From the Touchline

This year's World Cup is expected to be the greatest ever organised, not only in organisation but also in diversity and quality of players. The open category this year seems to be very open. In fact there are many candidates which have the chance to take home the silverware. As always it is expected that the Belgians and Italians will dominate as has been for almost evry world cup that was organised.

The Italians will field a very stong team this year, featuring current World Champion, Massimo Bolognino, pioneer of the club in Naples, there is also Efrem Intra, who took Europe by storm this season, winning the biggest tournament of the year in Brussels, as well as winning the Grand Prix of France in Beausoleil. Massimiliano Nastasi, another of their greats who won the 2003 World Cup, is also expected to do well this season. One cannot forget Belgian-born Antonio Mettivieri who has always left a great impact on the game with his tremendous playing skills.

The Belgians, who will be without Hennuyer star, David Ruelle this time, are also fielding some world-class players including the two-time World Champion, Gil Delogne, Rochefortaise Valery Dejardin, who has performed some amazing feats this season on the domestic scene, winning several tournaments including Templeuve and Stembert. One also cannot underestimate FISTF Sports Director Olivier Pere who won the Issy Open.

The Portuguese duo Vasco Guimaraes and Sergio Loureiro are also expected to do well this year. Especially Guimaraes who won a host of prestigious tournaments this season. Greek startlet Nikos Beis is also expected to stir some trouble with his deadly playing which has seen him come up the ranks in European Table Football. His countrymen, Koutis and Triantafillou are also strong players who will cause a surprise or two.

Carlos Flores from Spain will be looking to avenge his Mons final defeat in Dortmund and is seen to be as one of the best players out there at the moment. World number 2, Massimo Cremona from Malta is also a player that is expected to shine in Germany, and the Austians will give anyone a run for their money when playing at their highest level.

Dutchman, Eric Verhagen will have to live up to his World Number 1 status in Dortmund, however it is expected that the Rotterdam Devil will not make much impact after being away from the game for so long in his table-footbally isolated new home in Brazil.

Some players to look out for in the tournament of the year will be Vincenc Prats and Raul Benita from Spain, Samuel Bartolo from Malta and Nicolas Wlodarczyck from France.

Since the Portuguese will be absent for this edition, the Belgians are expected to dominate the U19 competition with players like Arnaud Nullens, Logan Carette and Justin Leroy amongst others. However one must not leave out players like Christian Haas from Austria and Stefano Buono from Italy.

Dutchman Martin Bom is expected to win the Veterans Competition this season, however this category is of such high standard that their are several other big names which can take down Bom, players such as Renzo Frignani from Italy, Thierry Vivron and Henri Cornu from France, Arturo Martinez, Jose Leon and Juan  Carlos Granados from Spain are all top candidates for the old-timers competition.

Delphine Dieudonne is expected to take her 8th World Title this year, there isn't anyone that can quite take her on at the moment, however the fight to get to the final will be quite an intense one as there are many players of similar level such as Danish Kamilla Kristensen, French Francoise Guyot and Micheal Kalina, Bettina Lenz and Micheal Scherbaum from Austria.

Ruben Portugues from Portugal is firm favourite to take home the silverware, for he is currently the best U15 around,however Kristian Staal Nielsen from Denmark and Mattia Bellotti from Italy can quite as easily take the honours. Other players to look out for include Joris Bois and Benjamin Garnier from France, Alex Haas from Austria and Jonathan Thulier from Belgium.

For more info on the World Cup you can visit www.tablefootballworldcup.de

Below is the official World Cup schedule:

With the FISTF general elections round the corner, one of the various proposals that has been mentioned and proposed by Mr. Vincent Coppenolle, FISTF President, is that of creating a seperate American Federation with its own seperate Circuit, Committee and Continental Championships.

There are many pros and cons regarding this so-called Table Footballing "Schism". Those that stand for this issue are saying that it will encourage more play within the states as well as in the other American countries such as Canada, Mexico and the South American Nations. They might also say that it givs a chance for Americans to progress in their own Rankings and organise themselves better and gain experience in organisation of tournaments.

However I can only see this idea as a negative thing. How can the FISTF seriously call itself the World Governing body when it only has European countries affiliated within its ranks? This so-called break-up will lead to less communication between America and Europe and will only create a rivalry amongst the continents and lead to lower attendances at FISTF tournaments over on the other side if the pond.

Why not create a FISTF sub-committee to deal wit issues regarding the states, I must admit, having continental championships isn't a bad idea, but how can you call a competition continental when only 2 nations are participating? We need to encourage more nations to affiliate with FISTF and not break away creating new federations otherwise the sport will never grow. Another good idea would be to still have american tournaments in the FISTF calendar and have the American Nations organise a stand-alone circuit with 2 or 3 competitions in each country, this would enable the Americans to develop as a continent as well as keeping relations with the FISTF and its circuit.

Any Opinions on this topic? Write to timmyspiteri@gmail.com !