Matteo Ciccarelli (TS Napoli Fighters/ITA) boosted his World Cup hopes with a dominating 4-0 victory to beat William Dotto (F.Lli Bari Reggio Emilia/ITA) in the final of the Open category at the Major of Italy, the Macron Cup Bologna.
He won all matches on the day to claim the title, including a 1-0 semi final win against Massimo Bolognino (CCT Eagles Napoli/ITA).
Dotto had some tough opponents to overcome, none more so than Carlos Flores (F.Lli Bari Reggio Emilia/ESP), who he beat on shots 3-2 after a 2-2 draw in the last 16.
Unseeded Fabio Belloni (ACS Perugia 1973/ITA) caused a major surprise when he claimed the veterans crown, beating 3rd seeded Pasquale TORANO (Leonessa 2004 Brescia/ITA) 2-1 on shots after a pulsating 3-3 draw.
World Number 7 in the women’s category Eleonora BUTTITTA (SC Bagheria/ITA) claimed victory against Melina Scheen (5) (ST Stembert/BEL) with a 1-0 win.
In the U16, Francesco MANFREDELLI (CCT Eagles Napoli/ITA) dominated, with a 6-2 semi final win against Nicolò COLOSSI (SC Bari/ITA) before beating Lorenzo FRICANO (Subbuteo Casale/ITA) 7-1.
Alberto CAPOFERRI (Rebels Genova/ITA) and Daniele SALATINO (SC Bari/ITA) traded goals in a 9 goal thriller before Capoferri came out victorious in the U12 event.
Marco PREZIUSO (ASD SC Salernitana/ITA) claimed the Open consolation event, while Alberto GÓMEZ (Subbuteo Dragons Azuqueca/ESP) took the Veterans consolation.
In the teams event, CCT Eagles Napoli (ITA) beat Virtus 4strade SC Rieti (ITA) on goals 7-6 after a 1-1 draw.
A notable occurrence during the teams event was the match up between Ves Gentes (ITA) 2nd team against the might of F.lli Bari Reggio Emilia (ITA), where young Damiano Giampaola was determined to play against his hero Carlos Flores. After taking a surprise 1-0 lead, they settled for a 3-3 draw, and a match the youngster will never forget, Bravo Carlos and Damiano!
Off the pitch, the organisation of the event was superbly done, with Roger Trouillard running the results operation and a peerless social media plan.
The event was entirely broadcast on the official social channels of the Bologna Tigers Subbuteo. Specifically: with a fixed camera installed above the main competition field, the live broadcast was broadcast on the “A.S.D.” Facebook groups. Bologna Tigers Subbuteo” and “FISCT Live” and on the event page “FISTF Major of Italy 2024 – Bologna Macron Cup”.
Furthermore, an operator was tasked with filming the other “highlight” matches of the tournament, broadcasting them live on the TikTok channel “@bolognatigers”.
In this regard, excellent results were obtained in terms of views and interactions, as the live broadcasts on the TikTok channel, for example, were seen by 75,206 users (with over 16,900 likes).
A couple of reels have already been published on the official FISCT account (@fisctsubbuteo) relating to some key moments of the event.
At the moment, Alberto Capoferri’s winning goal in the Under12 Tournament has reached over 104,000 views, while Massimo Bolognino’s goal in the final of the Team Tournament has already reached 120,000 views.
All the live broadcasts broadcast on TikTok during the event have already been republished and made available to users on the Fisct YouTube channel (YouFISCT) and on the “A.S.D.” Facebook groups. Bologna Tigers Subbuteo” and “FISCT Live”.
To promote the event, a video was created and published on social media in the days preceding the event. On the official Instagram account of the Italian Table Football Sports Federation, this content has exceeded 213,000 views.
Finally, the results of the event were inserted on the bolognatigers.it website and made available to users in real time, who therefore had the opportunity to consult the tournament data and rankings on an ongoing basis. The links to the live broadcasts and the results were relaunched several times on the social networks of the Bologna Tigers Subbuteo, during the course of the tournament, together with a series of photos, always different and relating to the last round of the game played, personalized with a special frame created for the occasion.
Many thanks to Riccardo Marinucci for his detailed report.