England squad trains in Milton Keynes ahead of Subteo World Cup

Professional Subuteo players are training for the World Cup in September.

In this tabletop game, contestants take turns bouncing miniature models of soccer players around a replica stadium, aiming to force the ball into the goal.

Members of Team England will hone their skills in Milton Keynes before competing in the Subuteo World Cup in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where the game was invented in 1946.

Northamptonshire-based sponsor Weetabix will provide jerseys and a dedicated ‘finger physio’ to ensure competitors are in top condition.

The game was popular in the 1970s and 1980s, but has attracted new young players in recent years.

Ruby, 15, traveled from Mold in North Wales to Buckinghamshire to train for the competition, which will involve 32 countries.

She was introduced to gaming at age 7 by her father.

“Actually, I picked it up quickly and loved playing,” she said.

England will be hoping to beat favourites and defending world champions Italy in 2022, who eliminated the national team in the quarter-finals of the last Subuteo World Cup in Rome.

Ruby said the game requires logic and careful thinking to be successful.

“When you attack, it’s not just about hitting the ball, it’s about what happens in two or three flicks,” she said.

She admitted that her friends thought it was “different but cool.”

“It would be great to get more young people involved in the game, because there aren’t that many young people involved in the game.As time goes on, more kids get involved in the game and they really enjoy it. “There is,” she said.

Subbuteo production was based at Langton Green, close to Tunbridge Wells, where the 2024 championship will be held in September.

Alan Lee, chairman of the British Subuteo Association, said: “We are proud to be from the same county as Subuteo.”

“We are working with Tunbridge Wells Council in the lead-up to the World Cup and they have been very generous with their resources and are ensuring we have the right people to make this the biggest and best World Cup in history. “It connected me to,” he said.

Team England is made up of five teams: Under 12s, Under 16s, Men’s Open, Women’s Open and Veterans.

Lee said anyone can play the game, but it takes special skills to compete in the World Cup.

He explained, “At the sporting level, it requires a lot of concentration and is a very intense game, some people liken it to chess.”

Bob Varney, from Woburn, Hertfordshire, who is vice-chairman of the association, started playing the game as a child.

“There’s a lot of debate about whether it’s a sport or not, but I think it’s a sport at the highest level,” he said.

The last time England won the competition was in 2006, and Varney admitted the team were not favorites but were “improving very quickly”.

“Certainly Ruby will be seen as a threat by the Italians… There will be a lot to follow,” he said.