The global origins of the game
The engineering and anatomy of the table
Master techniques and rules of play
The professional arena and global tournaments
YOUR GOAL
Master of The world of foosball
sonia The Origins of Foosball
It started with a matchbox, matches turned to spinning rods!
sonia Lucien Rosengart designed the classic French table to keep his grandchildren entertained.
sonia Historical photo showing the creation of a foosball table during the Spanish Civil War. See how the classic tabletop game was built.
Che Guevara's match: Alejandro Finisterre, the inventor of Spanish futbolín, once played a competitive game of foosball against the famous revolutionary Che Guevara in Guatemala in 1952.
A tabletop game resembling soccer in which players control miniature figures mounted on rotating rods to strike a ball. English inventor Harold Searles Thornton patented the modern design of this tabletop sport in 1921.
How did Alejandro Finisterre lose his original 1937 Spanish patent papers for futbolín?
Which historical figure did Alejandro Finisterre play foosball against in Guatemala in 1952?
Why did Alejandro Finisterre invent his Spanish version of table football, called futbolín, in 1937?
In what year did Harold Thornton patent the first official table football design in the United Kingdom?
Which French automotive engineer is credited with designing the classic French 'baby-foot' table?
What everyday object inspired Harold Thornton to design the row-of-rods layout for table football?