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Shoot-out agony for Clark
Darren Clark suffered the heartbreak usually the reserve of England's national soccer team when he lost on shots against Massimo Bolognino in the World Cup semi-finals.
Clark bettered the previous best performance by a UK player at the competition by making the last four, having beaten Norberto Miguel, Karl-Heinz Haider and Francesco Mattiangeli in earlier rounds.
The match against Bolognino - conqueror of both Carlos Flores and Gil Delogne - was a tight and cagey affair, which ended goalless after extra time. It also finished in a contentious fashion, with the Italian appearing to deliberately strike a moving ball in the final seconds as Clark launched one last attack.
The action met with the disapproval of the large viewing audience, though Clark looked to have done the same at the end of normal time.
Despite the crowd's reaction, Bolognino kept his cool in the ensuing shootout, emerging victorious by a 2-1 margin.
Clark's former EPL teammate Eric Verhagen also surpassed expectations, having entered the competition with limited practise, but making the semi-finals where he eventually lost 3-1 to Belgium's Alain Hanotiaux. Verhagen had accounted for the strongly favoured Vasco Guimaraes on shots in the quarter-finals.
Hanotiaux had made tough work of qualifying even past the group stage. Draws in the opening two games had left the Belgian, keenly tipped in his home country, needing victory against Noberto Miguel for a place in the knockout stages.
The Eagles Napoli player achieved the result he wanted there, then after requiring overtime to advance past Wolfgang Leitner in the last 32, he quickly got into his stride, beating the highly rated Antonio Mettivieri 1-0 in the last 16, Efrem Intra - earlier a winner over compatriot Massimiliano Nastasi - by the same score in the quarter-finals, before eliminating Verhagen in the semis.
But Hanotiaux fell to a final defeat against Napoli teammate Bolognino. In a close contest, the Italian edged the match 3-2 as he collected his fourth major international title.
Italian dominance showed in the other categories as the azzurri painted Tournai blue.
Renzo Frignani retained his veteran crown, as did Daniele Bertelli in the under-19 section.
Frignani's was a hard-fought triumph, with the Spaniard Fernando Gomez being beaten 3-1 in the semi-finals, before victory was sealed against Dutchman Martijn Bom in a repeat of last season's final, this time by a 3-2 scoreline.
Meanwhile Bertelli was in free scoring form, hitting 43 goals in 6 games - including an incredible 8-1 semi-final victory over Belgian Arnaud Nullens - ahead of a final against Malta's Samuel Bartolo, which was won 2-1.
And Mattia Bellotti would win Sunday's unofficial under-12 World Cup, with a 1-0 win over France's Joris Bois, for further Italian success.
Delphine Dieudonné restored home pride by collecting a seventh individual title in the females' section, though rival Kamilla Kristensen pushed her close, in the deciding match, losing only by the odd goal in five.
Juan Manuel Noguera was the surprise winner in the under-15 competition. The non-seeded Murcia player beat Kristian Staal Nielsen 2-1 in the final to take the trophy to Spain for the first time.
The highly-rated Portuguese youngster Ruben Português lost on shots to compatriot Bruno Fonseca in the quarter-finals.
A record 200 players contested the main individual categories in Tournai.
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Italy confirmed their position as the number one nation in table football by winning the World Cup team event.
Their now annual match-up with Belgium - typically the final - came this year in the semis after the host nation had surprisingly finished second in their group behind the Portuguese.
But it was the same story though as the Italian side progressed to the final, with a 2-1 victory over their hosts.
In a rematch of the previous day's individual final, Massimo Bolognino and Alain Hanotiaux cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw, whilst Efrem Intra and Antonio Mettivieri combined to beat David Ruelle by a single goal as did Gil Delogne against Massimiliano Nastasi for the Belgians.
But Luca Capellacci's resounding 4-1 win over the pairing of Valéry Dejardin and Delphine Dieudonné settled the match in the Italians’ favour.
The final against Greece - narrow semi-final winners over Portugal - was just as close.
Nikos Beis gained the noticeable scalp of Massimo Bolognino. And whilst Giorgos Koutis held Francesco Mattiangeli goalless, it wasn't enough, as wins for Luca Capellacci and Mettivieri over Christos Ricos and Velissarios Fragakis respectively, sealed a fifth successive world title.
