The World Federations Congress was held from January 19th to 21st, 2018, in the beautiful city of Benidorm, Spain. The goal of this meeting, which regularly brings together ITSF member federations, was to promote table football across the globe, starting with Benin... and including the Olympic Games!
Is Benin the new flagship of table football in Africa?
During the three days of this global event, 16 nations were represented: Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Romania, Slovenia, England, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, the USA, and, of course, Benin. The African state was at the heart of the debates. For the President of the Beninese Table Football Federation, Kiki Delano, the goal now is to develop the sport in the country and make it a central hub for improving table football in Africa, with a truly national table.
"Connections have been established so that Beninese players can be trained on the official rules of the various tables around the world," explains Kiki Delano.
Table football at the Olympic Games: One step closer to recognition
During the World Meeting of Table Football Federations, it was also decided to popularize the Table Soccer web application that ranks players from around the world and to register the table football among the Olympic disciplines. Regarding this second resolution, a first step has been taken since, as Kiki Delano explains:
"The ITSF is recognized as an observer member of the GAISF, the Global Association of International Sports Federations. This is a first step towards table football being included in the Olympic Games. And we must rise to this challenge."
