Nikos Andreou, software engineer and Kick Off fan, joined over 30 other people in the Kick Off World Cup which was held on the 8th and 9th of November. Read his full report on the event below.
|
World Cup Report by Nikos Andreou
|
Many moons ago, some Dutch friends decided to set up a web page about their beloved game, Kick Off 2. Many people who played Kick Off 2 with passion, joined the Kick Off 2 forums including Dino Dini and Steve Screech, the men behind KO2. The site, turned out into the Kick Off Association, with more than 1250 members today.
In 2001, Steve Screech decided to organise the first official Kick Off 2 world cup. The world cup was organised in Dartford, England and was a great success. Next year, the World Cup was organised in Athens and was very successful too with people from all over Europe travelling to Greece to compete in Kick Off 2.
 This year, the world cup took place in Groningen, Holland between the 8th and 9th of November. Thirty-one contenders from all over Europe travelled again to beautiful Groningen to compete in their favourite Amiga game. People were seeded into 4 groups and played each other twice. The first four of each group went to the next round and were seeded once again in 4 groups. The first two of each group qualified to the play offs. We had the quarter finals, semi-finals and the grand final.
This year's competition was tough. It is amazing that people are improving every year and more join the event. The 2003 World Champion was Gianluca Troiano from Italy. He beat Martin Jeffrey from England in the final. Third place went to Alkis Polyrakis who beat Nikos Andreou in this Greek fight for the third place.
Next year, the event will take place in Milan, Italy. It is estimated that more people than ever before will attend the tournament. If you thought that Amiga gaming events died in the 90s, you have to think about it twice. Not only is the Kick Off 2 World Cup one of the biggest Amiga game events in Europe, it is also one of the biggest and well organised on any platform. Plans are to keep the event going as long as we have Amigas and good arcade-style joysticks.
|
|