The home nation did enjoy success in both the under-19 competition and in the females, despite the absence of newly crowned women's world champion Dieudonné from the squad.
Arnaud Nullens was the final hero for the U19 team, scoring a quick overtime winner against Michael Stolzenberg to beat a German side that had shocked Italy in the semis. Stolzenberg himself scored the overtime goal that had secured Germany's victory over the Italians.
The talented Portuguese team won the under-15 competition at the expense of Belgium. A very young French team, with an average age of 12, reached the semi-finals.
The performance of the day though came in the veterans tournament, where France took their first major international honours since 2001.
With a line-up missing Joël David, the French team avoided a semi-final against Italy thanks to their surprise win over Belgium in the group stage.
And then after beating a strong German side on goals scored in the semis, they went one better by defeating Italy in the final, with wins for Thierry Vivron and the renowned Laurent Garnier, against Enrico Tecchiati and Massimo Conti respectively, completing a shock 2-1 victory over the holders.
Pride of place for England went to Darren Clark, who became the first player from his country to advance past the quarter-final stage of the Open category in a major international championship.
A 2-1 group defeat to Austrian Wolfgang Leitner proved to be blessing in disguise, as, due to results elsewhere, it put second placed Clark through to a slightly easier route toward the semis.
What could have been a series of matches against Alain Hanotiaux, Antonio Mettivieri and then Efrem Intra instead became games against the lesser rated - albeit still highly talented - trio of Norberto Miguel, won 2-1, Karl-Heinz Haider, 2-1, Francesco Mattiangeli, 2-0.
But semi-final heartbreak followed after Clark fell to a shoot-out defeat against Massimo Bolognino, a player he had beaten 2-1 at the Major of Mattersburg just two weeks prior.
The rest of the 21-strong England squad - the largest ever for an international championship - enjoyed less success in Tournai.
Two straightforward wins out of three put Shorab through to the Open knockout stages, but his 1-0 defeat at the hands of Malta's Hansel Mallia proved costly as it set the Londoner up with a last 32 tie against the much-feared Antonio Mettivieri. Shorab stood little chance against the Italian ace, falling to a 6-0 defeat.
Chris Short drew the short straw when he was placed into the toughest group of the tournament, along with Joseph Mifsud, Efrem Intra and Giorgios Koutis. A 1-1 draw with Mifsud was creditable, but it was the only point gained by the English international, who last time had reached the last 16, having beaten this year's world champion Bolognino.
Dave Pawsey also made an first round exit, after falling to single goal defeats against Belgian David Ruelle and Frenchman Jean-Marie Amberny, leaving his 4-0 win over Portugal's Sergio Ramos a mere consolation.
Peter Motley and Les Commons exited pointless at the first stage of the veterans' competition. Alan Collins and Adrian Curtis both qualified, but went down to heavy defeats against Richard Stolwijk and former world veterans champ Arturo Martinez respectively in the last 32.
Of the English representatives, Phil Redman and Bob Varney progressed the furthest. Redman lost 2-1 in the quarter-finals to eventual runner-up Martijn Bom and Varney, having inflicted an impressive 7-1 defeat on Frenchman Laurent Garnier in the last 32, went out 2-0 to champion-elect Renzo Frignani in the last 16.
But there was little cheer amongst England's younger competitors, with only Matt Lampitt surviving the preliminary stage in the individuals.
The under-19 captain collected three group wins out of three, but was unlucky to meet reigning world junior champion Ricardo Barros in the last 16, going down 3-1.
Anthony Collins and Tom Motley each lost thee out of three in the U19 group stages, as did Dimitris Stemitsiotis and Jonathan Bryan in under-15 competition, despite some close fought matches.
Number one seed Sam Curtis faced the junior "group of death", and after collecting his first World Cup point in a 1-1 draw with Dane Chris Emil Christiansen, he fell to defeats against the highly-rated Portuguese prodigy Ruben Português and Belgium's Jérôme Herbecq.
Matthew Lishman's 3-1 win against Austrian Julian Hoffmann wasn't enough for him to qualify either
A single goal victory over Julie Bury put Louise Lawrenson into the last 16 of the Females' section, but a 2-0 defeat against Audrey Herbaut meant she missed out on a quarter-final clash with the all-dominant Delphine Dieudonné.
