 200 km between both places.

In Verviers, the local club was glad to hold a tournament after more than 2 years but the limited space made it was impossible to register more than 12 players. The competitors were divided into 3 groups with then a knock-out stage. Pascal Scheen was on fire and defeated Geoffrey Dheur in quarter-final (1-0), Sébastien Scheen in the semi (3-2 in sudden death) and Salvatore Visconti in the final (3-2). Visconti had an amazing performance int he semi, beating Christophe Dheur (3-2). More importantly, it was a great night for all 12 players.

In the West of the country, the Templeuve United club held another WASPA night. Due to the covid, three players could not make it in the last minute but 10 players were finally present to play in a Swiss system tournament. Geoffrey Marain won his four games to claim the first place. Michaël Dupret was runner-up thanks to more goals scored than Benjamin Marain while 4 outher players finished the evening with 2 wins and 2 losses. The great news of the night were the come-back of Logan Carette but also the visit of Pascal and André Flémal, two members of the newly-formed BX Subbuteo Club (based in Brussels). The next Templeuve United tournament will be played on February 18.

Standings of the night:

1. Geoffrey Marain
2. Michaël Dupret
3. Benjamin Marain
4. Sébastien Sorge
5. Vincent Coppenolle
6. Logan Carette
7. Didier Moons
8. Pascal Flémal
9. André Flémal
10. Donovan Dedoncker

Link: Templeuve United Facebook page

Fred Elesbao winner in Sankt Pauli

After a few months of absence due to the pandemic, Subbuteo was back in Hamburg this week. The Sankt Pauli players held their first WASPA tournament of the year with a small turnout of 5 players. Fred Elesbao from Hannover won the evening while Simon Stewart was runner-up. Sven Schilling, Ralf Offenborn and Andre Lange were also taking part! We are glad to see our German friends doing great at the moment!

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.

Northern Ireland: Kenneth Beggs wins Broughshane Invitational tournament

Former Northern Ireland international, Donal Convery, made a comeback at a WASPA Invitational Tournament in the village of Broughshane. Playing for the first time in 15 years, he was up against his former Northern Ireland & Belfast Barbarians team-mates, Kenny Beggs & Barry Spence and showed signs of the form which took him to the 2004 Home Internationals in England and 2005 World Cup in Belgium. The event was played as a round-robin, with Kenny topping the table on 6 points. Report & photos on www.nitfa.org.uk

Results:

Barry Spence 1 Donal Convery 0
Kenny Beggs 1 Barry Spence 0
Kenny Beggs 3 Donal Convery 0

TABLE:
1. K.Beggs 6pts
2. B.Spence 3pts
3. D.Convery 0pts

Fabrizio Cavazza wins post-lockdown tournament

On Wednesday Dutch Subbuteo was back in the scene with a great evening of play. 5 players were happy to have a post-lockdown tournament. In the group robin, there were many close games and 4 of the 10 games ended with no winner. After the five sessions, Fabrizio Cavazza and Kenney Gerrets were tied with 8 points but the Gorizia players managed to win the trophy on goal difference. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon int heNetherlands and more tournanements will be played in the next few months.

Final standings of the evening:
1. Fabrizio Cavazza (Gorizia)
2. Kenney Gerrets (Rijnmond)
3. Rinaldo van Dijk (Gorizia)
4. Xavier Aret (Dutch Legends)
5. Stéphane Lambert (Yokohama)

Winning come-back for Mark Ryan

This month's WASPA tournament in Perth had a great turnout of 8 players. Everyone had five games and there was a though competition but in the end, Mark Ryan (aka Tan Yew Loy) was in a great day and won anouther tournament. "He doesn't play for month's, just turns up and wins", commented Alan Kimber after the tournament. Mark defeated Alan in the semi-final and later beat Brian Pearson in a close game (3-2) to win the tournament. Mick DeVincentis was the other semi-finalist while Hugh Best won the consolation tournament. It was another great day for Subbuteo fans in Perth.

