Subbuteo could be coming home after the English Subbuteo Association confirmed it was hoping to host the FISTF Table Football World Cup – the de facto Subbuteo World Cup and the biggest tournament around the world.
The most recent version of the Table Football World Cup was supposed to take place in Rome in 2021 but has been postponed because of Covid. It will now take place in 2022.
According to Haverhill Subbuteo Club member Gerry Harrington during an interview with Talksport, the English Subbuteo Association wants to bring Subbuteo home.
He says: “Normally the World Cups are held on the continent. But bouyed by how this has mushroomed so much and the coverage we have got from the media we feel confident we are going to go for England 2024.
“It’s coming home!”
The FISTF World Cup includes categories for young players, the main single player tournament, the team World Cup and veteran tournaments. The event is the biggest table football tournament in the calendar and most recently took place in a well-attended event in Gibraltar.
Teams and players from across the world gather for the tournament every two years. It uses modern bases that are flatter than traditional Subbuteo and is now an ‘unofficial’ tournament for the more modern table football game. However, there have been talks recently about introducing a traditional Subbuteo category in future tournaments.
Previous official tournaments using Subbuteo accessories ended in 1994 and the USA World Cup. The Italia 90 tournament, taking place four years earlier, was broadcast live on Channel 4.
The first ever Subbuteo World Cup took place in the Savoy Hotel in London in 1970. It was followed by a larger tournament in Munich in 1974.