Lawrenson, together with Sam Curtis, was followed by a three-man camera crew from Channel 4, and young Sam gave them good footage when he made the quarter-finals of Sunday's unofficial under-12 World Cup, with maximum group points.
However his involvement was ended by the eventual winner, Italian Mattia Bellotti, 6-2 in the last eight. Dimitris Stemitsiotis gained two group draws, but they weren't enough for him to qualify for the knockout rounds.
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In the Open team competition, clear-cut wins for England over Wales and Northern Ireland sandwiched a 2-0 defeat against a skilful Greece, which went on to reach the final.
Against the Greeks, Darren Clark attained a useful 2-2 draw against Nikos Beis, whilst Bob Varney and Shorab combined to hold Spyros Hantzaras. But defeats for Dave Pawsey and Chris Short meant second place in the group for England, and a quarter-final clash with Italy for the second successive year.
The contest against the world champions was closely poised at half time, and almost evenly balanced at full time, alas for the English, it was in the Italians' favour.
As with last year, Antonio Mettivieri was held to a draw, this time by Darren Clark as the pair shared 4 goals.
However narrow defeats for Bob Varney (1-2 against Francesco Mattiangeli), Chris Short (2-3 versus the combination of Luca Capellaci and Massimiliano Nastasi) and Phil Redman (2-4 against Massimo Bolognino), meant that Italy repeated their 3-0 success of Bologna.
Illness, injury and last minute withdrawals hampered the veterans' team preparations, and necessitated the drafting in of Neil Lishman - at the tournament only to accompany his son Matt - into the line-up for two games.
And three straight 4-0 match defeats - with generally heavy game losses - against France, Belgium and Austria extended the English vets' winless run against continental opposition since the interception of FISTF to 16 matches.
The under-19 team suffered heavy losses against Italy and Austria, with only Lampitt's 3-3 with against Christian Haas in the latter preventing a total whitewash for the young side.
The under-15 side faced straight defeats as well, though by closer scores. Just Portugal inflicted a 4-0 whitewash, as Edward Whitehead and Dimitris Stemitsiotis picked up draws in the 2-0 loss to Denmark, and Stemitsiotis beat Sylvestre Ponthé in an eventual 3-1 match defeat to France.
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Northern Ireland enjoyed modest success at their first World Cup since 2002. Donal Convery reached the last 32 in the veterans' competition, thanks to a 2-0 victory over England's Les Commons, before losing out by a single goal against Rainer Vogt in the first knockout stage.
A win was also picked up in the team event, despite having just 3 players, when Wales were beaten 2-1. Defeats came against Greece and England, though Kenny Beggs and Trevor Cummings each pushed their English and Greek opposition close.
The pair were less prosperous in the individuals though, both exiting in tough groups. Beggs went down 3-0 to Belgian ace Gil Delogne and 4-2 against Erich Hinkelmann, before beating Denmark's Anders Buhl-Hansen 3-1.
Cummings lost all three group games, conceding four goals in each, though managing to score in his game versus Belgium's Valéry Dejardin.
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Wales didn't have the best of times at the tables.
First rounds exits for each of their individual competitors - Martin Evans and David Lauder in the Open and William Holliday in the U19 section - without recording a point between them were coupled with 3 defeats out of 3 in the team event.
Goals were in plentiful supply though, both for and against.
David Lauder managed to score in each of his games, including strikes against world number 1 Eric Verhagen and Italian champion Luca Capellacci, whilst Evans breached the defence of eventual winner Massimo Bolgnino.
Collectively though, 54 goals were conceded in 9 individuals' games, including 12 by William Holliday against Belgian Arnaud Nullens
Colin Lewis did however have the honour of scoring the fastest goal of the weekend, when he netted in just three seconds against Velissarios Fragakis in the team match versus Greece.
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John Moore ensured one win for the Republic of Ireland by beating Martin Evans 2-0. However he went down heavily in his other group matches, losing 9-1 to Ron Corsten and 10-2 to champion-elect Massimo Bolognino. Nicki Moore lost both of his games in the veterans' competition.
