Next week’s World Cup in Lucca, Italy promises to be an incredible event. 912 coaches will gather to celebrate our wonderful hobby and fight for the title of World Champions. I thought someone should do a preview of some of the big games we’ll see in Round One. My name is Joemanji, and I was fortunate enough to be part of ‘Team Waterbowl’, the winners of the last World Cup in Amsterdam. Here goes!

Firstly in the team stakes, the biggest clash looks to be Italy’s ‘Masters of Tilea’ versus France’s Turone Bashlords. Both these teams are genuine contenders to win the World Championship, and in such a large field neither will be happy to have to face off in the first round!

The ‘Masters of Tilea’ are packed full of experience, and could quite easily have been called ‘Team Italy’. Their members hold an astonishing 29 Eurobowl caps between them, and include NAF President Beppe and Italian patriarch Farina, both former Italian captains. Spartako is the number two ranked played in the world with his Wood Elves and Kaltenland won the individual prize at the 2011 World Cup with an 8/1/0 record.

Facing them will be the ‘Turone Bashlords’, an up-and-coming force of (relative to Blood Bowl) young coaches led by the wise old stager KaduC. Boasting plenty of internationals of their own is an impressive feat given the fierce competition for places on the French Eurobowl team. This is sure to be a titanic clash!

My pick for individual tie of the round also comes from this fixture, with Spartako’s Wood Elves facing off against Justicium’s Undead. A match that features two of the best coaches around in such a classic racial tie is definitely one for the cameras!

Round one also features a huge clash between two French teams. ‘Socks’2’ were our opponents on table one for round nine of the Amsterdam World Cup. They will be playing ‘Azian’s Champions’, a team featuring most of the winners of the first World Cup in Nottingham 2007, where they were known as ‘Les Azes’. France boasts a depth of quality coaches unrivalled by any other nation, and either of these teams are in with a shout of winning the title. Harti is the main man for Socks, holding two of the world’s top eight rankings with his Chaos Dwarfs and Dark Elves. ‘Azian’s Champions’ can count on the services of Jeff, a coach whose win rate of >71% is frankly miraculous for someone playing in France.

Another great team fixture is France’s ‘Joe le Taxi’ versus Spain’s ‘TBBL’. Both teams include a number of international stars, and ‘Joe le Taxi’ have just won the World Cup Warm Up event on FUMBBL. The pick of the individual ties is probably Geggster vs. Tarra. The Spaniard has played in six Eurobowls and boasts an impressive record with his Undead, whilst Geggster is one of the most experienced coaches of all time with a major and four Eurobowl wins to his name. Another balanced racial match-up promises to make for a fascinating contest.

Continuing with the individual ties, Lycos of the ‘ECBBL Blackshirts’ (England) vs. MrNuffle of ‘Team CBBA’ (Denmark) promises to be one for the fans. Our former President is the man most responsible for there being a NAF able to support an event the size of the Lucca World Cup, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for the hours upon hours he has spent doing NAF work without ever once asking for thanks or acknowledgement. MrNuffle is the National Tournament Coordinator for Denmark, and has done a superb job supporting Blood Bowl in that country. The eight teams Denmark has sent to Lucca is testament to this. Two fine gentlemen, two great characters and Wood Elves versus Humans should be a great match!

Another tie that catches the attention is KFoged against Barney_the_lurker. KFoged is one of Denmark’s finest and a titan of FUMBBL. Barney is a criminally underrated coach from the Waterbowl stable who always raises his game against the top coaches. Every chance of a classic here! Both are playing for part Danish, part English teams to add another little bit of spice to the mix.

Best of luck to everyone taking part.
Joe