Frédéric Collignon

The Belgian Frédéric Collignon (born December 13, 1975 ) has been the world's most successful table football player since the beginning of the 21st century. During his playing days, Collignon won over a hundred world championship titles on all the important tables.

Family and first successes

Frédéric Collignon was born into a family who were already enthusiastic about table football . His first coach and active supporter of his career was his father Francis Collignon, also a table football player in the master class and winner of the Belgian championship in open doubles in 1975 and 1977. His mother was also a passionate player, so Frédéric accompanied his parents to tournaments from childhood.

Frédéric Collignon played his first tournament at the age of 11, and regular participation in competitions began in 1991 at the age of 15. This year he won the Belgian championships in his age group for the first time. Between 1994 and 2004, father and son competed in regional tournaments in the double formation, significant victories of the father-son formation are among others. a. winning the European Championships in Borgloon (Belgium) in 1999 and 2002–2004; the Dutch Open and the Eurosoccer Open in 2004. Frédéric also celebrated successes within the family in mixed doubles with his girlfriend Ingrid Hauben. In 2006 the couple won three top category tournaments: The Bonzini World Championship in France; the P4P World Championship (Lehmacher) in Germany and the Garlando Championship in Austria. In 1997 Francis Collignon and Maurice Hauben - father of girlfriend Ingrid and long-time president of the Belgian table football association - won the senior doubles of the Belgian championship.

International career

In view of the major tournaments financed mainly by the producers of the gaming tables and the game systems that are dismantled as a result, but above all because of the marginal public interest compared to other sports and the resulting limited income opportunities in table football, Frédéric Collignon is one of the few truly international players. Its dominance at both the major European tournaments and the much higher endowed major tournaments in the USA should be emphasized. The higher prize money and the extensive concentration of American players on only one type of table (tornado) mean that significantly more European players are represented at American tournaments than the other way around. These circumstances create both advantages (travel finance, flexibility) and disadvantages (lack of specialization) for Collignon's special position.

United States

His reputation as the world's best player, which is also recognized in the USA, earned him above all his legendary successes at the most important tournament in the world, the World Championships organized annually by the American Table Football Association (USTSA) with prize money (total) of over 100,000 US dollars $. In the history of this tournament, apart from Steve Murray in 1987, no other player was able to achieve a so-called triple victory - i.e. H. Collignon achieved successes in singles, doubles and mixed doubles - five times in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2012. From 1996 to the present day, Collignon has a total of 20 individual titles in this tournament, which is considered a true world championship among players. At the second most important American tournament, the Hall of Fame Classic , Collignon won 9 out of 17 competitions from 2003 to 2009 and took second place 3 times.

Europe

In recent years as well as in the recent past, Collignon has dominated the European tournaments in an unprecedented way, as a look at the successes of the 2006 tournament series shows: He secured himself as well as with at the Garlando World Championship in Austria (July 2006) the partners Allalou, Hauben, Metten and Sebesta the titles in 6 categories, at the P4P World Championship held in Göppingen and the European Championship held in Borgloon (both June 2006) 5 titles each and the Bonzini World Championship held in Paris (May 2006) 4 titles . In 2007 Collignon won all 5 worldwide tournaments of the ITSF World Championship Series on Bonzini, Tecball, Roberto Sport, Garlando and Tornado, and in 2008 he also won all disciplines in Paris (Bonzini).

At the world championships of the ITSF tables in the USA (Tornado), France (Bonzini), Germany (Tecball), Austria (Garlando) and in Italy and Switzerland (Roberto Sport), Collignon won 27 out of 34 in open singles from 2004 to 2012 Titles. The ITSF World Championship in Nantes in January 2010 marked a slight turning point in Collignon's previously unbroken dominance in multi-table tournaments. So the double Collignon / Dehoest had to admit defeat to the Americans Gummeson / McMillian in the final. In the individual finals, Collignon was also defeated by Ryan Moore, number two in the world. In the following two years, however, he again won 2 singles, a double and in 2012 the team title with the Belgian team.

At the internationally very strong P4P World Championship in June 2010, Collignon lost his participation in the Nations Cup, but also won - often after falling behind - in all 5 disciplines. In the period from 2002 to 2012, Collignon participated in 36 P4P tournaments. In this tournament series with the most participants in the world, he competed 127 times in valuation disciplines, of which he won all but four.

