The renewed ITSF Sport Commission (SC) consists of 6 people now: Ekaterina Atanasova (BGR), Maryam Ali (USA), Wolfgang Breuer (AUT), Daniel Görlich (DEU), Klaus Gottesleben (DEU) and Julian Wortmann (DEU).

 

Their main task is to prepare the season 2021 and to have a first view towards 2022 and the ITSF World Cup in Nantes.

 

These are the topics the SC is working on:

• Revising the Sport Code and the DressCode

• Redefining the different types of ITSF tournaments (names and titles)

• Defining a uniform standard for all World Series tournaments

• Preparing the ECL 2021

• Defining the categories and competitions for the ITSF World Cup 2022

• Revising the qualification rules for the ITSF World Cup 2022

• Finalizing the schedule and the tournament file for the ITSF World Cup 2022

 

We will inform about the decisions after the approval of the responsible persons.

 

 

Yesterday the ITSF started online meeting series.
Thanks to the 51 delegates who joined the meeting.
 
We mainly spoke together about sport recognition, World Cup 2022, education program and sport organisation.
Next ones will concern specific topics as ITSF software, Federation development plan, referees and rules, trainer and training program, …
 
Contact us for more information and contact your federation to become a delegate on topic you matter.
 
Next dates and full calendar will be sent shortly to your federation.
 

You can already check what time you can play in your time zone.
Since the event will happen 24h before the UEFA match France-Germany, the playing period  is from 14th of June 8pm till 15th of June 8pm for Central European Time (CET) and locations like Hamburg, Germany, which will be the record “control room”. For example: for Vancouver it would be 14/06, 11am till 15/06, 11am or for Sydney 15/06 4am till 16/06 4am. 
 
Feel free to use the event hashtag is #foosisallaround 
 
As a reminder: Everybody can play locally a tournament within the 24 hours to participate in the world record. You can choose the location, your guests, the details like rules or duration. The only thing which is fixed is the format: Fair play and every tournament will be played as a Monster-DYP, and if you want a special KO-phase… This is already possible today with the “KOMM KICKERN” App for free.
 
More information coming soon, you can follow the event here .
 
#letsfoos #kommkickern #tablesoccerissport

The ITSF is really pleased to announce the 2021 European Champions League !
This year the host city will be Roma – Italy.
From November 19th to 21st.
Sincere congratulations to organizers, Figest !
Stay tuned, more information are coming.
 

#ITSFMasterTour2021
#ITSFWorldSeries2021
#ITSFProTour2021
 
New tournaments accepted:

Master Series - DTFB Ottweiler Open 2021 - ITSF Master Tour will be held in Germany, Ottweiler August 28th to 29th on Bonzini Tables - Further information on that tournament are displayed there

 

World Series - ITSF World Series by Leonhart 2021 will be held in Germany, St. Wendel September 2nd to 5th on Leonhart Tables - Further information on that tournament are displayed there

 

Pro Tour - DTFB Schmiden Open 2021 - ITSF Pro Tour will be held in Germany, Fellbach October 22nd to 24th on Leonhart Tables - Further information on that tournament are displayed there

 

We are very pleased to announce the next ITSF World Series by Leonhart :
From the 02 to the 05 September 2021 – St Wendel, Germany.
Players info package will be online in few weeks.
Event page here.

World Record coming next June.
KOMM KICKERN (engl. LET’S FOOS) intends to bring foosball out of its niche. The movement wants to motivate and bring together more players and thus strengthen clubs, venues and the entire foosball family.
On 15 June 2021, around 8.15 p.m. (CEST), KOMM KICKERN would like to announce a world record: most participants in a foosball tournament within a 24-hour period.
And everybody can be part of it: Play at least one tournament with the KOMM KICKERN app during the campaign period from 8 p.m. (CEST) on 14 June until the same time on 15 June. And you will automatically be part of the world record. 
More information coming soon. You can already follow the Facebook event.