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Iain Bell, Scotland's only representative, made the last 32 of the veterans' event - thanks to his group victory over Ireland's Nicki Moore - where he lost 4-0 to Italian Enrico Tecchiati.
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Cyprus' Rob O'Hare, the other UK-based competitor at the World Cup, lost all three group games in the Open category, though he did manage to breach Hansel Mallia's defence several times in a 3-8 defeat, having been level at 1-1 at the 10 minute mark.
Other defeats came against Shorab - 6-0 in the first game after trailing by 5 goals after 10 minutes - and Manuel Schreckenbach of Germany, 1-4.
O'Hare's Cypriot teammate George Vassiliades, drawn into one of the toughest groups at his first tournament in many years, endured a baptism of fire on his FISTF debut. He lost 10-0, 19-0 (against Sergio Loureiro) and 7-0 for an overall playing record of played 3, lost 3, goals for 0, goals against 36.
Open
Quarter-finals
Italy England 3_0
Belgium Malta 2_0
Greece Austria 2_0
Spain Portugal 1_2
Semi-finals
Italy Belgium 2_1
Greece Portugal 2_1
Final
Italy Greece 2_1
Veterans
Semi-finals
Italy Belgium 2_0
Germany France 2_2 (4_7)
Final
Italy France 1_2
U19
Semi-finals
Italy Germeny (Germany wins in sudden death thanks to a goal by Michael Stolzenberg)
Austria Belgium 0_3
Final
Germany Belgium 1_1 ms (Belgium wins in sudden death thanks to a very fast goal by Arnaud Nullens)
U15
Semi-finals
Portugal Italy 4_0
France Belgium 0_4
Final
Portugal Belgium 2_1
Females
Final
Belgium Austria 2_1
(Bertholet bt Radic 4-0, Lucq bt Kastner 2-0, Bouchez dr/w Lenz-Exler 1-1, Scherbaum bt Westrade 2-1)
Open
Last 32
Eric Verhagen Erich Hinkelmann 3_2 ms
Massimo Cremona Valéry Dejardin sh 2_2
Sergio Loureiro Vito Di Ruggiero 1_0
Ron Corsten Vasco Guimaraes 2_6
Antonie Mettivieri Shorab Judunandan 6_0
Alain Hanotiaux Wolfgang Leitner 2_1 ms
Efrem Intra Jean-Marie Amberny 3_1
Charles Aquilina Massimiliano Nastasi 1_4
David Ruelle Joseph Mifsud 3_0
Manfred Pawlica Francesco Mattiangeli 0-0 sh
Hansel Mallia Karl-Heinz Haider 1_2
Darren Clark Norberto Miguel 2_1
Carlos Flores Raul Benita 3_2
Juan Carlos Granados Massimo Bolognino 1_3
Gil Delogne Luca Capelliacci 1_0
Saverio Bari Nikos Beis 1_0
Last 16
Eric Verhagen Massimo Cremona 2_1
Sergio Loureiro Vasco Guimaraes 0_2
Antonio Mettivieri Alain Hanotiaux 0_1
Efrem Intra Massimiliano Nastasi 2_0
David Ruelle Francesco Mattiangeli 1_3
Karl_Heinz Haider Darren Clark 1_2
Carlos Flores Massimo Bolognino 1_2
Gil Delogne Saverio Bari 3_1
Quarter-finals
Eric Verhagen Vasco Guimaraes sh 2_2
Alain Hanotiaux Efrem Intra 1_0
Francesco Mattiangeli Darren Clark 0_2
Massimo Bolognino Gil Delogne 1_0
Semi-finals
Eric Verhagen Alain Hanotiaux 1_3
Darren Clark Massimo Bolognino 0_0 sh
Final
Alain Hanotiaux Massimo Bolognino 2_3
Veterans
Last 32
Martijn Bom Lionel Abecassis 2_1 ms
Horst Deimel Benoît Jadot 4_2
Phil Redman Martin Scheffer 3_0
Alan Collins Richard Stolwijk 1_7
Arturo Martinez Adrain Curtis 4_0
Luis Machado Thossa Büsing 1_0
Thierry Vivron Henri Cornu 4_1
Michael Hasieber Marcel Vissers 4_0
Fabrice Mazzaglia Mario Spiteri 3_2 ms
Jos Ceulemans Riccardo Marinucci 4_3
