THEBRITISHFOOSBALLASSOCIATION

Supporting thedevelopment ofFoosball in the UK!

About Us

The BFA is independent of all commercial organisations.

1.1 WHO WE ARE?The British Foosball Association (BFA) is a non-profit making players association, formed in the UK for the purpose of increasing the awareness and popularity of the game of foosball (also known as table football, table soccer, bar football, kicker, babyfoot and a multitude of other names).

The BFA is run by a volunteer Executive Committee and is responsible for ensuring that the goals of the association are met. As part of its remit, the BFA is responsible for maintaining a ranking list of all UK players and ensuring authorised tournaments adhere to the established rules. http://www.britfoos.com/

The BFA is a member of the sport’s international governing body the International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF), and represents the UK’s interests as a member association of that federation. http://www.table-soccer.org/

The BFA organises the national UK Championships annually, and is also responsible for the selection of the Great Britain teams which represent the UK at the ITSF World Cup and World Championships. http://national.britfoos.com/ and other international events.

1.2 OUR VISIONBy promoting the sport at local, regional and national levels, our vision is to continue to grow the foosball player base in the UK, whilst at the same time improving public awareness of the positive attributes of foosball as a sport. In addition to the obvious benefits of healthy competition and team play, as with many other sports, a high level of skill, concentration and physical endurance is required when playing at the highest levels. Plus, whether played informally or very seriously, it’s just great fun!

1.3 THE GAMEWhether invented in Spain, France or the United Kingdom, the game with little men on spinning rods kicking a ball into a goal, was developed in Europe from the 1950s, becoming a global and UK phenomenon in the 1970s, particularly in amusement arcades and pool halls. A dip in popularity in the 1980s came as venues moved to the new computer games and pinball, but the development of the Internet reconnected foosball players both in Britain and around the world, leading to the establishment of the BFA in 1998, which was a founder member of the ITSF when it was established in 2002. A common set of international rules are also now in place.

There are many different manufacturers producing table football tables, although a smaller set of professionally robust tables are used at the higher levels. Matches are played in singles or pairs, in a variety of formats. Particular playing styles develop with each table, however there is increasingly cross-over between different tables. Success comes as the player develops the physical techniques together with the analytical thinking required to outsmart the opponent. At the highest levels, it becomes a game of chess played at the speed of tennis!

1.4 THE PLAYERSFoosball - like the sport which inspires it, football is popular with people of all backgrounds. UK foosball leagues and tournaments attract British people not only from all corners of the country, but increasingly players from other countries, whether resident in the UK or travelling from overseas. Our developing network of clubs have a diversity of roots universities and schools, pubs and bars, companies, community centres or just groups of friends indeed one of the great attractions of the game is that there is no “typical” stereotype for the foosball player. UK players have been successful in international tournaments culminating in winning Open Doubles at the World Championships!

2.1 NATIONAL TEAM SPONSORSHIPThe British Foosball Association is looking for sponsors to help us fund the attendance of the Great Britain Men’s, Women’s, Senior and Junior national teams at major international tournaments, as well as the ITSF World Cup and World Championships, the premiere event of the international foosball calendar. In recent years these have been covered by Eurosport 2 and ESPN3, as well as generating considerable local and national media interest. If you or your company would like to become an official sponsor of the Great Britain team, we can acknowledge your support in a number of different ways. Please see the table of benefits below:

If you would like to become a Team GB sponsor, or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at sponsorship@britfoos.com

2.2 UK TOURNAMENT SPONSORSHIPThe BFA works with promoters to organise national and international foosball tournaments throughout the year. These have to meet a number of established criteria in order to be awarded a BFA ranking status and / or ITSF tour category status. These tournaments are a great opportunity for any company to promote its brand or products to a fast growing high quality audience. Apart from the obvious benefits of being associated with a growing, dynamic and exciting sport, there are significant brand or product promotion opportunities through inclusion of your companies logo or product on tournament promotional material, signage at the venue itself and potential media coverage.A range of sponsorship options are available to meet any budget:

We cannot guarantee press or other media attendance, but we will make every effort to secure local or national media coverage. This has been achieved on numerous occasions in the past.

Sponsorship

Team GB member participation at sponsor designated events

Logos on the Britfoos website front page, national team website front page and Facebook page

Logos on official team kit. Team GB members have appeared on various TV programmes and other media on a number of occasions

Use of BFA and Team GB logos / names on all media collateral for promotion and PR purposes “Proud sponsor of the Team GB Foosball Team”

Wherever possible mention of the sponsor’s name or product by Team GB members when being interviewed by local and national media

Logos on signage at UK national events

First option on sponsorship of the following year’s Team GB

A contribution to the running costs or promotion of the event

Provision of free promotional material such as T-shirts

A contribution towards trophies or prizes at the event

A contribution towards prize money at the event

CorporateCORPORATE EVENTS & EXPERT CHALLENGESThe BFA has undertaken a wide variety of corporate events as well as expert challenge events for a number of well known companies such as :

UEFA Carling Siemens Barclaycard BBC Radio 5 Live Evening Standard Chelsea Football Club ITV Digital 02

These can be fun events for client or staff entertainment and can include expert Pro players including members of the Great Britain team if you wish.

The event can be used to promote the company’s products or services with appropriate prizes for achieving the highest score against the experts or on very rare occasions, actually beating them!

At trade shows this method can be used to attract people to your stand so you can explain your products or to collect business cards or data for follow up after the event.

If you are interested in any of the above please contact us by email on expertchallenge@britfoos.com and we will contact you to tailor a package to suit your needs as well as provide a quotation.

Challenge the . . .

GREAT BRITAIN TABLE FOOTBALL team . .

WIN £50 ! it’s FREE to try!

Beat them NOW and

AdvertisingADVERTISING A FOOSBALL RELATED PRODUCTClearly for any company which manufacturers a Foosball related product whether computer game, table , handle wraps, gloves etc . There is a great opportunity to market this to our members and others interested in Foosball through a short write up on our website and a link to your own online marketing material at a very reasonable cost.

If you are interested in finding out more about this please contact us by email on:sponsorship@britfoos.com and we will contact you with further details

The BFA is a member of the ITSFvisit us atwww.britfoos.comlike us atwww.facebook.com/britfoos

The British Foosball Association , 100 Park Road, Hindley, Wigan, WN2 3RX, England