A message from ITSF President

With only one month to go till the World Cup, everyone is getting ready for the big event!

The World Cup is going to be a major event in more than one way, with a new format meant to be more dynamical and fulfil expectations from federations, partners, media and of course players :

• 2 separate World Cup events for the first time, with 32 men's teams and 20 women's teams
• More players in all the World Championships categories: Women's, Men's, Junior and Senior
• A new World Championships category: Disabled Doubles for players in wheelchairs, which we hope to include in all other major ITSF events in the near future.

A record attendance of over 500 players from 40 countries will take part in the various events over the 4-day competition.
Admission is free for the hundreds of spectators expected to attend, to make sure everyone has an opportunity to discover our sport.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the French Table Soccer Federation to whom the ITSF has delegated the organization of this tournament. They have been working very hard to host a great table soccer event.


The buzz around the event and the ongoing effort to bring table soccer to the level of other popular sports has also created new opportunities, especially with regards to media.
We are now moving forward rapidly towards the broadcast of table soccer events on TV.
The first step will take place at the World Cup: the TV company Eurosport 2 (33 millions of home subscribers in Europe and worldwide) is programming two 26-minute features on the event.

They are also interested in scheduling more programs about the World Championship Series (WCS) events of the 2009 ITSF Tour, with the final decision to be taken during the World Cup.
In that respect, the project that started 2 years ago to set up a specific format for our 5 WCS events – one on each official table – will be very useful. Indeed, we have been implementing special guidelines for these events, to help organizers host WCS events in the best possible conditions and make of our WCS tournaments truly professional events.
This is good not just for TV broadcast; it is very important also for players and organizers.
Players need to be able to compete in good conditions, have enough resting time, watch some good matches, have a chance to get some money back from what they paid and enjoy the tournament.
As for organizers, they need to be able to control their event and run it smoothly.


All this is very costly, and requires work and efforts from everybody, and in order to move forward in this direction, we need the support of strong national federations, well structured and actively involved in the development of table soccer in their countries.

This goes both ways: as an international federation, the ITSF must make sure it represents all players worldwide by strongly supporting its member federations, especially when these federations themselves support their own members. This is why the ITSF and its partners will continue to support federations thanks to the proceeds from ITSF stickers on Official Tables - the total of support payments made to our federations to this day amounts to 27 900 euros.

We are also implementing new policies as to the type of prizes allocated at the World Championships.
Thus, 15 tables will be awarded to ITSF member federations:

• rewarding those federations that have worked a lot to develop table soccer in their country
• helping federations in poor countries set up ITSF Training Centres
• rewarding the Top 3 federations according to the medal count in the World Championships rankings

As for individual players, again this year, around 15 000 euros are being awarded in the form of travel packages to help them attend the World Championships – the players entitled to these packages include the Top 16 male and Top 8 female players in the World Rankings; the Top 3 Open Singles winners of each WCS event; the winner of the Women’s Singles and Junior Singles categories of each WCS event; as well as the Open Singles winner of each International Series event.
The Head Officials who will run the session of training and evaluation of new referees, and officiate matches during the World Cup are also allocated a travel package.

Also, prizes in the form of packages (free entry fees) will be awarded to the World Championships winners in each category so they can attend WCS events during the 2009 Tour.

New in the 2009 Tour: the winner of the Senior Singles category in each WCS event will also qualify automatically for the World Championships, and will be entitled to a travel package.
Also, if tests conducted on tables for players with disabilities enable us to include a Disabled Singles category at the World Championships ending the 2009 Tour, then the winner of that category in each WCS event will also qualify automatically for the World Championships, and be entitled to a travel package.


We know it is important to support high-level table soccer; however, we must bear in mind that our role as an international federation is to develop table soccer as a sport accessible to all, not just a happy few.

This is also why we keep bringing changes to table soccer equipment (tables and balls), as we have done quite swiftly in the last few years. We work in close collaboration with all our partner manufacturers in order to ensure that ITSF sanctioned tables offer the best playing quality/features to all table soccer players worldwide.
Manufacturers provide various prototypes with new features, so new options can be explored, always keeping in mind the players' best interest.

In this regard, players at the World Cup will compete on some new pieces of equipment, such as Valley-Dynamo's one-man goalie Tornado table and their new ITSF ball; as well as Garlando’s new ball.
These changes are the results of ongoing development, as to the quality and playability of our partners' tables. More development of this kind is to be expected in the future. This is how playing equipment is further developed in the interest of the game.