Style and strengths

The most important requirement for Collignon's universal playing strength is seen in its high adaptability to different tables. According to his own statement, he has won important tournaments on 10 different basic types so far. The fact that he succeeded in using his most effective shot, the pin-shot that was very common in Europe but largely unknown in the USA until a few years ago, on the American tornado caused a particular stir. Although this technique is much more difficult to use there than on European soccer tables, some American top players followed Collignon's example and switched to this technique. Here, too, it must remain open for the time being whether it is the advantage of the technique, which is easier to learn on European tables, but fundamentally superior, or Collignon's unique ability to transfer this technique to the tornado at the highest level. The fact that to this day no American elite player has played the pin-shot speaks for Collignon's exceptional talent. Its adaptability to different tables continues within the game. In contrast to many players in the master class who specialize in individual shot and passing techniques, Collignon is a universalist here too and has mastered practically all shots and combinations at the highest level. Until 2009, however, he did not play the so-called jet at all. Now Collignon uses it in preliminary round matches or against supposedly weaker opponents. In addition to a very fast "middle row" - here he combines the "brush" on the offensive with very hard edge passes - his ability to anticipate his opponents' moves and forms of defense to an unusually sure degree and to his own advantage is a particular strength to use. This ability is particularly evident in comparatively reduced, but extremely effective movements in defense. In the attack, Collignon varied spontaneous combinations starting from the middle of the field with dribbling over the entire width of the goal, characterized by tempo changes. It is often concluded by actively "opening" small gaps after deceiving very hard. The frequency and precision of goals that are achieved diagonally by defensive positions that are inactive for a short time should also be unique worldwide. His successes in the individual, especially in the category "Goalie War" distinguish him as one of the best defenders in the world in addition to his dominance in attack. Collignon's superior game is supported by permanently inconspicuous facial expressions and body language. In direct comparison to other elite players, his ability to bring blocked and other balls that have gotten "out of control" under control on his part also emerges. Another advantage of Collignon over other players is attributed to his mental strength, which allows him to increase his concentration and skill level in match ball situations or to turn backlogs into victories. Other observers, however, see this ability rather on the secure awareness of a performance potential that is rarely fully used even in high-class encounters. As a basis for all these skills, insiders pointed to a very high training volume, especially in the advancement years. Finally, it should not go unmentioned that, due to its exceptional position, Collignon has been able to fall back on the world's best partners in doubles and mixed doubles in recent years for mutual benefit. In addition to his girlfriend Ingrid Hauben, these were above all the Italian Arturo Carletta, the German Jamal Allalou and Sandra Ranff and the Americans Todd Loffredo and Cindy Head.

Rankings

The international dominance of Collignon and his ability to adapt to different tables could be read for years by looking at the final ranking of the International Table Football Association (ITSF). In the 2008 season, for example, he collected 960 points in the open individual competition, more than double that of second-placed Pavol Kovacik (455). Also in the open doubles he was leading with 980 points ahead of Robert Atha with 690 points (as of November 2008). He was also able to underpin his reputation as the world's best player at the final tournaments of the ITSF series by winning this competition, which was played on different tables for the last four years in a row. In the American computer rating of the website foosworld.com in 2008, Collignon was just behind the best player Billy Pappas in 2nd place. The next non-American is the Briton Robert Atha in 14th place. The German P4P individual ranking (Elo rating) is led by Collignon with the record number of 4043 points ahead of the second-placed German Marc Balic with 3146 points.

End of career

In 2012 there was a sharp decrease in Collignon's tournament participation. In addition to the Garlando WCS (Austria), the Tornado World`s in September 2012, where Collignon won all three main disciplines, was an exception. The following day he posted the one-liner "That's it, i guess ..." on his Facebook page. This sentence was often interpreted as the official end of his career. In December 2012, Collignon confirmed in an interview on francebabyfoot.com that he had left table football behind with 90 percent certainty. He cited a lack of goals and more time for himself and his family as reasons.

comeback

After a year without participating in a tournament, Collignon entered the European Champions Cup of the Champions League in table football in September 2013 with his team KMTV Hasselt and Leonhart WCS in Medebach. In addition to the valuation disciplines OE and OD, he also won the pro doubles with Billy Pappas, the mixed with Sandra Ranff as well as all games of the qualifications and the Nations Cup and he won the ECC after losing the first edition in 2012 with a loss to the KGB Hannover in Finale had ended. It is speculated that this was the reason for this comeback.

German Championships in Bonn on October 25, 2013:

1st place: Open doubles 1st place: Pro DYP 1st place: Mixed 1st place: Open singles

In 2018 he took part in the P4P World Championship in Berlin and after 5 years of absence showed his dominance at P4P. He won the individual without a single defeat during the entire tournament. He also won the doubles with partner Sandro Aeberhard.

Web links

• Interview with Frédéric Collignon
• Detailed list of tournaments ( Memento from August 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
• Player portrait

World Championship P4P in Berlin 2018