Think you know everything about the history of table football? Are you an expert on the numbers behind the mini football? Here are 5 unusual anecdotes to share during a match with friends, 5 anecdotes that will surprise everyone, even your most knowledgeable opponents.
Let's start with some figures. This information has been authenticated, and although incredible, turns out to be 100% accurate. Watch out!
The longest table football
It was in Switzerland, in Aarau to be precise, that this extraordinary wooden monster was born. At 101 meters long, this unusual foosball table can accommodate 334 players simultaneously. Of course, such a feat has been approved by the Guinness Book of Records. Even the Stella XXl yellow foosball table feels small next to it...
The Longest Foosball Game
This historic game didn't take place on the world's longest foosball table. Austrian players Alexander Kuen, Bernd Neururer, Dietmar Neururer, and Manuel Larcher competed on a classic foosball table in a foosball marathon lasting over 61 hours. For the record, the previous record was also held by Austrian players: Alexander Gruber, Roman Schelling, Enrico Lechtaler, and Christian Nagele. They only played for 51 hours... It's unclear on which table these two games took place. Perhaps a Bonzini table football, who knows?
Table football is much more than a sport: it's a small world!
250,000,000! That's the number of table football players scattered across the globe. Very popular in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and England, to name a few), table football has even been exported to Uncle Sam's country, where it continues to thrive.
Now let's move on to some annoying news...
The Spanish claim that table football is a... Spanish creation!
But after all, which country hasn't claimed to be the creator of the most popular table game on the planet? According to the Spanish, the very first kicker was the invention of Alejandro Finisterre, a Galician poet who was inspired during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). His motivation? To allow victims of the war, especially children, to continue playing football despite their after-effects. A stroke of bad luck: the patent filed by Finisterre was apparently lost, leaving the invention without an inventor, orphaned, at the mercy of a few foosball enthusiasts eager to make history with the mini round ball... A beautiful story that we really want to believe!
And a nice bit of news, to end on a good note...
In Quebec, big-hearted advertisers play foosball for a good cause
Europe and the United States aren't the only countries welcoming foosball. Our friends in Quebec are also big fans of the mini round ball. This passion has even reached the highest levels of the Canadian advertising industry. Each year, several communications agencies organize truly "interagency" table football tournaments. The goal of this event is, of course, to have a pleasant and unifying time between players in the same sector, but also (and above all) to raise funds that will then be donated to the Bénévolat d'Entraide aux Communicateurs (Communicators' Mutual Aid Volunteering). We could easily imagine fifty advertising executives in ties competing on designer table football, like the Bonzini B90 grey table football with transparent feet, chic and ultra-contemporary...
Come on, admit it, there are at least 3 out of 5 anecdotes that you don't know yet?