To sum up, 2009 looks like it's going to be a great year for table soccer and a major turning point for our sport. It might take another 2 or 3 years to really feel the outcomes of these changes, but it should be very exciting for all foosball players and lovers.
Though a young international federation, the ITSF is progressing fast and has reached enough maturity to feel confident in moving forward in that direction.


Also, don't forget that everyone can get involved in the decision-making process.
Everyone is welcome to attend the ITSF General Assembly, which will take place during the World Cup, on Friday, January 9th, 2009, at 9:00 am.

It is an important time for voicing one's remarks and proposals and taking part in a democratic process.
Invitations to the GA were sent to all table soccer federations.

They were also informed that at the General Assembly this year there will be elections for Executive Committee members.
The members of the Executive Committee are elected by the General Assembly for four years; they may be re-elected.

For details on Executive Committee elections and tenure, please review chapters VI (Process for the Elections) and VII (The Executive Committee) of the ITSF Statutes.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a great holiday season!

Farid LOUNAS
ITSF President

2008 ITSF Tour

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS / WORLD CUP

Key dates and times

Wednesday, January 7th - 6:00 pm: Venue open for training and information package pick-up
Thursday, January 8th - 8:00 am: Information package pick-up
Friday, January 9th - 5:00 pm: Opening Ceremony (see Dress Code information below)
Saturday, January 10th - 4:00 pm: World Championships Award Ceremony (Dress Code)
Saturday, January 10th - 10:00 pm: Players' night
Sunday, January 11th - 7:00 pm: World Cup Award Ceremony (Dress Code)

Players’ photographs and Dress code

If you are one of the team members, qualified players, national champions or wild cards holders and your picture is not online, please make sure to send one to us, so we can include it in our World Cup and World Championships pages.

Players registered in the World Championships and World Cup must abide by the Dress Code:

• Each player must have 4 "national" shirts: one for each day of the event. A jogging suit (top and bottom) is also required of all players.
• The name of the country must be clearly displayed on the players' shirts and jogging suit; players can also add their names and country’s flag on their shirts and jogging suits, if they wish.
• Players must wear their national shirt during ceremonies and matches; players who do not abide by this rule will not be allowed to compete. Players are strongly encouraged to wear their national sport dress during the whole event, even if they don’t play every day.

Official tables and balls

Tornado

As mentioned above, the Valley-Dynamo company has released a new model of its Competition table, which they had been working on for a few months, taking into account comments and suggestions made by players who tried the new table in the different events where it was available.

This one-man goalie table is the one that will be used at the WCup/WCh.

Valley-Dynamo has also released a new competition ball which comes in a dark red colour.

To purchase balls, contact the Valley-Dynamo company.

Garlando

The Garlando company has also created a new ball which was tested by players in several federations and gathered overall satisfaction.

This new ball, called "SpeedPlay" and bearing the ITSF logo, will be used at the WCup/WCh.
To purchase balls, contact the Garlando company.

Roberto Sport, Bonzini and Tecball

The existing Roberto Sport's "Adrenaline" and Bonzini's new version of its "ITSF B90" tables, which were finalized over the past year, will be used at the WCup/WCh, as well as Tecball's "Tournament Pro Soccer".

No change of balls for these 3 tables, except that the Roberto Sport ball now bears the ITSF logo.

Withdrawals

Argentina withdrew from the World Cup and was replaced by Portugal

32 Men's teams and 20 Women's teams have been selected to take part in the World Cup.
Other countries are currently on the waiting list.

Due to Argentina’s withdrawal from the Men’s World Cup, Portugal who was next in line on the waiting list will now take Argentina’s place in Group G.

Group details

Belgium won't send a Women's team to the World Cup

Since there is no more teams on the waiting list for the Women's event,
Group C is now made up of 4 countries instead of 5.

2009 ITSF Tour

OTHER UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Apart from the above mentioned events, the next tournaments in the Tour are as follows:

• Liverpool Open 2009 (Liverpool, UK) – January 23-25
• Danish Open (Kolding, Denmark) – January 24-25
• Danube Open (Linz, Austria) – February 14-15

Check the current calendar of the 2009 Tour.

LAST TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Full Results

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Have a very nice Holiday Season!