Follows the club new on their Facebook group here.

Great start to new Subbuteo season in South Africa

Sunday the 16th of January saw the Johannesburg TFC aka 'The Eagles' host their annual season opening  New Years Challenge at Randburg AFC.

A very good turnout of 10 players from three different Gauteng clubs converged to enjoy an exciting, fun and enjoyable Subbuteo tournament which has become synonomous with all local Subbuteo tourneys.

Favourite, Sean Morgan, unfortunately could not make the tournament as he had a bad encounter with a wandering devil possessed 'Cujo' dog and had to have multiple stitches in his hand. We all wish him a speedy recovery.

The participants were placed into two seeded groups and play flicked off on three fields.

Once again a delicious snack platter was served for all players and friends, courtesy of Nita (Clifford's better half) and Just for You Meals.

The group stages provided no real upsets as the four pre-tourney favourites, namely Ian, Gary, Jason and Clifford progressed to the knock-out stages. 

Johan and Fernando showed some good form to occupy respective 3rd places in both groups.

Goal of the tournament went to Gary's equalizer against Clifford as he scored a 'Hollywood Goal', a phrase coined by Justin Finch at our recent SA Champs.

Play-off games were introduced to insure maximum games for all entrants and ascertain all positional places.

Chris took 9th spot by defeating Paul who claims he was more worried about Malawi's progress in the current AFCON Cup. 

Guiseppe claimed 7th spot by beating Alex in a tense penalty shoot-out.

Fernando and Johan dished up a very exciting 5th place play-off with Fernando edging Johan out by 3 penalty flicks to 2 in a nerve wracking shoot-out.

Both semi finals proved goalless resulting in penalty shoot-outs. Clifford and Gary, won their respective shoot-outs by the odd goal goal to set up a repeat of their earlier group stage encounter.

Jason and Ian squared off for third spot with Jason taking the bronze medal by defeating Ian by a solitary goal in a tightly contested match.

The final saw Clifford and Gary flick off for the first title of the new SA Subbuteo season. Play was end to end with both players squandering promising chances. However, a defensive lapse by Gary allowed Clifford to score the winning goal and claim the title.

A huge thanks must go all who attended and we look forward to the next tournament at ETS Subbuteo Club on the 12th of February.

(Report by Clifford Graaff)

Michael Choong wins 1st Singapore tournament of 2022

As Singapore transits from pandemic to endemic Covid, the Table Football Association of Singapore has carefully restarted regular table football activities under strict safe management measures.  Spearheading this (and in close collaboration with The Sports Hub Library - our venue partner/sponsor) is the resumption of our regular League sessions throughout the calendar year.  9 players gathered on 16 Jan 2022 for the first League session to vie for bragging rights and League points.

Players were randomly drawn into 3 groups of 3 for first round of games.  Thereafter, each player's placings in their respective group will determine the respective groups of 3 in the second round of games.  In total, each player gets 4 games.  After the usual intense battle amid all the laughter and camaraderie, Michael Choong emerged as the winner of the January League session and the first tournament of 2022 in Singapore!!  Congratulations Michael!

A strong youth program in Genova

The Club Rebels Genova is a new club based in Italy and with a strong youth program. In the beginning of the season, the club joined the WASPA circuit and decided to organize tournaments for their young players. Their 7th WASPA event was played on Sunday with 6 players competing in a group format. Samuele Bignardi, 10 years old, won his 4th tournament after being undefeated in five games. In such a case, results are not really important. The main point is to have young players enjoying Subbuteo games and practicing a lot to become stronger players in the future! Congratulations to the staff and our local organizer Luca Bignardi for the great work!

Standings of the tournament:

1. Samuele Bignardi
2. Alessandro Gandin
3. Davide Balito
4. Filippo Di Rosa
5. Edoardo Gennaro
6. Francesco Pellicci

Link: The Subbuteo Club Rebels Genova's Facebook page