Renzo Frignani Gustav Adler 6_1
Laurent Garnier Bob Varney 1_7
Massimo Conti Fernando Gomez 1_2
Donal Convery Rainer Vogt 0_1
Patrick Pace Dieter Sauerwein sh 0_0
Iain Bell Enrico Tecchiati 0_4
Last 16
Martijn Bom Horst Deimel 2_0
Phil Redman Richard Stolwijk 1_0 ms
Arturo Martinez Luis Machado 0_2
Thierry Vivron Michael Hasieber 1_2
Fabrice Mazzaglia Jos Ceulemans 1_1 sh
Renzo Frignani Bob Varney 2_0
Fernando Gomez Rainer Vogt 2_1
Patrick Pace Enrico Tecchiati 0_1
Quarter-finals
Martijn Bom Phil Redman 2_1
Luis Machado Michael Hasieber 0_1
Jos Ceulemans Renzo Frignani 0_4
Fernando Gomez Enrico Tecchiati 2_1
Semi-finals
Martijn Bom Michael Hasieber 3_2
Renzo Frignani Fernando Gomez 3_1
Final
Martijn Bom Renzo Frignani 2_3
U19
Last 16
Christian Haas Alexander Ruf 0_0 sh
Ricardo Barros Matt Lampitt 3_1
Samuel Bartolo Stefano Buono 5_4 ms
Anthony Coppenolle Nicolas Baccega 0_3
Patrick Zeilinger David Leroy 1_6
Thomas Karnthaler Daniele Bertelli 2_9
Justin Leroy Daniel Wienbrandt 2_1
Marcel Schultz Arnaud Nullens 2_6
Quarter-finals
Alexanger Ruf Ricardo Barros 2_3 ms
Samuel Bartolo Nicolas Baccega 4_2
David Leroy Daniele Bertelli 1_8
Justin Leroy Arnaud Nullens 1_2 ms
Semi-finals
Ricardo Barros Samuel Bartolo 1_4
Daniele Bertelli Arnaud Nullens 8_1
Final
Samuel Bartolo Daniele Bertelli 1_2
U15
Last 16
Ruben Potugues Lasse Honere 5_0
Rémy Huynh Bruno Fonseca 1_2 ms
Joao Inacio Ricardo Margarido 2_1 ms
Roman Karnthaler Kristian Staal Nielsen 0_3
Michaël Denooz Maxima Castel 1_2
Dominic Schultz Mattia Belloti 3_4 ms
Benjamin Garnier Jérôme Herbecq 2_2 sh
Juan Gabriel Noguera Alexander Haas 3_2
Quarter-finals
Ruben Português Bruno Fonseca 1_1 sh
Joao Inacio Kristian Staal Nielsen 0_3
Maxime Castel Mattia Belloti 2_0
Jérôme Herbecq Juan Gabriel Noguera 2_4
Semi-finals
Bruno Fonseca Kristian Staal Nielsen 1_2
Maxime Castel Juan Gabriel Noguera 0_2
Final
Kristian Staal Nielsen Juan Gabriel Noguera 1_2
Females
Last 16
Bettina Lenz-Exler Karolina Stojkova 3_0
Jennifer Kastner Françoise Guyot 0_1
Audrey Herbaut Louise Lawrenson 2_0
Magali Doumont Delphine Dieudonné 0_3
Aurélie Lucq Jelena Radics sh 1_1
Arielle Guyot Anna-Lisa Mensel 3_1
Sylvie Guyot Kamilla Kristensen 0_6
Bénédicte Westrade Elodie Bertholet 2_1
Quarter-finals
Bettina Lenz-Exler Françoise Guyot sh 0_0
Audrey Herbaut Delphine Dieudonné 0_5
Aurélie Lucq Arielle Guyot 7_0
Kamilla Kristensen Elodie Bertholet 1_0
Semi-finals
Bettina Lenz-Exler Delphine Dieudonné 1_6
Aurélie Lucq Kamilla Kristensen 0_1
Final
Delphine Dieudonné Kamilla Kristensen 3_2
Open
Group 1 : Eric Verhagen, Mikaël Casciano, Luca Capellacci, David Lauder
Group 2 : Massimo Cremona, Nikos Beis, Filipe Maia, Heinz Eder
Group 3 : David Ruelle, Dave Pawsey, Jean-Marie Amberny, Sergio Ramos
Group 4 : Massimiliano Nastasi, Henk Landzaat, Christos Rikos, Manfred Pawlica
Group 5 : Antonio Mettivieri, Karl-Heinz Haider, Axel Donval, Rasmus Lund
Group 6 : Alain Hanotiaux, Derek Conti, Norberto Miguel, Fayçal Rouis
Group 7 : Carlos Flores, Jesper Staal Nielsen, Vito Di Ruggiero, Robbert Thoen
Group 8 : Vasco Guimaraes, Juan Carlos Granados, Jim Taylor, Roland Popp
Group 9 : Robert Lenz, Sergio Loureiro, George Vassiliades, Raul Benita