Dear Friends,
On behalf of the ITSF executive and all the people involved in international foosball development, I want to send to you our best wishes and our hope that you all had a healthy start in the new year 2021.
2020 was affected by the sanitary situation, but was also marked by outstanding work carried out by national federations, manufacturers and our Foosball Community to reinvent themselves and to prepare for a return to more favourable conditions. We will be thrilled to regularly report on the concrete results of this hard work. Just as you certainly are, we are looking forward to resuming competitions, knowing that federations and ITSF manufacturers will be ready, as soon as sanitary conditions will makes it possible, depending on geographic areas specificities.
Many federation seized this period as an opportunity to review their development plan. The growing of their community, the opening of their activities to children and leisure players, and the building of better relationships with companies have often been the major focuses of their actions. I would like to congratulate all the men and women who took part in these initiatives, as well as those who acted individually by creating and sharing tutorials and videos about Table Soccer practice on social media. Each of these enterprises shall be commend and encouraged, whatever the audience performances, as it participate in the spread of our sport and in the growing of our community of passionate players.
In the meantime, take care of yourselves and preserve your loved ones. I wish to meet you soon around a foosball table, as I’m convinced that 2021 will bring a return to positive thinking and to optimism.
Kind regards,
 
Farid Lounas, ITSF President
 

After these difficult times we are pleased to announce the reopening of the table soccer tournaments. Tournaments shall resume after 15th of March 2021 if the pandemic situation allows it.
As the 2020 ranking stopped on the 15th of March 2020, the 2021 ranking will start on the 15th of March 2021, to compile a full year of tournaments. Thus, the Qualification for 2022 World Cup will be based on this assembled year consisting of the Q1 2020 and Q2-Q4 2021.
 

Recently, The Federation of Table Soccer in Democratic Republic of the Congo (FECOFOTA) introduced their wish to participate to the next International Francophonie Games which will take place in Kinshasa (DRC) from 19th to 28th August 2022.
Théophile NKEY KIMPANGA, the vice president of the FECOFOTA and the federation secretary had a talk with Zéno KABAMBA, the general director of the International Francophonie Games about the potential entry of The Table Soccer Federation of DRC (FECOFOTA) to this event.
This talk ended with a hopeful outcome. Indeed, the general director of the International Francophonie Games commits to talk to the different organizations to find a way to add them to the International Francophonie Games 9th edition as a demo activity. According to the general director, the FECOFOTA is on the right track, and the International Francophonie Games is ready to support them.
The International Francophonie Games take place every 2 years and gather all the French speaking countries in a sportive tournament to tighten links and develop solidarity.
The ITSF congratulates the FECOFOTA for this huge step for Table Soccer development in DRC and hope to see them at the next International Francophonie Games!

The ITSF is pleased to introduce John O’Brien as President and Jan Dreyling-Eschweiler as member of the ITSF Education Commission. They both have experience in this domain as they are already involved in youth development projects for their national federations.

The ITSF Youth Commission is dedicated to the promotion of Table Soccer for the young people on both competition and leisure aspects. It focuses particularly in building educational projects and providing a framework for the practice of the youngest generations.

John and Jan will also work in close cooperation with the ITSF Sport Commission on the matters regarding players under the age of 19.
We give them a warm welcome and hope that their cooperation will benefit to youngsters!
As a reminder, any licensee from a national federation is free to be part the ITSF Commissions. If you are interested in committing yourself to the development of Table Soccer, or if you would like to have more information about the ITSF Commissions, feel free to contact us at info@tablesoccer.org.

The ITSF Executive Committee will meet on Tuesday 3rd November 2021 to discuss the current situation and to prepare next ITSF Season.

 

The ITSF Executive Committee is willing to repeat its encouragements to foosball players to keep acting with utmost caution, as the spread of the covid-19 virus is increasing again in multiple countries.

 

This meeting is also the occasion to welcome 4 new Executive Committee observer members: Tomas Fernandez (Spain) President of the Federación Española de Futbolín, Kenneth Dale (Peru) Member of the Apfm Perú, Ilanga Bienvenu (DRC) President of the FECOFOTA - Fédération Congolaise de Football de Table and member of the national parliament, Jules Epotié (Cameroon) President of the Association Sportive Camerounaise de Babyfoot

 

This co-optation is the opportunity to get more people involved to support federations, with members dedicated to Africa and South America, and to prepare those members as candidates to chair the committee in the future.

We give them a warm welcome and hope that their cooperation will benefit to the ITSF.

 

Bring Table Soccer to the SPORT level in your country
Dear Friends,
Since 2017, ITSF’s campaign to recognize Table Soccer as a sport took a significant turn with the integration of the Global Association of International Sports Federations. For these past years, the combined work with national federations enabled the ITSF to formed solid bond with influent executive officers in the sport’s world on nearly every continent.

