Subbuteo FISTF World Cup 2024 in Tunbridge Wells

The World Cup really is coming home in 2024

The Council was over the moon to hear the announcement from the English Subbuteo Association (ESA) that they will be hosting the Subbuteo FISTF World Cup 2024 in Tunbridge Wells. We gave full support to the ESA when they made their bid to The Federation of International Sports Table Football to host the 2024 event.

Many will already know that the borough has a long association with the game which was invented in 1946 by Langton Green resident Peter Adolph, and early production of Subbuteo also took place in the area.

Around 32 countries are expected to be represented at the international event which takes place over four days in September 2024. As many as 64 games will be taking place simultaneously during the early stages of the tournament which will be centred around the Tunbridge Wells Leisure Centre.

Councillor Jane March, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Culture and Leisure, told fellow councillors the exciting news at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday 23 February. She said: ‘The 2024 Subbuteo World Cup will take place here in Royal Tunbridge Wells – the natural home of the game that was invented and manufactured in Langton Green. This will be a huge event for the town and the wider borough and we are confident that it will reawaken and unite Subbuteo and Table Football fans from all over the world. I’m sure that councillors will join me in welcoming the fact that Subbuteo Table Football is ‘coming home’!’

The best-ever World Cup

ESA Vice Chairman Alan Lee said: ‘Winning the bid with the unanimous support of the world governing body to host this prestigious event is a very proud moment for me personally and the rejuvenated English Association. The ESA Board has committed to making this event the ‘best-ever’ World Cup and something the nation can get behind and be proud of. We are delighted to be partnering with the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council as Subbuteo really is coming home!’

Greece and Brazil also expressed an interest in hosting the 2024 event although Brazil withdrew their bid when they learned that the event could be played in Tunbridge Wells, the home of the game. The World Cup was last held in the UK, in Manchester, in 2012.

The origins and history of the Subbuteo game will feature in The Story of the Wells, one of the new galleries in The Amelia Scott, the new cultural and community facility opening in Royal Tunbridge Wells in April 2022.