EUROPA CUP - FINAL LIST

The final list of clubs participating in this season's Europa Cup has been issued. The list includes 28 clubs from 9 countries surpassing last year's competition by 8 teams.

The list is very impressive and includes clubs of an immense level. It is very hard to tell who the favourites are as yet, as it is still early. However the usual strong teams will undoubtably do well, these include last year's champions, ACS Perugia who are strengthened by there new signing, Massimo Cremona. Eagles Napoli, although weakened by the exit of their key players Delogne and Hanotiaux, will still be seen as strong favourites. The DEVILS will also challenge for gold and have been strengthened by the transfer of Delogne who adds the extra flair to an already impressive team which includes Verhagen, Lenz and Wittman. Their fellow countrymen at TFC Mattersburg will be no outsiders with their extraordinary level of players such as Matzinger, Hinkelmann and Leitner. World Number One team AS Hennuyer will also be expected to shine as will Spanish Giants, Asociacion Murciana.

The surprises this season will include SC Charleroi, who are looking exceptionally strong with the return of Alain Hanotiaux, as well as Catalunya FT who are further strengthened from last season's strong squad with the return of Venegas and the two new Portugese signings.

All the local teams are seen to be threats. Os Pastilhas have a very talented team which has already proved itself to be one of the strongest of the Iberian Peninsula, taking various international honours over the past year. Porto's Orfeao de Foz do Douro is a very strong team which has had little recognition and honours in recent years but includes strong players like Hugo Carvalho, Norberto Miguel and Paolo Laranjeira. Also GD Dias Ferreira of Matosinhos is a team which is full of promising young players of tremendous level, and although they will not be expected to be challengers for the title, they will gain alot of experience for the future.

Full List:

Belgium:
1. Avenir Subbuteo Hennuyer
2. SC Charleroi
3. SC Verviers
4. SC Stembert

Italy:
5. ACS Perugia
6. CCT Eagles Napoli
7. CS Reggiana
8. Stella Artois Milano

England:
9. Yorkshire Pheonix TFC
10. English Premier League

Germany:
11. TSG Rain
12. SF/SW Gemaba Hitdorf

Netherlands:
13. SMV Delft

Austria:
14. D.E.V.I.L.S. Austria
15. TFC Mattersburg
16. TSC Royal 78 Kaisermühlen

Spain:
17. Asociacion Murciana JFM
18. Catalunya FT
19. El Palmar Flames

Portugal:
20. Orfeão da Foz do Douro
21. UFC Os Pastilhas
22 GD Dias Ferreira

Greece:
23. Roligans
24. Atlas TFC

RESERVES: (Will play in the competition)
25. San Siro Worthing Fivestar TFC
26. Sport Lisboa e Campolide
27. Barcelona FT
28. SC Temploux

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CHALLENGING HISTORY

Everybody wants to be part of the history of our game, either by winning a great title or becoming a great player. London's Putney Subbuteo Club wanted to make history by organising the first ever FISTF Challenger Tournament, this is a new type of tournament created by the FISTF which is open to all players who do not occupy a position in the FISTF Ranking's top 200. However earlier this week it was announced that another two FISTF Challengers will be organised before the Putney event which will take place on the 4th of November.

AS Hennuyer will organise the first ever edition of this event in Olivier Pere's hometown of Eugies on Saturday 21st October. Olivier Pere who organises the biggest tournament of the year, the Major of Mons, will be the host for this historic event, which will not be a big challenge for him after organising such great events in the past.

The second FISTF challenger will be organised in Birkirkara by the St Martin's College Table Football Club on Friday the 22nd of March in the school's gym as part of the school's annual sports festival. This will provide a chance to gain international ranking points for the school's table football players, which amount to a total of around 35 players, all under 16 years of age.

Below are the contact addresses for each of the competitions:
Putney: flicker1995@yahoo.co.uk
Eugies: olivier.pere@skynet.be
B'Kara: timmyspiteri@gmail.com

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LATEST TRANSFER NEWS

Although the transfer period will go on until December this season, the "regular" transfer period is over and since the last transfer report there has been very little change, the most significant being the formation of TFC Vikings in Norway, which includes most of the former stong Porsgrunn Flickers squad which included Anders Bergane, Anders Grorud, Jon Henning Bergane and Lars Tore Myge, all of these players and more now form part of the TFC Vikings club.


There has also been the usual handful of Greek movements which include, to name a few, Kostas Kechris's transfer from Atlas to Olympiakos, Giorgios Drazinakis' move from Atlas to AEK Athens and Anastassios Priftis' move from Olympiakos to Roligans. This surge of transfers in Greece has created a very worrying situation for Atlas, who now have very little local players within their ranks.

In Belgium we had the single move of Stephane Lambert from Magic Team Tournai to the only Flemish team still in existence, SC Flanders.

In England even more players are moving from Clubs to the new Conglomerate Super Teams as Yorkshire Starlet Matt Lishman and East Midland's Paul Wilkinson both move to TSPA Whitestar.

