It’s not just a victory, it’s a real monologue. The FISTF World Cup 2026 in Paris, in the Under 12 category, wears the blue colors but speaks with a strict Reggio accent.
Marco Averna is the new World Champion, but the photograph destined to remain in the history of table football depicts an almost entirely amaranth podium. In fact, alongside the new champion, Samuele Murabito and Aleksandar Rossitto, both ranked third on equal merit. Three boys from the same club, the Subbuteo Club Reggio Calabria, occupy three of the four places available on a world championship podium. An unprecedented feat in the history of this discipline.
A triumphal ride
The triumphal ride of the Calabrian team had already begun during the round of 16. In the draw of the best sixteen, Marco Averna had narrowly and with great maturity overcome the Spaniard Andres Garrido Robles 1-0. At the same time, Samuele Murabito overwhelmed the Greek Dimitris Bogdanidis with a peremptory 3-0, while the debutant Aleksandar Rossitto got rid of the Belgian Albano Del Papa with a solid 2-0.
In the quarter-finals Italy presented four out of eight athletes, making direct clashes inevitable. Averna eliminated the English Hadley Chapman with a clear 3-0, Rossitto made his own a very tight match by finishing 1-0 over the Belgian Mathis Goffin, while in the all-blue derby Murabito won 2-0 over Edoardo Mazzilli. Result: two guaranteed passes to the semi-final and a medal already guaranteed for the club.
The final phase provided emotions and a hint of inevitable sporting regret. The first semi-final saw the family clash between Averna and Murabito, with Marco capable of extending the score to the final 5-1 at the end of a match of the highest level. In the other semi-final, Rossitto achieved the feat against the Spaniard Alvaro Castellano Rodriguez, narrowly losing 2-1 at the end of a match open until the last second. As per FISTF regulations, since there was no final for third place, both Murabito and Rossitto wore the bronze medal around their necks.
The final act for the awarding of the world title was uneventful. In the final between Marco Averna and the Spaniard Castellano, the young talented player from Reggio imposed his own pace right from the start, defending with order and punishing every mistake made by his opponent until the final 4-1.
After the Italian title, Averna thus completes an extraordinary personal double by crowning himself king of the world. But the real feat of this Parisian expedition remains collective: three very young athletes from Reggio Calabria take their club and the whole of Italy to the roof of the planet.