2009 Joint World Championships and World Cup Info (From ISTF)
Updates as of 8/1/08
7/21/08 Update:
As far as location is concerned, we needed to move to a more appropriate setting.
This major tournament is rapidly growing, with ever more players attending every year, and it deserves to become a truly major international sports event.
As you know one problem we had with the dates of the ITSF Tour is that when it ended - first week-end in October - it left very little time to federations and players to get organized for the World Championships.
By having the WCh in January, that will give enough time to everybody to prepare their travels.
Eventually, the idea is to run the whole Tour on a calendar year - January to December - so this is the first step towards that.
As well as making it easier for federations and players to get organized, this will make more sense for applying the cut-off dates for age limits for junior and senior players.
This is a new step for table soccer : turning the World Championships into a truly major international event that will take place every year, with more players, more visitors, more "emotion"... ; something cities, promoters, sponsors, tv... will really want to have, something that will make it worth for them competing for.
This will also provide more motivation for national federations and players, with more team events taking place every year.
October 31st, 2008: for letting us know the names of their national champions and Wild Cards for the World Championships, as well as the choice of the tables for all players
Also the TGV runs straight from the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Nantes Centre in 3 hours.
7/31/08 Update:
Here is some more information regarding the joint World Championships / World Cup event :
Men’s and Women’s World Cup
At
the upcoming World Cup in
The selection of the countries which will participate in the World Cup will be done through an Executive Committee’s vote, which will take into account the ITSF World Rankings of Nations and continental representation, as had been voted upon 2 years ago at the 2006 General Assembly in case there would not have been enough time to set up continental qualification tournaments before the next World Cup.
Number of players in a standard Men's team: 8 + 2 reserve players (minimum 6 men to make up a team)
Number of players in a standard Women's team: 6 + 2 reserve players (minimum 4 women to make up a team)
Each country is responsible for the selection of its national teams' members.
If a country has enough female players to make up a Women's team, then they can send both a Men-only team and a Women-only team to the Word Cup.
If there are not enough female players in a country to make up a Women's team, female players are allowed to be members of the Men's Team.
The
deadline for confirming participation to the World Cup
and the choice of the table for each team (the 2 teams from the same country can
choose different tables) is
How players qualify for the World Championships
There are several ways for players to qualify for the World Championships: ITSF Point Race; winners of the World Championship Series and International Series events; National Champions and Wild Cards.
National Champions
As last year,
ALL ITSF member federations (regardless of their membership
category) are entitled to send their national champions in the following
categories (1 player in each Singles category and 1 team in each Doubles
category):
- Open Singles and Doubles
- Women’s Singles and Doubles
- Junior Singles and Doubles - these players can be male or female
Junior players have to be under 18 years old on
- Senior Singles and Doubles - these players can be male or female
Senior players have to be 50 years & over on
All national champions must:
- either qualify in the official national qualifying tournament in their country
-
OR
be announced by national federations
by
When there is no qualifying event in a country, then the selection process must
take place under fair, objective and democratic rules.
Wild Cards
As last year, all ITSF Regular Member federations benefit from
special Wild Cards to have an extra team of players in the Men's and Women’s
Doubles categories.
ITSF Associate and Provisional Members are not entitled to Wild Cards.
New this year: all
ITSF Regular Member federations benefit from special Wild Cards to
also have an extra team of players in the Junior and Senior Doubles categories.
New this year: apart
from these, ITSF Regular Member federations with a
membership of more than 500 licensees benefit from extra Wild Cards in all
the Singles categories: Men's, Women’s, Junior and Senior.
New this
year: ITSF Regular Member federations with a membership
of more than 2000 licensees benefit from yet extra Wild Cards in all Singles
and Doubles categories: Men's, Women’s, Junior and Senior.
The names of these players will also have to be
announced by national federations
by
Each Regular Member federation will have to set up clear sporting rules for determining which players and teams will get the Wild Cards.
For example, the Wild Card could go to:
- the 2nd best player or team in the national championships
- the national federation’s best ranked player or team in the ITSF Rankings
- etc.
These rules will have to be made clear to all the members within each federation.
They will also have to be forwarded to ITSF.
For more details on the qualification system, please review the following
document:
http://www.table-soccer.org/world_championships/documents/2008_how_players_qualify.pdf
You can also check the list of
already qualified players on:
http://www.table-soccer.org/world_championships/?tour=2008
New event category for disabled players
We are pleased to announce that there will be a special event for people in wheelchairs at the World Championships.
This new category is open to physically disabled
players who suffer from
paraplegia and limited mobility in the lower limbs. These players require a
wheelchair for everyday use and compete in a wheelchair.
The eligibility requirement to compete in this category is a permanent
substantial or total loss of function in one or both legs due to conditions such
as spinal injury, ankylosis, amputation or other lower limb disability.
This category is open to male and female players of any age.
Players in wheelchairs will compete on specially designed tables.
Each ITSF member federation can send one player to represent their country in that category and must forward the name of that person together with the names of all the other national champions no later than October 31st, 2008.
8/1/08 Update:
Volunteers in Nantes 2009
We are looking for volunteers to help us at the WCh/WCup event in Nantes in January.
We need help in various fields, such as:
- setting up / taking down equipment
- video, sound and lights
- registration and score tables
- playing zones
- cleanliness and hygiene
- etc.
It could also be in other specialized fields, depending on the volunteers' skills and abilities.
In exchange for their work, volunteers will receive free food and accommodation during the event (travel expenses are not covered).
If you know people who might be interested in volunteering in that event, please ask them to contact us at info@table-soccer.org
Please not that players competing in the World Championships and/or the World Cup can not apply to volunteer at the event.