Finally, in Italy we saw the aspiring Lazio bring in 3 new players which include Paolo Barone from Putney and the free agents Diego and Stefano Tagliaferri.

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TRANSFER NEWS

Quite a bit has happened over the last week on the transfer market which feature quite a bit of movements in Spain, Portugal, Malta, Belgium and Greece. To start off, Catalunya FT have secured two new signings, both coming from Portuguese squad, GD Dias Ferreira, of Porto, these new signings, Antonio Tavares and Tiago Sousa are expected to bring a new flare to the Catalunya Squad which had already been reinforced with the re-signing of Diego Venegas.


Asociacion Murciana have signed ex-U15 World Champion, Juan Gabriel Noguera, from their reserve squad, El Palmar Flames, while the Flames re-acquired Javier Alfocea who had a brief one-year spell at Greek Giants' Atlas.

Still in the Iberian Peninsula, however in Portugal, Sporting Lisboa made up for the loss of yet another local player to City and European Giants, Os Pastilhas, by bringing in two new faces at the club. These are Diederik Boyen who comes in from Belgian team, Templeuve United, as well as Jorge Silva who was signed from Amadora Toccers.

In England, new club, TSPA Whitestar acquired Veteran Ace, Paul Remund who comes in from his home team, Ajax Basel, the Swiss player joins an already booming squad which includes the likes of Jeremy Bradley, Jeff Jordan and Colin Fletcher, to name a few.

Moving to Belgium, this week saw quite a few movements which included Salvatore Visconti's move from JSC Rochefort to emerging club, SC Stembert. While SC Ternois-Sambreville lost 3 key players of their squad, Magali Doumont and Christophe Dhyne who transferred to Temploux SC and Jerome Heyvaert who returned to SC Charleroi. SC Jambes also added a new player to there squad when they signed Julien Deroubaix from Magic Team Tournai.

In Malta, Valletta SC got a decent surge of new players after securing the services of Stephen Caruana, Adrian Bonnici, Steve Austin and Andre' Grima, all of whom are expected to aid the club in this time where it is lacking sufficient players of a high standard.

SF SW Hitdorf's Stefan Pace was picked up by the aspiring Sicilian club, SC Palermo. Pace will undoubtably help them in there quest to avoid relegation from Italy's Serie B this season.

The past week also saw the formation of a new club in Athens. The Athens Kickers SC will be formed by a number of quality players including Falcons' Giorgios Aggelinas, Faliro's Koutsompinas and Kourabas, Athina's Poulidis as well as six-time Greek Champion, Aggelos Tsakiris.

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TRANSFER NEWS

Alot has happened on the transfer market since the last transfer update we had. The most notable has to be the formation of a new "Super Team", I am of course talking about the highly-rated new acquisitions of San Siro Worthing Fivestar TFC, formerly known as Worthing Fivestar TFC. Since the recent influx of funds the club has recieved from its new sponsor, San Siro Stadia Company, the club has gone on a shopping spree for players, signing some of England's top players including Kasper Benett, Chris Short, Chris Thomas and Peter Thomas, alll of whom belonged to English Premier League last season. The club also attempted to sign AS Hennuyer's Hansel Mallia however they did not succeed in doing so, and in turn it is also being rumoured that the club is approaching World Number One, Eric Verhagen.

As a result of these transfers, English Premier League is struggling to find a strong team with which to play next season, as the club has also lost their Welsh Starlet, Phil Dacey, who has returned to his native Cardiff. Therefore the United Kingdom's strongest team has now been reduced drastically and it is doubtful whether they will have much impact on England, let alone Europe, next season. However the new signings of Dimitris Stamatopoulos from Atlas and former Lichfield TFC Ace Paul Sutton will help the team cope better.

This season will also see another new team joining the FISTF family, in Spain the former club of Valencia FM has changed its name to A. Turia FM and includes the likes of Vicente Benita who represented Spain in the Dortmund World Cup, as well as Fernando Gomez who has returned to a local side from his former team, Bologna Tigers. Remaining in Spain we turn to Diego Venegas who will be rejoining his home side, Catalunya FT from European Champions, ACS Perugia. This move will further strengthen the already strong team which includes the likes of Arturo Martinez and Vincenc Prats Salat.

The biggest single transfer of the month seems to be that of Gil Delogne, twice World Champion, who has left Giants Eagles Napoli, where his place in the first team is doubtful, to join the rising Austrian Stars, DEVILS.

German Champions, SF SW Hitdorf will see two new faces within their ranks next season when they acquired top Wuppertal players, Wolfgang Schneider and Markus Lindner. While in Scotland, Greg Dand and Gareth Christie will rejoin their old club Tayside Kickers 91 in an attempt to take the club back to its former glory.

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PEMBROKE SATELLITE FOR PACE

Hitdorf Player Stefan Pace won the Satellite of Pembroke, beating Ilai Zammit Marmara' 1-0 in the final. Pace overcame challenges from Catania's Enrico Testa in the semi-finals and Hamrun youngster, Timothy Spiteri in the Quarters, while his opponent saw off ex-World Champion Roderick Sciberras as well as Reggio Calabria's Mario Spiteri.

