The Fistball World Cup is in the starting blocks

Around 16 teams from North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania are fighting for the World Cup crown. The favorite for the big title is host Germany after winning three World Championships. However, the Italian team wants to defend its role at the top of world fistball at the largest fistball world championship ever held and continue to catch up with the big four nations. Veteran and captain Simon Prudenziati is playing his seventh World Cup and explains the football world as follows: “As is often the case with fringe sports, there is also a multi-class society in fistball. At the top, the four big nations, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Brazil, have always fought for the title of world champion. “This will probably be no different this year,” said Prudenziati. “Behind that is the middle section with Italy, Namibia, Argentina, Chile, the Czech Republic and the USA, which have a long tradition of fistball. New fistball nations, however, are New Zealand, Australia, Belgium and Japan,” explains Prudenziati. “Four years ago, at the World Championships in Switzerland, we were able to achieve the coveted fifth place for the first time in the association’s history, which is synonymous with the world championship title in the middle ranks of the fistball nations. We were able to impressively consolidate this position at the World Games last year,” the captain continued. This is also the sixth World Cup in a row for main attacker Armin Runer. “Our team has rejuvenated significantly since the last World Cup in Switzerland. But our goal remains fifth place. We want to show the world that Italy is number one in fistball behind the four big nations. But if we get the opportunity to climb further up the table through a surprise success, we won't say no," says Runer combatively. There are only six players left from the successful team from 2019 this year, all of whom have made it back into the team. Of the initial 20 players who were invited to the opening course at the beginning of the season, Jakob Riegler, Maximilian Deutsch, Florin Unterkofler and Dennis Thalmann, and the coaching duo Jörg Ramel and Florian Runer were ultimately able to convince. “We would have loved to take all the players with us to Mannheim. Unfortunately we had to choose ten players. However, the decision has never been as difficult as it was this year,” explains Coach Ramel. “We expect the young players to dedicate themselves XNUMX percent to the service of the team, gain experience and take advantage of their opportunity at the crucial moment.” The Squadra Azzurra starts the World Cup this Saturday in the preliminary round against the Confederates from Switzerland. The game against Namibia follows on Sunday, while host Germany awaits on Monday.

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The Fistball World Cup is in the starting blocks

The Men's Fistball World Championship will take place in Mannheim (Germany) from July 22nd to 29th. Also taking part for the 13th time was the Squadra Azzurra, consisting mainly of Bolzano fistball players.

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