ITHF Table Hockey
Table hockey is a sport played on table hockey games. The International Table Hockey Federation (ITHF) uses only table hockeys made by Stiga. The origin of the sport was the Swedish Championship 1982 in Upplands Väsby. Organized table hockey is played in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, in North America and in Japan.
The World Championship is organized by the ITHF every two years. The Stiga Play Off game is the official game of the Table Hockey World Championship.
Sweden has dominated the table hockey scene from the beginning and a couple of years into the new millennium. Until the Finnish gold in Riga 2005, Sweden had won all Team World Championships, until 2006 only Swedes had won the Open Swedish Masters, and until 2007 all individual world champions were Swedes. But the new generation comes from Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Latvia, and its current big star is Roni Nuttunen from Finland who in the past season won all major tournaments he participated in, including the two greatest: Swedish Masters and the world championships.
Since the sport expands quickly in many countries, the table hockey map may have to be redrawn within a couple of years when nations other than the big six (Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Norway and Latvia) produce new talents.
Read more about ITHF Table Hockey: History, Tournaments, World Table Hockey Tour, ITHF World Ranking
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