Make room for the younglings in Veldhoven! New challenge for Team Funbridge

For almost three decades now, the World Bridge Federation has been organizing the World Youth Teams Championships on biennial regularity. This is the largest bridge gathering for young talents. Among them, Team Funbridge will try to make a good run!

Following a global pandemic, the event has been put to sleep since 2018 but is coming back this summer for the 18^th edition. In Veldhoven, a city near the south border of the Netherlands, the federation has booked a 4-star hotel for a week to host the World Youth Teams Championship from 31 July to 7 August.

Good news: Team Funbridge is also part of the trip! 🥳

The bridge community reunited for the summer

From July 31^st to August 7^th, the bridging community will have its’s eyes glued on the “Noord-Brabant” region in the Netherlands. The best younglings aged 12 to 30 years are heading to the suburbs of Eindhoven to compete as teams on an international level. During the week, 24 teams per category will compete in the conference hall of the luxurious “Koningshof” hotel.

As part of an NBO (national bridge organization), each competitor presents himself with his team. For exceptional reasons, and because some players were deprived of representing their country in these events, the federation has decided to be more flexible regarding the age restrictions. Therefore, every team is allowed a maximum of 2 players aged 1 year older than the actual limitations. 

Bridging generations

The World Bridge Federation is investing a lot of efforts to develop their young talents. As the game evolves with the contributions of upcoming generations the federation believes in its ability to bridge cultural, linguistic, and social divides. It also closes the generational gap existing within our societies. In fact, bridge has a wide range of players competing in the tournaments. The collective aspect of the game forces them to communicate and to work together at the highest level possible.

The game and its strategies evolve with time and the WBF already recognized some changes that have occurred in the playstyles due to the explosion of online based bridge play. The organization of weekly tournaments enables young talents to play the game at a high level on a regular basis. Access to data, analysis tools and regular exposure to high level competition lead to a faster-paced game which favors quick and efficient players.

Teams from all over the world

The participants of this event are all registered on the World Bridge Federation’s rankings list and are accompanied by their national organizations. The tournament accepts NBO’s from all over the world and expects 9 different European teams, 4 Asian teams, 3 North American teams, 2 South American teams and 6 other teams from the rest of the world.

Veldhoven, the city where Dutch native player Bauke Muller won a Bermuda Bowl in 2011, is ready to welcome bridge players from all over the world to talk, play competitively and kibitz big games! Besides the heavy competition, players will have opportunities to escape the card game for a while and compete in different tournaments. From basketball to football through ping-pong, the participants will fraternize and compete against each for a whole week!

New international competition for Team Funbridge

After a successful first competition at the Strasbourg European Open in June, Team Funbrige has a lot of ambition for Veldhoven!

The team takes part in the European tournament which takes place ahead of the main competition: the 15th European Youth Team Championships from 24 to 29 July.

Stay tuned to follow the adventures of the young members of Team Funbridge in the country of windmills!

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