Group 10 : Massimo Bolognino, Martin Evans, John Moore, Ron Corsten
Group 11 : Shorab Jadunandan, Rob O’Hare, Manuel Schreckenbach, Hansel Mallia
Group 12 : Darren Clark, Maikel de Haas, Wolfgang Leitner, Marcus Tilgner
Group 13 : Joseph Mifsud, Efrem Intra, Giorgios Koutis, Chris Short
Group 14 : Francesco Mattiangeli, Nicolas Wlodarczyk, Charles Aquilina, Antoine Dikaios
Group 15 : Gil Delogne, Kenneth Beggs, Erich Hinkelmann, Anders Buhl-Hansen
Group 16 : Valéry Dejardin, Saverio Bari, Spyros Hantzaras, Trevor Cummings
Veterans
Group 1 : Martijn Bom, Dieter Sauerwein, Franz Hipfinger
Group 2 : Enrico Tecchiati, Vitorino Ferreira, Horst Deimel
Group 3 : Fabrice Mazzaglia, Henri Cornu, Hans Ruf
Group 4 : Jos Ceulemans, Barry Ryder, Marcel Vissers
Group 5 : Arturo Martínez, Gustav Adler, Peter Motley
Group 6 : Bob Varney, Norbert Terrais, Luis Machado
Group 7 : Massimo Conti, Martin Scheffer, Bodo Reckzeh
Group 8 : Richard Stolwijk, Les Commons, Donal Convery
Group 9 : Alessandro Arca, Fernando Gomez, Phil Redman
Group 10 : Alan Collins, Rainer Vogt, Nico Bakker
Group 11 : Renzo Frignani, Paulo Português, Adrian Curtis
Group 12 : Thossa Büsing, Laurent Garnier, Emile Beaufays
Group 13 : Mario Spiteri, Francis Frédérick, Thierry Vivron
Group 14 : Marcel Lange, Michael Hasieber, Rodolfo Cansentini
Group 15 : Patrick Pace, Lionel Abecassis, Giorgos Dimakeas
Group 16 : Iain Bell, Benoît Jadot, Nicki Moore
U19
Group 1 : Christian Haas, Daniel Wienbrandt, Mario Magalhaes, Luca Schiorlin
Group 2 : Arnaud Nullens, Peter Zeilinger, Ricardo Barros, William Holliday
Group 3 : Logan Carette, Patrick Zeilinger, Stefano Buono, Tom Motley
Group 4 : Michael Stolzenberg, Nicolas Baccega, Romain Gadet, Thomas Karnthaler
Group 5 : Samuel Bartolo, Patrick Schnieder, Emilien Liard, Marco Pennachini
Group 6 : Daniele Bertelli, Anthony Coppenolle, Mauro Camilleri, Manuel Haider
Group 7 : Alexander Ruf, Luis Ferreira, Anthony Collins, Justin Leroy
Group 8 : Christophe Gerbasits, Antoine Herbaut, Marcel Schultz, Matt Lampitt
U15
Group 1 : Sam Curtis, Chris. E. Christiansen, Jérôme Herbecq, Ruben Português
Group 2 : Alexander Haas, Matteo Muccioli, Dimitris Stemitsiotis, Rémy Huynh
Group 3 : Michaël Denooz, Julian Hoffmann, Ricardo Margarido, Matthew Lishman
Group 4 : Kristian Staal Nielsen, Johan Fouquet, Jonathan Thulier, Dominic Schultz
Group 5 : Maxime Castel, Daniel Kosa, Joao Inacio, Charles Mekri
Group 6 : Mattia Bellotti, André Grima, Steven Breselg, Roman Karnthaler
Group 7 : Leonardo Praino, Jonathan Bryan, Lasse Honere, Benjamin Garnier
Group 8 : Bruno Fonseca, Thimothy Spiteri, David Frederiksen, Juan Gabriel Noguera
Females
Group 1 : Kamilla Kristensen, Bettina Lenz-Exler, Dania Schiller
Group 2 : Elodie Bertholet, Jennifer Vogel, Jennifer Kastner
Group 3 : Aurélie Lucq, Laura Mura, Louise Lawrenson
Group 4 : Michaela Scherbaum, Delphine Dieudonné, Arielle Guyot
Group 5 : Jelena Radics, Laura Petti, Audrey Herbaut
Group 6 : Anna-Lisa Mensel, Magali Doumont, Gabrielle Costa
Group 7 : Loredana Ferri, Karolina Stojkova, Sylvie Guyot
Group 8 : Victoria Büsing, Bénédicte Westrade, Françoise Guyot
TEAM EVENT
Open
Group 1 : Italy, Germany, Austria
Group 2 : Belgium, Denmark, Portugal
