From the Touchline

The Hainaut region in Belgium has always been one of  the strongest table-football communities in the World, it is probably also one of the most densely-populated table-football regions in the world with the great clubs of AS Hennuyer, SC Charleroi and Templeuve United all residing in this region. Other clubs in this region include Magic Team Tournai, Herla Chapelle and the what-seem-to-be inactive clubs of Olympique Pecq and RSC Pays Blanc.

Hainaut has always been known for the high level of players it produces. In its early years of success in the early nineties it had some of the best Juniors in the world with Fabian Brau, David Ruelle, Sandro Centritto, Bertrand Sartisse, Joel Hanotiaux and many more from the region, all making major impact in Europe. Nowadays two of the world’s top 10 teams reside in the region, these being AS Hennuyer and SC Charleroi.

The region has also produced some of the world’s strongest Female players including seven-time World Champion Delphine Dieudonne, Cynthia Bouchez, Valerie Hoyois and Aurelie Lucq.

The club of Templeuve United is known as the number one club for the bringing-up of Juniors in Belgium and has over 20 members within its ranks, most of them being under nineteen years of age.

Hainaut is also known for organising the biggest tournament of the year, that of Mons organized by AS Hennuyer which attracts over 150 players every year and has been this way since the mid-nineties.

2005 saw the organisation of the World Cup in Tournai, which attracted just over 200 players and was hailed as being the largest World Cup ever organised.

This year's Belgian National League for Clubs saw SC Charleroi and AS Hennuyer take the top two spots respectively which confirms the dominance which the region has on the National Scene.

Vincent Coppenolle, current FISTF president, who is in charge of the organisation of Templeuve United, has done alot for the development in this region as well as Olivier Pere from AS Hennuyer, who, along with his club-mates organises the biggest tournament of the year. and this is why the region of Hainaut will always remain a striking force in international table football and hopefully we will see this region grow more and more as time goes by.

Regional Champions:

1951             Marcel Coppée                       Frameries

1953             Raymond Pennequin             Frameries              

1987-88        Pasal Dieu                               BSC Frameries

1988-89        Jean-Pierre Dilella                   BSC Frameries

1989-90        Bertrand Sartisse                    SC Villers SG

1990-91        David Ruelle                            BSC Frameries

1991-92        David Ruelle                            AS Hennuyer

1992-93        Sébastien Hoyois                   AS Hennuyer

1993-94        Antonio Mettivieri                 SC Charleroi

1994-95        Pascal Dieu                              AS Hennuyer

1995-96        Maxime Van Impe                   SC Charleroi

1996-97        Joffrey Laurent                       SC Eugies

1997-98        Philippe Mairesse                   AS Hennuyer

1998-99        Antonio Mettivieri                 SC Charleroi ( ?)

1999-2000    Jean-Robert Degavre             AS Hennuyer

2001-2002    Logan Adam                           FCTAF Quévy

2002-2003    Olivier Père                              AS Hennuyer

2003-2004      Arnaud Canfin                        MT Tournai

2004-2005    Maxime Castel                         Templeuve United

2005-2006    Anthony Coppenolle             Templeuve United

No. of Players (appx.): 80-100

No. of Clubs: 5

Website: www.maltasubbuteo.cjb.net

National Committee: Mario Spiteri (President) - mspiteri@gasanmamo.com

A brief history: Malta was one of the first european countries to receive subbuteo after English Colonists stationed in the country brought it over. However Table Football Leagues on the Maltese islands didnt start till the early seventies where several leagues were set up; Marsa, Sliema and Tigne were some of the most popular. The Nationl Championships during the seventies used to be organized by the Subbuteo Agent and the national champions used to represent Malta in the World Cups and European Cups. In 1976 the world cup was also oganized in Malta. Several impoirtant figures during the 1970's included Sandro Vukovic who used to organise the Sliema league which attracted over 40 players each year, Joseph Debono and the Ellul Brothers who were all influential in the national league played in Marsa. In 1982 when Mario Spiteri came from the World Cup in Barcelona, he along with several others from the Austin Centre SO, felt the need for a National Association and the Austin Centre SO became the Malta Table Soccer Organization. The MTSO from then on organized several national tournaments with great success. Influential players during thi period include Mario Spiteri, Adrian Bonnici, Mark Drago, Patrick Pace amongst many others that developed into top class players. The 90's saw a division in subbuteo on the islands and two Associations were formed, the MTFA, also known as the "player's association" and the SAM, that funded by the subbuteo agents, because of the special benefits the SAM had the MTFA started waining and decreasing in numbers however it still enjoyed the top-class players. In 1992, the MTFA organized the Europa Cup which was won by Christophe Fuseau of France. In 1994, at the Paris World Cup, Malta triumphed, winning two world cups, Joseph Borg Bonaci won the U19's while Darren Scicluna won the U15's. In the mid-90's the two associations came to a resolution at last and rejoined. In 2003 Malta once again organized the World Cup, which also won Tournament of the Year for 2003. At this event Malta once again managed to win 2 world cups, the first went to Roderick Sciberras who won the U19's and the second was won by the extremely strong U19 Team made up of Roderick Sciberras, Jean Carl Tabone, Samuel Bartolo and Melanie Fenech.

Tournaments: Today the MTFSA plays National Ranking Tournaments, once a month in Zabbar as well as the National League, the Knock Out and the National League for clubs, it also organizes the Malta Grand Prix and International Open in mid-March every season to which many foreign players attend. Other international tournaments played in Malta include another International Open as well as 2 Satellites.

General Info: Today Malta has many World-Class Players such as Massimo Cremona, Joseph Mifsud, Hansel Mallia, Derek Conti, Mark Gauci and Charles Aquilina. Most Maltese clubs are very well organized such as the semi-professional Club Valletta SC. Nowadays Malta has a very good youth setup with the likes of Hamrun TFC, Pembroke SC and SMCTFC all focusing  mainly on youths and all having at least 10 youths. The MTFSA is also the only Table Football Association in the World that is recongnized by its National Olympic Committee.

The Future: The Maltese association plans to keep organizing its tournament well and hopes to focus more on its youth players in the future. The MTFSA will also be organizing the World Masters next season between the world's top 12 players.