The U19 competition was surprisedly won by home player, Karl Camilleri who beat firm favourite, Timothy Spiteri 1-0 in the final. Camilleri overcame the challenge of well-established youth, Andrew Abela in the Semi-Final while Spiteri eliminated Andre' Grima.

The U15 competition also saw many surprises, with firm favourites, Matthew Pace and Thomas Camilleri were eliminated in the Semi-Finals and Quarter-Finals, respectively, both by Adam Gatt who then lost the final to an in-form Dennis Dalli.

The Ladies competition was won by Martha Camilleri who claimed her 4th international title in a row in this category.

Quarter finals
Stefan Pace (MLT) beat Timothy Spiteri (MLT) 5-0
Enrico Testa (ITA) beat Massimo Berselli (ITA) 2-1
Ilai Zammit Marmara' (MLT) beat Mario Spiteri (MLT) 4-0
Roderick Sciberras (MLT) beat Jean Carl Tabone (MLT) 1-0ms

Semi-finals
Stefan Pace (MLT) beat Enrico Testa (ITA) 2-1
Ilai Zammit Marmara' (MLT) beat Roderick Sciberras (MLT) 2-1

Final
Stefan Pace (MLT) beat Ilai Zammit Marmara' (MLT) 1-0

Other finals:
U19: Karl Camilleri (MLT) beat Timothy Spiteri (MLT) 1-0
U15: Dennis Dalli (MLT) beat Adam Gatt (MLT) 2-0
Ladies: Martha Camilleri (MLT) beat Tiziana Spiteri (MLT) 1-0ms

==>FULL RESULTS

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SINGAPORE LIONS SUBBUTEO CLUB

On the 19th August 2006 the first official subbuteo club was founded in Singapore by 5 Subbuteo enthusiasts including 2003 World Cup Participant, Erza Aripin. The club will go by the name of Singapore Lions Subbuteo Club and will start its season in September. The club will be aiming to promote table football in Singapore so that it may return to its former glory. The 5 members of the club are Erza Aripin, Christopher Soh, Samuel Soh, Derrick Soh and Efrandy Kusnadi.

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EFREM MAJORS IN MATTERSBURG

Current World Champion, Efrem Intra won the Mattersburg Major beating the highly-rated Vasco Guimaraes in the final. The Italian had an excellent run on his road to the final, recording two 4-0 wins as well as eliminating ex-World Champion, Massimiliano Nastasi. Guimaraes, on the other hand, had an all-Italian road to the final where his only match not against an Italian during this tournament was against Murat Tunger in the group stage.

The Veterans Competition was dominated by the home players and the final was won by Erich Hinkelmann who beat Gunther Bamberzky in the Final. The Ladies and U19 competitions also provided all-Austrian finals with Bettina Lenz and Thomas Karnthaler winning both categories respectively.

The U15 saw an Naples showdown which saw Mattia Bellotti coming out happy in an encounter with his younger team-mate, Simone Palmieri. Naples also took home the Teams title when they annihilated the Austrian Superteam DEVILS in the final of the 21-Team competition.

Quarter finals
Wolfgang Leitner (AUT) beat Alex Iorio (ITA) 4-3
Efrem Intra (ITA) beat Massimiliano Nastasi (ITA) 3-2
Simone Bertelli (ITA) beat Daniele Bertelli (ITA) 1-0
Vasco Guimaraes (POR) beat Francesco Mattiangeli (POR) 1-0

Semi-finals
Efrem Intra (ITA) beat Wolfgang Leitner (AUT) 4-0
Vasco Guimaraes (POR) beat Simone Bertelli (ITA) 2-1

Final
Efrem Intra (ITA) beat Vasco Guimaraes (POR) 3-2

Other finals:
U19: Thomas Karnthaler (AUT) beat Christoph Gerbasits (AUT) 2-0
U15: Mattia Bellotti (ITA) beat Simone Palmieri (ITA) 2-1
Veterans: Erich Hinkelmann (AUT) beat Gunther Bamberzky (AUT) 2-1
Ladies: Bettina Lenz (AUT) beat Jelena Radic (AUT) 1-0
Teams: Eagles Napoli (ITA) beat DEVILS Austria (POR) 3-0

==> FULL RESULTS


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ANOTHER ONE FOR FLORES ON HOME TURF

Bologna Tigers' showcase player, Carlos Flores confirmed himself once again as Spain's strongest Table Football player when he won the biggest event in the Iberian Peninsula after beating fellow country-man Raul Benita in the final of the Spanish Grand Prix held in Cobrera de Llobregat which saw a very strong field of players including World Champion and World Number One, Efrem Intra and Eric Verhagen, both of whom reached the Semi-Finals of the Open Competition.

The other winners included Juan Carlos Granados (Veterans) and Juan Gabriel Noguera (U19) providing an all-Spanish roll of honour. However the team's competition was won by the Austrian side D.E.V.I.L.S. Austria who defeated Stella Artois Milano in the final of a very prestiguous competition.

==> FULL RESULTS