The history of table football / foosball
If you are reading this article, then you love football. Of course we usually talk about actual football on this site but while playing a game of table football recently with some friends in a bar it made me think where does this game actually come from.
While most of us love to have a kick about if we are still able to we often don’t always have the room or facilities to play the beautiful game indoors. That has led to many innovations in ways to get the same rush of the game in our own homes. These days I play far more table football than actual football myself.
While technology has brought about playing football in video games, there was a way to get our football fix way before the advent of the consoles and PCs. That game was called table football.
What is table football?

Table football, or Foosball/table soccer as it’s called in North America, is a tabletop game based on association football. The main objective is to get a small ball into the opposition’s net by moving rods that have figures attached that resemble football players from two opposing teams. These figures have been made out of wood, plastic and metal over the years. You move the rod, and the players appear to kick the ball.
The general size of a table is 150 cm long and 90 cm wide. However, tables with smaller dimensions are available for children.
There are different sets of rules played in various countries, although the basic aim of the game is to outscore your opponent.
The invention of table football
The game of table football is believed to have originated in the 1890s in France and Germany, where patents were issued for its invention. However, it wasn’t until 1921 that an Englishman named Harold Searles Thornton patented it in the United Kingdom as an “Apparatus for playing a game of table football.”
What Thornton had developed had the same basic features of the game that many of us know and love in the more modern versions of the game.
History of Foosball Tables and Rules:
History:
Origins: Foosball, also known as table soccer, was invented in the 1920s. There’s some debate about its exact origin, but two main stories are prominent:
Alejandro Finisterre, a Spanish poet, created it in 1937 in Barcelona for… pic.twitter.com/jUG8TutGhV
— 𝔼𝕕𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝔹𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕨 (@TehMog) December 30, 2024
However, an article in Belgium Magazine Le Soir illustré in 1979 claimed that French inventor and engineer Lucien Rosengart, who lived from 1881 to 1976, came up with the idea of the game in the 1930s to entertain his grandchildren during the long, cold winter months. Rosengart is believed to have christened the game ‘Babyfoot’.
It was not until 1937 in Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War, that Galician inventor Alejandro Finisterre patented his version of the game called ‘Futbolin’. Finisterre’s version of the game is regarded as the closest to the modern table football or foosball that is played today.

The game reached the USA in the 1950s, courtesy of Lawrence Patterson, and the game gained great popularity from the 1950s until the 1970s. It was a mainstay of pool halls and bars throughout the United States.
The word Foosball is believed to have come from German immigrants, as the German word for table football is “Tischfußball”.
Fast forward to 2002, and the International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) was created in France. The organisation is the regulatory body of the game. It is responsible for arranging international tournaments and communicating with some of the other federations of the game, such as the International Foosball Promotions, Valley International Foosball Association and the International Sports Table Football.
How are table football teams set out?

Although there can be slightly different configurations of players in table football, the most common one recognised by the ITSF is as follows:
- Goalkeeper: Who will be black or red
- Defence: Will contain two or three players, who will be black red
- Opponents attack: Will be two or three players in blue or white
- Midfield: Will be four or five players who will be red or black
- Opponent midfield: Will be four or five players in blue or white
- Attack: Can contain two or three players and will be red and black
- Opponent’s defence: Two or three players in blue or white
- Opponent’s goalkeeper: Who will be blue or white
Did you know?

It is claimed that a human player beat a robot trained to play foosball. However, the robot has also beaten several other human expert players. Meanwhile, students in Denmark and Switzerland are working on table football robots.
There are five official ITSF table brands: Bonzini, Roberto Sport, Garlando, Tornado, and Leonhart. These tables are used in the ITSF World Cup and World Championships.
A number of custom luxury tables have been created, including a 7-metre Italian visual artist, Maurizio Cattelan, which he has called ‘Stadium’.
Most European tables have just one goalkeeper, but some USA tables have three goalies.