Joey and Chandler in the US sitcom Friends love playing table football, which is known as “foosball” in the US. Subbuteo is one form of table football where the players are flicked around the table. On a proper football table the football players are attached to rods. Players of the game push and pull the rods to try to score a point by hitting the ball into their opponent’s goal.
No one is quite sure how the game of table soccer originated, but the first football table appeared in Europe towards the end of the nineteenth century and probably originated either in Germany, France or perhaps Spain. Nowadays, a number of different football tables are available. As a general rule, a "French-style" Bonzini football table is used in foosball world tours and official championships organized by the ITSF (International Table Soccer Federation) as well as the "American-style" Tornado and the "German-style" Tecball and Deutscher Meister football tables. At times, the "Italian-style" Roberto Sport and Garlando football tables may be used. Other major brands include Rosengart, Kicker, Eurosoccer, Jupiter Goldstar, Warrior, Leonhart, Lehmacher, Smoby and Löwen-Soccer.
An artist called Maurizio Cattelan once created a seven metre long football table with 11 foosmen on each side and called the piece “Stadium”. Elevenforty, a company that makes foosball tables, created a new style of football table known as the “Opus Table”. Each table was made by hand and each of the foosman resembled a real-life football player. The position the foosman played on the football table matched the position the real-life player assumed on the field.
These are, of course, one of a kind football tables. However, even the standard football table has some degree of variety in the way the game is played and the number of foosmen. Most football tables have square edges and a single goalie to defend the goal post. Due to the design of the table, the goalie was often unable to retrieve the ball if it was stuck in the corner of the table. Therefore, tables were made with rounded edges and slopes on the corners, which allowed a ball to ricochet back into the game. Some tables have three goalies – two defending the goal posts in both corners and one in the middle of the football table.
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