The Glasgow Grand Prix of 2020 was one of the last FISTF tournaments to take place before Covid 19 struck. It’s been a barren two years and uncertainty around the pandemic is still with us. Therefore, in planning this year’s competition Glasgow Table Soccer Association (GTSA) took the decision to scale back.
We would move to a smaller venue, downgrade ourselves to an International Open and only have an Open category. If we had more than 20 entries we’d be satisfied with that. The entry list of 38 was beyond our expectations and it was a high calibre field at that, with top players from all over the UK. People were just keen to get back playing.
Our venue was the Royal British Legion in Glasgow’s west end, GTSA’s latest home in its 49 year history. A portrait of the Queen looked down over the tables. Fitting perhaps, as this was undoubtedly an all British tournament.
With 38 players competing, two groups of 3 were necessary and it was cruel luck for Ruby Matthews that she was drawn with Elliot Bellefontaine and Steve Bennett, arguably the number one players in England and Scotland. Undaunted, Ruby performed well, scoring in both matches. Elliot and Steve had to work hard for their 3-1 victories. Steve edged out Elliot in the opening match of the tournament. They weren’t to know that they would face each other again in the tournament’s final match.
Top scoring game of the group matches was Martin Blanchard’s 7-4 defeat of Glasgow’s Baver Bari. Baver then went on to lose another 7 against Kevin Cordell. But this wasn’t the end of the competition for Baver. Redemption was at hand! He won 4 Plate matches (including a 3-1 defeat of the aforementioned Kevin Cordell) to reach the final only to lose to Wolverhampton’s Richard Badger.
It is a rare thing in Scottish sport to ‘qualify out of the group’. Congratulations therefore to GTSA’s Tom Burns and Dave Butler for doing just that. Both then won their barrage matches, Tom with a memorable 3-0 win over Aaron Skinner. Tom then lost narrowly to Brian Daley whilst the ever youthful Justin Finch ended Dave’s hopes.
The semi-finals saw the pairing of Steve Bennett with the improving Alan Lee and Elliot Bellefontaine with, for many, pre-tournament favourite Chris Thomas. It was Steve and Elliot who came out on top, Elliot scoring his winner in extra-time.
In the final it was Steve who made the early running, creating the better opportunities. Then…disaster! Inexplicably he lost possession just outside his shooting area. Elliot pounced and took the lead. Thereafter Steve was chasing the game as Elliot took control. Steve’s goal was a consolation. Elliot was Champion and the trophy was going south to England. Did the Queen approve? It was difficult to tell, her face as enigmatic as that of the Mona Lisa.
On Sunday the team event was contested by 8 clubs. Glide, Slide, Chip and Dip were far and away the favourites. They are a super group, the Travelling Wilburys of the Subbuteo world.
Competing for the first time was Golazzo SC. The Edinburgh club was formed by Marco Bevilacqua after successfully running the Edinburgh Monday Night Subbuteo. He persuaded top Scot Gareth Christie to join his inexperienced team which included Lindsay Hamilton, Scotland’s first registered female player.
As expected ‘Glide Slide’ cruised to the final winning all but one drawn match. There they were up against Wobbly Hobby’s A team. The final turned out to be very hard fought with the favourites winning only 1-0, thanks to Justin Finch defeating Ruby Matthews.
The Plate final was contested by Glasgow ‘A’ and Glasgow ‘B’, each having finished third in their group. The ‘A’ team recorded a 3-1 victory and no yellow or red cards were shown! Well, there weren’t any referees.
All in all we think it was a successful tournament and we thank all the players who travelled to Glasgow and contributed to that success.
It’s good to be back
Dave Gladman

Steve Bennett (left) against Elliott Bellefontaine in the Open final. Referee: Alan Lee.

Full Results: Glasgow IO 2022

The FISTF Board can confirm that at the close of applications to host the FISTF World Cup 2024, FISTF received one proposal, from the English Subbuteo Association.
The FISTF Board has analysed the proposal and has full confidence in England’s ability to deliver a first class event.

As a result, we have officially appointed the English Subbuteo Association as the hosts of the 2024 FISTF World Cup.
With the 2022 World Cup to be held in Rome in September, this shows the strength of our game and augurs well for the future.

FISTF Board

After the drama when it was feared the France GP would not go ahead, Rémy Huynh claimed the Open title beating Fayçal ROUIS 2-1 in the final.

Rémy Huynh (2nd from right) winner of the Open

In the Veterans event Mario Camilleri beat Eric Threis 1-0.

Mario Camilleri – winner of Veterans

Irene Riviera (Centre) – winner of the Women’s event

In the Women’s event Irène Riviere beat Audrey Herbaut 1-0 as well.

In the U20, Corentin Bouchez beat Louison Giaux 4-1.