We, ITSF staff, commissions members and partners, are always available to support any initiatives from our federation members and/or from National Olympic Committees and National Sport Authorities committed to the recognition of our sport.
The ITSF will redouble its effort and take advantage of those troubled times to accompany national federations on their way to official recognition.
As a result, each federation and National Olympic Committee wishing to move forward and get sport recognition will receive an individual appointment to define the best action plan to reach that goal, with full ITSF support.
We hope the sanitary situation will end soon, but in the meantime let’s be ready to come out of this crisis even stronger.
Farid Lounas
President of the ITSF

 

Given the uncertainties connected with the global sanitary crisis, the ITSF decided to postpone the next ITSF World Cup - initially planned in June 2021 - to 2022.
 
Following numerous requests from federations to defer this event, added to the inability to foresee the developments of the crisis for the coming months and in order to guarantee the equality of opportunities for the players to take part to qualifications, the International Federation made the difficult decision to postpone the World Cup to a later date.
 
ITSF Commissions are now working on defining a better date to organise this event. They are also considering a way to start the 2021 ITSF season in the best conditions. More information will be shared with you in the coming months.
 
Rest assured that it is ITSF's sincere will to resume the competitions, but that gathering more than 900 players from all over the world in less than 8 months is still difficult to consider.
 
The ITSF is ready to work with each national federation case by case to explore the conditions for a safe re-opening of their national competitions, according to their local requirements. Feel free to contact the ITSF office about that matter.
 
Thank you for your understanding.
 
Farid Lounas
President of the ITSF

  

La Asociación Colombiana de Futbolin, con sede en la ciudad capital de Bogotá, ha sido reconocida como la entidad qie rige los hilos del futbolin en Colombia.

South America

Dear Federation Members,
Dear Partners,
Dear Friends,
 
 
I hope this letter finds you well and in good health during these ever-changing times.
The global spread of the virus made us all face lots of challenges and many of us have had to cancel or postpone important events.
What I retain from this period is the way our community worked together to contain the virus and to remain connected. In spite of all adaptations we witnessed, no one can precisely predict the duration of this crisis, needless to say we all share the uncertainty of the future.
 
As international travels are still not possible in some areas in the world, besides strongly discouraged even when possible, the ITSF is not able to guarantee the equality of opportunities for the players to take part to international tournaments. The temporary suspension of the ITSF Tour since March 15th and the cancellation of all 2020 World Series, added to the inability to foresee the developments of the crisis for the coming months, makes it difficult to ensure an acceptable balance of tournaments to maintain the ITSF ranking in a fair way.
For all these reasons and despite its sincere will to maintain the competitions, the ITSF made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 ITSF Tour and Ranking.
 
This decision involves the followings:
- There will be no further official ITSF tournaments in 2020.
- There will be no rankings for the 2020 Season.
- ITSF Tournaments played from January to March 15th in 2020 will be added to ITSF Ranking 2021, with no restrictions to the normal running of a season.
- There will be no change for the World Championships qualifications based on 2019 rankings and 2019 tournaments as provided for by ITSF Rules.
- World Championships qualifications through 2020 ranking will be substituted by additional spots granted to National Federation under certain conditions.
 
The ITSF is working on solutions to substitute these spots originally provided by 2020 ranking.
The next decisions about 2021 ITSF season will be taken at the end of the year, depending on the future developments of the pandemic.
 
No doubt that the coronavirus pandemic, that shut down table soccer activities worldwide, has strongly affected teams and clubs. We fully understand that many of you are eager to be back at the tables. However we continue to insist that everyone shall remain cautious. If your local government authorises table soccer activities to resume in your country, make sure to strictly observe their covid-19 guidelines in force.
You will find below examples of initiatives from various countries that might inspire you. In all cases, your decision shall not interfere with local regulations. 
- France: click here
- Italy: click here
- Austria: click here
 
For the past few months, our familiar world has experienced dramatic shifts. However we are confident that you will all continue to put human well-being at the forefront and that international and national competitions will resume soon.
 
