This weekend the Valletta Subbuteo Club (VSC) took part in the Major Grand Prix of Frameries (Belgium) which is one of the top five tournaments in the world.  Most of the top players in all categories attended this yearly event and last year, the VSC lost in the semi-final due to a goal difference.  This season the VSC had already won the Welsh International Grand Prix, held in Cardiff and lost in the semi-final in the Gran Prix of France.

The team event took place on Saturday were the Citizens competed against 44 other teams from all over Europe.  The players for the VSC were Derek Conti (Capt), Mario Camilleri, Vincent Mifsud, Samuel Bartolo, Chris Thomas, Christian Short, Jason Pisani, Jean Carl Tabone and Stephen Rizzo.

In the group stage the VSC Team won by beating Puylaurens “A” of France 4 – 0   , Rochefort “A” of Belgium 2 – 1 and Grosseto “A” of Italy 4 – 0.  In the next round the VSC paired against Delft of Holland who they beat 3 – 0 to make it to the quarter final against Wiener Neustadt of Austria who they beat 2 – 0.  In the semi final, they paired against Issy-les-Moulineaux of France, were they drew 2 – 2 but the Citizens made it to the final due to a goal difference of 6 – 4.  The Citizens in the final played against Perugia of Italy were they lost 1 - 2.

On Sunday the VSC players took part in the individual competitions, were Vincent Mifsud, Mario Camilleri and Jason Pisani took part in the Veteran category whereas Derek Conti, Stephen Rizzo, Samuel Bartolo, Christian Short, Chris Thomas and Jean Carl Tabone took part in the Open Category.

There were about 80 veteran players from 14 European countries. All the VSC players managed to qualify from the group stage.  Mario Camilleri and Jason Pisani meet each other after they had qualified from their respective group and Mario Camilleri passed to the Quarter final.  

In the Open category there were 110 players from 14 European countries.  The VSC players all managed to qualify from the group stages and 3 players, Derek Conti, Samuel Bartolo and Jean Carl Tabone managed to arrive to the semi-finals.  In the first semi-final Derek Conti meet his team mate Jean Carl Tabone and qualified to the final.  In the second semi-final Samuel Bartolo played against Wolfgang Hass and qualified to the final by beating Hass 4 – 2 after the shoots.  The Open Tournament Final was between the Citizens where Derek Conti managed to beat Samuel Bartolo 3 -2 to become the Open Tournament Champion of the Major Grand Prix of Frameries, Belgium.