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A true challenge! Welcome to all, We are happy to welcome you to Vendée in the township of Herbiers, for the organization of the 11th edition of the Table Soccer World Cup 2007. For our Organising Committee, especially created for the event, it is a great challenge. When last June in Dortmund, on the occasion of the International Federation’s Congress, France was awarded the organization of this World Cup, it was a great joy for us, but also daunting in that it meant great responsibility. Not since 1994, when the first World Cup was organised in Paris under the auspices of FISTF, had France organised any major events of an international scale. It is certainly a challenge! But it has been based on a well thought out project. When we arrived in Vendée about two years ago, we created the Football de Table Club Les Herbiers-Saint Mars La Réorthe to pursue the practice of this sport, which we first started close to 20 years ago with the FTC Sucy en Brie, in the Paris region. We were quickly seduced by the setting, the city and the energy of the Vendée. When the opportunity presented itself for a French candidacy for the organization of the World Cup, we told ourselves that it was the dreamed of opportunity for us to show Table Soccer to more people in the west of France, and also to show a new discipline to the Vendéenses. After a survey of feasibility on the requirements of FISTF, we announced our project to the French Federation and set down the required documentation. However, we’re not working in the dark here, since besides the support of the members of the local club, we can lean heavily on the experienced team who already participated in the organization of events of this level. The President of our organizing Committee, Laurent Garnier, ex-president of the Federation French and the International Federation, was already involved in the 1st World Cup in Paris in 1994. The statistics are slightly different today : more players (250), more countries (21), more categories (5), which puts more pressure on the logistics and the team as a whole. Our work has been going for several months, and the site that we have the pleasure to present to you is the result of a small team putting together a quality interactive presentation. Now we are putting more action into place, to convince partners and supporters to sustain us, as this great Event will only be possible with the help and support of all. L’espace Herbauges, where the World Cup will take place, already offers us a superb setting, and now it only remains for us to deliver the Event. The Department of the Vendée and the City of Herbiers have already come to the party, and we are delighted with this display of confidence in our plans. There is a lot of work still to be done to ensure that from August 31 to September 2 we can welcome more than 20 countries striving to the best in their sport, and to discover more about our beautiful city and region. People of the Vendée, if you want to participate in the preparation and organising of the Table Soccer World Cup, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Yours in Sport, The Organising Committee |
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