Small flicks, big kicks

It’s the World Cup you may not have heard of. Singapore's table football players have quietly built an Asian dynasty and are now setting their sights on the World Cup in France — keeping alive a game that evolved from a 1980s mall craze into a fiercely competitive global game.

- Melvinderpal Singh and Gavin Foo

Amid the bustle of the FIFA World Cup, Bernard Lim has been quietly putting in hours of practice to improve the strength and dexterity of his forefingers.

Lim’s not a gongfu master or doctor, but with surgeon-like skills, he can carve open defences with precision, using just his fingers.

The Singaporean is preparing for the upcoming Table Football World Cup in Paris.

Come September, dozens of players from all over Europe, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and, yes, Singapore, will be hunched over an astroturf — a little smaller than a table-tennis table - in a pursuit that involves strategy, skills, discipline and a passion for the beautiful game.

Like Greek gods, they guide little men — made of plastic, and often painted in the colours of their favourite team — around tight defences. The matches are intense, with the regular signature yells and celebrations.

The game requires the planning and accuracy of a snooker player, the cunning of a chess player, and the flicking skills of a mobile-phone peddling Ah Beng trying to get rid of a stubborn booger.

Lim has been playing for more than three decades, honing his skills on pitches across Singapore, Australia, Japan and Europe.

He has taken part in three prior World Cup tournaments - England in 2024, Gibraltar in 2018 and Belgium in 2014.

The table football World Cup tournament, previously held every four years, is now held biennially.

Lim said: “My wife is very supportive of my involvement in this game. She will try to join me if her schedule permits, and if she comes along, we will usually also try to plan a vacation around the trip.

“Table football plus holiday - the perfect combination!”

To many, it is still known by the name of its previous iteration — Subbuteo, a game big in the 1980s and early 1990s, when tournaments attracted hundreds of spectators to the pre-renovated Plaza Singapura and Parkway Parade in Marine Parade.