Group 3 : Greece, Northern Ireland, Wales, England
Group 4 : Spain, Netherlands, France, Malta
Veterans
Group 1 : Italy, Germany, Netherlands
Group 2 : Belgium, Austria, France, England
U19
Group 1 : Italy, England, Austria
Group 2 : Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Malta
U15
Group 1 : Portugal, England, Denmark, France
Group 2 : Belgium, Germany, Italy, Austria
Females
Single Group : Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Italy
Carlos Flores will be looking not to emulate his country's national football team this weekend, when the young Spaniard travels to Belgium for the FISTF World Cup.
Filled with talent and showing plenty of promise ahead of major tournaments, Spain's soccer team always fail to live up to expectations on the main stage.
And although Flores is not widely seen as a favourite for the table football World Cup, performances this season suggest that he should do very well.
In addition to reaching the final of the Bologna Major, the Murcia-based player posted a remarkable set of scores in the Italian serie A championship whilst playing for his Bologna Tigers team.
On the game's biggest stage, Flores has floundered previously. In 2003 he lost in the final of the U19 competition to the then unknown Maltese player Roderick Sciberras, whilst in his Open category debut last year, a surprise group defeat against Nikos Beis meant that he played, and lost to, Gil Delogne in the last 32.
Flores is tipped as a future World champion, and whilst it may be too early to live up to the hype this year, in a series of knockout games, anything can happen - as the Spanish football team have regularly found out.
Vasco Guimaraes is the form player going into the competition, having won the Majors of both Mattersburg and Bologna. The skilful Portuguese player rose to prominence in the table football community when he took the junior title at the FISA World Cup in 1990, and has already experienced back-to-back World Cup and European Championships victories under FISTF in 1996-1997.
The performances of Eric Verhagen and Massimo Cremona on the international circuit have elevated the pair to the top of the world classifications. Verhagen justified his ranking last season by reaching the final in Bologna, but he will be hampered by a lack of preparation for this year's tournament.
Whatever happens, there will be a new champion, as last year's winner Giancarlo Giulianini will not be in Belgium to defend his trophy, though the heir to his crown may be a fellow Italian.
Massimiliano Nastasi will be out to retain the world title and his number 1 spot in the FISTF rankings - both lost last time around.
Antonio Mettivieri could be a strong contender, if he can show the sort of form that he is capable of, whilst Massimo Bolognino, defeated by Chris Short at Bologna 2004, won three concessive World and European Championships between 1999 and 2001.
Francesco Mattiangeli is a late entry into the competition, after Stefano de Francesco gave up his place to allow his Perugia teammate to compete. National champion Luca Capellacci, Saverio Bari and Milan's Efrem Intra - all amongst the non-seeded players - make up the Italian quota in Belgium.
