2009 Joint World Championships and World Cup Info (From ISTF)

Updates as of 8/1/08

7/21/08 Update:

World Championships/World Cup
 
 
We are pleased to let you know that the World Championships will take place in Nantes, France, on January 8-11, 2009.
This will actually be a joint World Championships/World Cup event !
 
 
- Place:

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.

 

 
- Date:

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.

 

 
- Joint WCh/WCup event

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. 

 

 

- Deadlines for member federations

 

September 30th, 2008: for confirming participation to the World Cup and the choice of tables

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

 

 

Next week, we will send you more details about this event including information about qualified players, national champions, Wild Cards, number of players per team, deadline for confirming participation, etc.
Also look for information on our website, a new WCh/WCup section is now available and will be updated on a regular basis.
http://www.table-soccer.org/worldcup/team.php
 
In the meantime, we invite all member federations to start getting ready for this great event, especially those countries whose citizens need visas to travel to Europe. 
 
 
Start spreading the news : Nantes 2009 will be the best table soccer event ever !
 
 
About Nantes:

 

Nantes (pop. 550 000) is France's sixth largest city, and the largest city in western France.

http://local.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Nantes&ie=UTF8&ll=47.219568,-1.582031&spn=43.924826,76.640625&z=4

It is just 2 hours from Downtown Paris by high speed train (TGV) which runs every hour.

Also the TGV runs straight from the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Nantes Centre in 3 hours.

We will give you more details on the location later on.

In the meantime, for more information on Nantes, see http://www.nantes-tourisme.com/jsp/fiche_pagelibre_accueil.jsp?CODE=45623911&LANGUE=1

 

 

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 Nantes, France, on January 8-11, 2009, there will be 2 separate events for Men’s and Women’s teams, with a maximum of 32 teams for the Men's event and maximum 16 for the Women's event.

 

 

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 September 30th, 2008.

 

 
Feel free to check the new World Cup section on our website, where new information will be posted on a regular basis.
http://www.table-soccer.org/worldcup/team.php
 
 

 

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 December 31st, 2007; that is they must have been born in 1990 or after (players born before 1990 are not Juniors)

 

-          Senior Singles and Doubles - these players can be male or female

Senior players have to be 50 years & over on December 31st, 2007; that is they must have been born before 1958 (players born in or after 1958 are not Seniors)

 

 

All national champions must:

-          either qualify in the official national qualifying tournament in their country

-          OR be announced by national federations by October 31st, 2008, at the latest, if there is no national championship in their country, together with the choice of tables for all players.  
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 October 31st, 2008 – no late submission will be accepted after that date.

 

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:

 

Category for disabled players at the World Championships
 
Further to the information we sent you yesterday regarding a new event category for people in wheelchairs, could you please let us know if your federation would like to send a player to represent your country at the upcoming World Championships which will take place in Nantes, France, on January 8-11, 2009 ?
 
We want to start planning for this special event as early as possible, so it would be very helpful if we had an idea of the number of players in wheelchairs who will be competing in this event.
Just a reminder that players in wheelchairs will compete on specially designed tables and this category is open to male and female players of any age (1 per country).
 

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.