Toulouse. Did you know that the Pink City foosball club was a reference in France?
By Anthony Assemat
Published on
Know that Toulouse was a stronghold of table football in France and even in Europe?
Established in 2015, the Phoenix ATB (not to be confused with the handball players of Fenix!) is a club of friends, bitten by the small soccer ball, but also and above all one of the most successful clubs in France.
Nine podiums at the French Championships
Crowned French club champion in June 2021, he succeeded in winning, at the end of March 2022, no less than nine podiums (male and female) during the French championships which were held in Segre (Maine-et-Loire)including four titles of champion of France.
A multi-titled club
In its ranks, there is for example a “machine” to win, Estelle Jacquot. “She has won 33 French championship titles since 1995. She is our Jeannie Longo of table football! “, smiles Jean-Olivier Ousset, the former president of the club but who remains in the organization of the Phoenix ATB… and an inveterate player.
This family club, which currently has 69 members, happily mixes seasoned competitors and enlightened amateurs.
“Every Wednesday, we call on five coaches who intervene to support beginners and amateurs. Training is part of the resource of our club”.
To join, count 1 to 40 euros the price of the license for the year, plus a package ranging from 19 to 190 euros depending on whether you are in leisure or in competition.
“Toulouse a story around table football”
The Phoenix ATB trains at Les Amidonniers, in the premises of 147, a multi-leisure room where a large academy and a billiard room. “Toulouse has a real history around table football with top-level players. And there is a real appetite for discipline, ”continues the Toulouse player.
However, table football, which is not yet recognized as a sport by official bodies, suffers a little from its 100% leisure, unpretentious, even unserious image.
“Foosball has one of the lowest user/licensee ratios in France. Because everyone knows or played it at least once! But it is one of the few places that is representative of all categories of society because there are employees, business leaders, students, job seekers…”.
A leisure tournament every first Monday of the month
To maintain the flame and the conviviality between competitors and amateurs, the Phoenix ATB organizes every first Monday of the month a foosball tournament open to all, on the principle of “Monster Dyp” (the change of partner at each round).
A World Cup in sight this summer
The leaders of the discipline, after the harvest of the last French championship, are preparing for the next big event: the World Cup which will be organized in Nantes (Loire Atlantique) from June 28 to July 3, 2022. With the desire to carry the colors of the Pink City even higher.
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