U20 winner Corentin Bouchez (yellow) and runner up Louison Giaux.

And in the U16, Francesco Manfredelli beat Noah Denne 4-0.

Francesco (3rd from left) with runner up Noah (2nd from left) and beaten semifinalists Charlotte Bouchez and Benjamin Marain.

In the teams event, Eagles Napoli beat SC Charleroi 4-0.

Eagles Napoli – winners

Full results

GP France 2022 Results

As a community service we have listed the updated and accepted transfers.
You should be aware that there is an extra transfer period until April, as defined in the FISTF Handbook

2.3.10 Extended Transfer Period
   (i)   Players who  have  not  played  any  team  and  individual  tournaments  FISTF  can  transfer  in  the  first  four months  of  the year until  April  30 in an ‘Extended  Transfer  Period’. This  transfer  forms  must  be  received  by  00 hrs  (Paris  CET),  April  30.
   (ii)  The player transferring during ‘Extended Transfer  Period’ must  not  have used  the December  1st  –  January  31st  transfer  For  a  transfer  in  the  Extended Transfer  Period,  FISTF will  require a  fee of  €50.00. The transfer  will  not  be considered valid until  the  fee is  received by  FISTF  Finance.

List of Transfers: Approved Transfers for 2022 Season

Benji Batten (Melbourne TFC) claimed the first FISTF event staged in Australia for two years when he edged out Tony Credentino (Sydney TFC) in a tight Sydney International Open final 2-0 on shots after a scoreless draw.

Benji Batten (right) presented with his victor’s medal by Steve Dettre,

COVID has played havoc with the Australian scene over the last two years, and though a range of local WASPA events have kept activity alive, the ultimate aim was to get FISTF action happening again.
At one stage there were 28 entries in the Open, but COVID struck that down to 24, and then 21 on the day due to some late COVID withdrawals. Six players contested the U16 event and 3 women, with four in the teams event.

It also meant interstate contestants were limited to 2, with Melbourne’s Benji Batten and Nathan Urbaniak making the trek north.
All four Sydney clubs were involved in the organising, with the venue being the home of the Northern Falcons – the Willoughby Park Bowling Club.

Venue was the home of the Northern Falcons TFC

A major surprise was the No.1 ranking of Northern Falcon’s Torben Pfister, the result of inactivity in Australia, but he topped his group. Groups 2 and 3 featured the biggest struggles to qualify, with Adrian Grunbach (Falcons) having the wood over Adrian Elmer (Western Sydney Subbuteo) in Group 2 and Tony Credentino (Sydney TFC) beating Paul Magee (WSS).

Serious tussle between Adrian Elmer (WSS) and Adrian Grunbach (NFC)

Steve Dettre (Falcons) and Steve Diasinos (WSS) continued their rivalry, with Steve Di pushing hard in the first half, before Steve De found his rhythm to run out winner.
In the Junior event, Daniel Sirmai and Gabriel Lombardi stamped their authority on the group early, but Catherine Palamara kept in touch, ahead of Taylor Lombardi and Dimitri Barbaris. In a delightful surprise, debutante Katelyn Grunbach made the semis, and scored against Daniel Sirmai before losing 4-1. Daniel beat Gabriel 2-1 in the final.

Katelyn Grunbach (left) against Gabriel Lombardi in the Juniors event

Daniel Sirmai (Hipfingerz) beat Gabriel Lombardi (Sydney TFC) in the U20 final

In the women’s event, Catherine Palamara beat Imojjen 1-0, with all three women players offering each other fantastic support and encouragement.

Imojjen Elmer (WSS) runner up, and Catherine Palamara (SFC) winner of the women;s event

In the knockout phase of the Open, the barrages provided a couple of surprises. After playing so well in the group, Steve Dettre’s form deserted him against Tony Credentino who snatched a 1-0 win with a shot from an incredible angle. Then Johnny Ball – an infrequent visitor to Falcons’ nights – outperformed Geoff Sirmai (Hipfingerz), setting himself up for the match of the tournament, the quarterfinal against Benji.
Adrian Grunbach caused a boilover by beating clubmate Torben 2-1, while Tony Credentino ousted Eliot Kennedy (Northern Falcons) 3-0 on shots after a 2-2 draw in their quarterfinal. And while Daniele Lombardi stormed to a 4-0 in his match against clubmate Kostas Barbaris, in the last qf, it went down to the wire.

Eliot Kennedy against Tony Credentino

Johnny Ball shocked Benji with an opening goal, and while he pegged that back, Johnny again took the lead before it was all square at the break. In the second period, Benji steadied himself and with 5 minutes to go led 5-2, before Johnny launched an impressive comeback, replete with his own ‘crowd noise’. First he made it 5-3, then incredibly it was 5-4 with a minute to go, when Benji decided to employ the table football version of “taking the ball to the corner flag”. He saw out the clock, and afterwards Johnny proclaimed Benji’s tactics as “the greatest honour that anyone’s given me in Subbo — the fact that he was so concerned I might get an equaliser!”

