The FISTF Major of Rochefort - Belgium 2019 was organised last weekend by the Belgian club Rochefort T.S.

The individual competitions were played on Saturday and twelve Maltese players participated.  In the Open category we had six players. Derek Conti and Massimo Cremona made it till the quarter finals losing against Carlos Flores and Luca Colangelo respectively. Samuel Bartolo was eliminated in the last 16, Joseph Borg Bonaci in the last 32, Hansel Mallia in the Barrages and unfortunately Josef Camilleri did not pass the group.  The winner of this category was the Spanish player Carlos Flores.

In the Veteran category, we had Charlie Aquilina who had a very good tournament. Aquilina was finalist against Gianfranco Calonico and lost 2-1 with sudden death. Mario Camilleri made it to the quarter finals losing against the same Charlie Aquilina.  Jason Pisani was eliminated in the last 16 and unfortunately Joseph Mifsud and John Zammit did not pass the group.

In the Under 19 category we had a Maltese winner.  Jurgen Balzan had a great tournament and won the final match against the Belgian player Maxime Rairoux 3-2.  This Victory came just after a month from winning another Major in Italy Milan last December.  The seventeen year old Balzan is very promising and in fact is ranking first in the F.I.S.T.F world rankings of the Under 19 category.

The team competitions were held on Sunday, Valletta Subbuteo Club and Bormla Subbuteo Club participated.  Valletta Subbuteo Club was composed of Derek Conti, Mario Camilleri, Samuel Bartolo, Joseph Borg Bonaci, Pascal Scheen, Jurgen Balzan, Axel Donval and Melina Scheen.  Valletta Subbuteo Club were eliminated in the last 16 after losing against Bologna Tigers.  Bormla Subbuteo Club was composed of Charlie Aquilina, Josef Camilleri, Joseph Mifsud, George Ebejer and Vincent Guyaux. Bormla Subbuteo Club were eliminated in the barrages.  The winning team was Reggio Emilia.