Yours Sincerely,
 
Farid LOUNAS
President
 

Dear Federation Members, Dear Partners,
In keeping with the current sport policy caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to provide equal treatment for the players everywhere in the world, the ITSF and the DTFB have decided to cancel the ITSF World Series by Leonhart, originally planned from September 17th to 20th.
This global crisis has severely affected the ITSF 2020 sport season. The ITSF Commissions are now fully dedicated to consider various scenarios in order to elaborate relevant solutions for the World Ranking and for the next ITSF World Cup qualifier. The decisions taken about those matters will be announced in July, to be applicable from August 31th.
 
We would like to renew our warning to the players, the national federations and the tournament organisers, to continue in exercising a high degree of prudence in their activities with respect for the national sanitary requirements. The virus is still extremely virulent in many areas of the world and it is the responsibility of everyone to show solidarity with the people affected by the pandemic.
 
Best regards,
 
Farid LOUNAS
President of the ITSF
 

Dear Federation Members,
Dear Partners,
Dear Friends,
 
Given the extraordinary situation caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic and in order to provide equal treatment for the players everywhere in the world, the ITSF Executive Committee has taken the decision to extend the suspension of the ITSF Tour until the 31th of August. The ITSF Executive Committee reserves the right to extend the suspension after the end of August according to the world’s sanitary developments.
 
If the local regulations allows it, the ITSF will not prevent federations to run their tournaments at a local stage, but those tournaments will not be part of the ITSF World Tour and thus will not be taken into account for the ITSF ranking and qualifying processes. However, for the common good health of all players and organisers, we highly recommend to avoid sport gathering.
 
The ITSF is currently discussing their particular situation with Federations Members, in order to reach appropriate adjustments of the sporting processes for the coming months. The utmost care will be observed regarding conditions of participation in international tournaments for all players, for purposes of ensuring a fair ranking. However, if this proves impossible before the end of the season, the ITSF will draw the necessary consequences.
 
We wish to encourage all players, federations and clubs to acknowledge the unique circumstances that we are all going through now and to continue with the efforts to preserve the good health of all.
 
Farid Lounas,
President of the ITSF

Dear Players,
 
As everyone knows, the world is going through a serious crisis and it comes as no surprise that Table Soccer’s global organisation is also affected.
Solutions have been examined but despite everyone's best intentions, it has been concluded that the 2020 World Series by Bonzini would not be postponed but cancelled, World Series by Garlando is also cancelled for same reasons.
As many worlds’ areas, the north of Italy is particularly affected by the covid-19 pandemic. It will take a long time to recover psychologically and financially. For those reasons, the Italian Federation (FPICB) is going to cancel the 2020 World Series by Roberto Sport.
This decision leads to the cancellation of the ITSF European Champions League, that was planned to be held in Italy. The cancellation is also due to the fact that many countries won’t be able to reach the team qualification requirements for this competition. 
A decision regarding 2020 ITSF World Series by Leonhart will be made in a few weeks.
 
At the present time, the ITSF is carefully analysing possible scenarios to adjust sporting processes. Depending on how long the situation continues and how many tournament are finally cancelled, decisions may affect 2020 World Ranking and World Championships qualifications.  We are working on all scenarios to protect players, federations, organisers and partners.  We will aim to make adjustments depending on the situation on each continent.
 
However, those particular circumstances shall not prevent us to continue the development of our sport and to pursue our goals.
The Global Association of International Sport Federations (GAISF) has taken a further step to support Observer Members in their journey toward IOC recognition by issuing an official letter, which encourages National Olympic Committees and National Sport Authorities to work closer with Table Soccer National Federations.
In order to further our goal toward sport recognition, we will need to improve the fieldwork, bringing appropriate tools for national federations to improve the level of professionalism in our sport.
Let us seize this opportunity to focus on local to continental foosball development and work to launch the “ITSF World Foosball Centres”. These centres are meant as a relay of the ITSF on each continent. Set up and managed in cooperation between National Federations, the centres will pool expertise, experience and resources. They will be dedicated to developing new projects as well as to organise training sessions, meetings and camps about various subjects from technical to managerial skills. To ensure their excellence, the ITSF World Centres will receive specific support from the ITSF, delivered case by case according to their needs and foosball development project.
In the coming weeks, ITSF representatives will contact presidents of National Federations to get into the details of this program and to take stock of each particular situation.
 
We are grateful to our National Federations and to the fooser community for your understanding and swift collaboration during those difficult times.
 
Farid Lounas
ITSF President