The enigma that is Johnny Ball… on the attack with his Snakes

Both semi finals ended 2-1, with Tony beating Adrian, and then Benji edging Daniele.
There were few real highlights in the final, with the title decided on shots, 2-0 to Benji.

Open Final: Benji Batten (left) v Tony Credentino

Final action

Continuing the tradition of Australian table football, the ‘Plate’ event was held as a WASPA. Following the Group Stage of the Opens event, the 8 players who did not make it to the knockout phase and were able to stay around played a knockout WASPA tournament. The draw was open and unseeded.
Adrian Elmer (WSS) was drawn against Daniel Sirmai (HIP) and eased past him 3-0, While Paul Magee (WSS) had the same scoreline against his club mate, Imojjen Elmer (WSS). Nathan Unrbaniak (MTFC) was drawn against Franck Cozzarin (WSS) and came out victorious, 1-0. The final fixture produced the tightest game, with Greg Werner (HIP) playing out a 0-0 draw with Enzo Coco (STFC). Straight to shots and the tenseness continued, Greg finally coming out victorious 1-0 in the shootout.
The semi-final pitted Paul against Greg where the Western Sydney man dispatched his Eastern rival with ease. The other semi, though, was a completely different affair. Neither player was able to break the deadlock in a very tight match and so another shootout ensued. Adrian held his nerve to emerge a 2-0 victor, setting up a grand final showdown with team mate and friendly rival, Paul.
The final itself proved to be an entertaining and open game. Both players controlled at times until Adrian was able to take the lead midway through the first half. From here, though, Paul used every tactic in his unique Subbuteo armoury to control more and more of the game and pile the pressure on Adrian. Finally, with 40 seconds left on the clock, Paul finally got his equaliser. The game, however, didn’t go to shots. Remarkably, from the restart, Adrian broke down the left, charged into the shooting zone and chipped home a winner with just a handful of seconds to go. It was a dramatic finish to a great game worthy of a final.

Quarter Final
Adrian Elmer (WSS) 3 – 0 Daniel Sirmai (HIP)
Imojjen Elmer (WSS) 0 – 3 Paul Magee (WSS)
Nathan Unrbaniak (MTFC) 2 – 1 Franck Cozzarin (WSS)
Greg Werner (HIP) 0(1) – 0(0) Enzo Coco (STFC)

Semi Final
Adrian Elmer (WSS) 0(2) – 0(0) Nathan Urbaniak
Paul Magee (WSS) 4 – 0 Greg Werner (HIP)

Final
Paul Magee 1 – 2 Adrian Elmer

WASPA Final: Adrian Elmer (left) v Paul Magee

In the teams event, there were only three ‘official’ contestants, as neither Hipfingerz or Melbourne had a full complement, and combined to play in the group.
The Falcons were surprised in their match against Hipfingerz/Melbourne, but recovered in the other two games.
It came down to ‘points difference’ to decide the Falcons’ opponents in the final, with Sydney TFC edging out the players from the west.
In the final, the depth of the Falcons showed through, with a 3-0 win.

And to round out the day, an informal Doubles Event was staged, with Benji Batten and Nathan Urbaniak taking the Swiss format event.

A huge thanks to all the players and the Willoughby Park Bowling Club who delivered a fantastic venue.

Individual Results: 2022 Open full results
Team Results: Team Event – All results

Latest list of transfers as of midnight on 30 January.

Remember, the deadline is midnight on 31 January, Paris time.

Check the list and ask your national association for assistance.

Latest list of transfers

ELLIOT BELLEFONTAINE hit a staggering 33 in just 7 games to win the first FISTF International Open of the new year at Haverhill.
Bellefontaine was scintillating in the Wobbly Hobby sponsored tournament. That is to say, he was brilliantly and excitingly clever and skilful.

Winner Martin Bellefontaine

Runner Up Brian Daley

You’d expect the margins that separate to be finer at the business end, but the prolific goalscorer kept rattling home the big scores in the knock out phase to deservedly take the title.
BRIAN DALEY had a seemingly tougher route to the final. After escaping a scare from Aaron Skinner, winning on shots, he then edged games against Chris Bedford and Chris Short by the odd goal. A worthy finalist, but not a match for EB over thirty minutes.

This was Haverhill Rovers’ first hosting of a FISTF International Open, and it turned out to be a GREAT EVENT!
Massive praise and thanks to all the Haverhill team.

Organiser Martin Hodds

(Story and photos courtesy of English Subbuteo Association)