Alain Hanotiaux is strongly favoured in his home country, though Gil Delogne carries the host nation's best hopes. Valéry Dejardin is also able to cause a few surprises, as he did when he won the Major of Elbeuf in February.
David Ruelle, despite holding number 3 seed, has not been mentioned as a potential winner, but the Belgian has tasted international success when he won the European Championships in 1995.
England's most likely source of success is Darren Clark, though Chris Short and Shorab can rise to the occasion at major competitions.
Amongst the non-seeded players in a field enlarged of 64 are Giorgos Koutis of Greece, a quarter-finalist last year, and Portugal's one-time European Championship runner-up Filipe Maia.
And with fellow Portuguese player Sergio Loureiro, Austrian Erich Hinkelmann, Raul Benita of Spain and Greek duo Nikos Beis and Christos Rikos also hiding amongst the lower order, few will have an easy passage into the knockout stages.
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Most of the categories are likely to provide close contests, but the veterans is possibly to prove the closest.
Number one seed, Dutchman Martijn Bom will face very strong competition from reigning champion Renzo Frignani of Italy, also winner in 2001 and Spaniard Fernando Gomez, making his debut in the veterans' section.
Italian duo Enrico Tecchiati and Massimo Conti will challenge, as will 2003 winner Arturo Martínez of Spain. Home hopes lay with Fabrice Mazzaglia and Jos Ceulemans.
The section represents the best chance of English success.
Number 6 seed, the vastly experienced Bob Varney will hope to build on good continental performances since returning to the game. And he is joined by Phil Redman, making a second attempt at the veterans' competition, after reaching the quarter-finals in 2003.
The home nation's expectations in the U19 category are with Arnaud Nullens - runner-up last year and U15 winner in 2003 - but Samuel Bartolo, who has proved that he can compete with the best in Malta, will start as favourite.
A lot will also be anticipated of the highly rated Italian Daniele Bertelli, holder of the U19 title, and also Portugal's Ricardo Barros, the U15 winner in 2004 who is stepping up to the higher age group.
In the U15 section, all eyes will be on Portugal's Ruben Português, the 12-year old who performed so incredibly at the Barcelona Grand Prix. GD Dias Ferreira clubmate Bruno Fonseca has also shown exceptional talent for his age.
Denmark also have strong representation at Junior level, especially in world number 4 Kristian Staal Nielsen who impressed at the Norwegian international events in June. As with the Portugal side, all members of the Danish squad are from the same club - Lega Liga Odense.
Michaël Denooz heads the home challenge, with Maxime Castel, Jérôme Herbecq and Rémy Huynh also in contention.
It is maybe too early for England's Sam Curtis, despite holding the number one seed status, though the Peterborough youngster could win the unofficial U12 comp, if allowed dual entry into that and U19 team event.
Delphine Dieudonné only competes in the Female category at the World Cup, when she fails to qualify for the main competition, demonstrated by her world ranking of 10th, based solely on her winning the event at last year's World Cup.
And the Belgian is the clear favourite to retain her title, with perhaps only Denmark's Kamilla Kristensen who may possibly stop her.
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As with the individual categories, Belgium have a strong chance of honours in each of the team events.
However Italy, six-times champions and winners of the last four championships, again look a formidable force in the Open competition.
The Belgian line-up is solid, but lacks that special strength in depth that the Italian squad processes.
Austria, made up entirely of players from Europa Cup holders TFC Mattersburg, and the passionate Greeks certainly cannot be discounted, whilst Malta, England, Spain and Portugal, team winners in 1995 and 1997, also provide capable teams,
Italy will be favourites to complete a hat-trick of successes in the veterans' section, having won the title in both 2003 and 2004, though the Netherlands will join Belgium as genuine challengers.
Hosts Belgium and holders Italy will battle it out for the U19 title though Germany have a relatively strong team, led by world number 4 Michael Stolzenberg, and could cause a surprise. Portugal also provide a good side into the event.
Portugal are bidding for a third concessive team title at U15 level, in a section that previously had been dominated by the Belgians. As in the individuals, Denmark should make a considerable showing, as too could Austria.
In the female section, with Belgium missing some key players, France will have an opportunity for success.
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