From wuzzeln to table football – a pub sport is coming of age

Sport table football

Stefan Burmetler from Kirchberg im Pielachtal is the young face of an up-and-coming sport that brings together 494 athletes on a total of 90 tables from Thursday to Sunday in St. Pölten.

Sport? Table football, better known in Austria as “Wuzzeln” and popular as a fun pastime during the day in the office, in the evening in the pub or late into the night in the bar, is currently experiencing a similar rise to that of darts a few years ago.

“In five years, ten at the latest, we will be a recognized sport,” announces Wolfgang Breuer from the TFBÖ association. The Wuzzlers are currently an associated member of Sport Austria and received funding for the first time. “That’s why I can work part-time for the association. Our main sponsor ‘philoro’, who has an enthusiastic table football player as his boss, is also very helpful,” says trained optician Breuer, who is also the tournament organizer in St. Pölten.

Always in the 2-5-3 system

“But now I have to play myself, my opponent is already waiting,” says the world No. 76 and puts the ball down for the first of a maximum of five sets of five goals each.

Worldwide, the two teams are always in two colors in front of the goalie lined up in a 2-5-3 system. “Don’t go crazy with the pole” and “no goals with the middle row” are ironclad rules almost everywhere.

At the “World Series”, the largest tournament format held four times a year, only the first one applies. “At least once per match I shoot from the middle. So that the opponent can’t be too sure that I’ll pass with the middle to the front row with the three strikers,” says Stefan Burmetler. But continuous fire from a distance wouldn’t make sense, the Wuzzel experts defend too well.

What you also can’t see in the inn is called “pinnen” – or in Austrian “tweak”: The center forward is pressed onto the ball, the hand on the bar is rolled down to the wrist – so that the rotation is maximized – and then pulled off with a lot of momentum. The ball accelerates so much that the shot can hardly be noticed with the naked eye.

The association’s apt motto is “Easy to play, hard to win”. Breuer estimates that it would take a year of training with an expert to turn a pub puzzler into a tournament participant.

Club instead of a club

“Currently, and certainly in the next few years, the level is rising massively. “The Burmetler brothers belong to the first generation who didn’t learn in a pub as teenagers, but rather learned in a club when they were very young, still standing on a box,” says Association President Thomas Wagnerwho also comes from the Pielachtal and was the Burmetlers’ teacher: “I play at the back, Stefan at the front.”

The fact is that no player in the world plays equally well at the front and back. Not even with the Kirchberg team, who won the Champions League in the men’s competition. Nevertheless, Stefan switches with his on the way to gold in the mixed competition Partner’s Melissa Mosser – a defensive specialist – often briefly says: “It’s also about psychology and strategies. There’s so much going on in your head.”

The one popular in the inn Of course, “trash talk” is forbidden. Talking is only allowed in (maximum) two time-outs per set and between rallies. Otherwise, a slap on Stefan Burmetler’s ass from his much older partner Melissa is the height of emotion.

Besides that The referee monitors whether the table is not being shaken anyway – that would be a serious foul.

The table is a separate chapter. There are five leading providers, in St. Pölten – as in most of Austria – on the Italian brand “Garlando” played. Because the table differences, for example in terms of speed, are as big as tennis on sand or grass, the WM 2025 in Saragossa Each team selects a brand. The table is changed after each set. And in a deciding game, the next table is even visited after every goal.

There is no doubt: The Wuzzlers want to be serious athletes and are well on their way to achieving this as table football players.