He added that the hall included, in addition to billiard tables and gaming machines, two table football tables. He would watch the older guys play for hours, enthralled by a game that allowed a player to outmaneuver an opponent standing a short distance away, and then celebrate in front of him.
He continued: “You needed 20 pennies, or piasters in the Lebanese currency, to play: 10 for the table and 10 for the winner. Money was scarce, so I made an agreement with the owner of the place: I would clean the tables in exchange for playing for free. With the sound of machine guns on the nearby touchline, which divided East and West Beirut, I would put a towel in the goal and practice until I became confident in my ability to play. By the following summer, I was winning ten games in a row.”
The report indicated that he left Lebanon in 1986, as the war continued, and moved with his British wife to live in Manchester. They had a son and a daughter, and they set a game table in the kitchen of the house. Table football remained just a hobby until 2004, when he bought a table for the customers of the casino he was managing, and placed a sign on it that read: “Beat the boss.” The weekly challenge attracted 30 players, but he always won.
One day, a man named Khaled Sharif entered and said to him: “I am ranked first in Britain in table football, and I have heard about you.” They played together, and the match ended in a 10-0 victory. The following week, Khaled returned, accompanied by members of the British Table Football Association. He won again, so they asked him to join their team.
The report said that the game was organized and included hundreds of players, in addition to tournaments outside Britain, financial prizes, and a World Cup. At this level, matches were played with teams of two people, a striker and a goalkeeper, instead of the individual confrontations he was accustomed to. He formed a team with Khaled, and he took charge of the attack, while the latter played as goalkeeper.
In 2012, after he left working in casinos and opened a Lebanese restaurant called “Zaytoun” in Manchester, the British national team invited him to participate as a reserve in the World Cup in Hamburg. More than 35 countries participated in the tournament, inside a huge hall that included 200 tables and large screens, in addition to teams for juniors, women, men and the elderly.
In 2018, he participated in the International Table Football Federation World Championship in Austria. His team faced Germany in the final, before deciding the confrontation on penalties and winning the gold medal.
A year later, the team participated in the World Cup in the Spanish city of Murcia. It overcame Portugal, then faced the United States, the 20-time world champion and one of the leading candidates alongside Germany, in the quarter-finals.
He added: “We were the weaker party, but the entire hall encouraged us. The confrontation system consisted of ten matches, each with four points. We won all forty points. The feeling was amazing.”
In the semi-finals, the team tied with the Netherlands 39-39, before scoring the final point and reaching the final to face Germany again. The British team lost 40-24, but finished the tournament in second place in the world and won the silver medal.
The report pointed out that table football took him to several cities and countries, including Las Vegas, Rome, and Germany, and gave him friends and opponents from all over the world. Khaled Sharif is still his closest friend, while his son George travels with him to participate in tournaments and plays as a goalkeeper.
He concluded by saying: “I still run my restaurant and display my medals inside it. I am now preparing for the next World Cup in 2028. I imagine the matches while cooking, memorize playing patterns, and re-watch competitors’ recordings when I cannot sleep. The game plan is essential in table football, and in the next World Cup I want gold.”
