ITHF table hockey is a sport played on table hockey games. International Table Hockey Federation (ITHF) is an organization that oversees these competitions. The origin of the sport was the Swedish Championship 1982 in Upplands Väsby. Organized table hockey is played in northern, central and eastern Europe, in North America, but table hockey is also played in South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia. The World Championship is organized by the ITHF every two years. The models, produced by Stiga, are the official game for competitions. Sweden has dominated the table hockey scene from the beginning and a couple of years into the new millennium. Until the Finnish gold in Riga 2005, Sweden had won all Team World Championships, until 2006 only Swedes had won the Open Swedish Masters, and until 2007 all individual world champions were Swedes. But the new generation of players comes from Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Latvia, Canada, Denmark, the United States, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and Lithuania, and its current world champion is Yanis Galuzo from Russia. However, from December 2013 until 2021 Maxim Borisov from Russia had been ranked #1 in the world. In 2021 national team competition Latvia was the winner. Since the sport expands quickly in many countries, the table hockey map may have to be redrawn within a couple of years when nations other than the big eight (Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine) produce new talents. History First table hockey games were made during the 1930s in Sweden and Canada. Naturally there was no plastic, so they were made from sheet metal. The use of plastic brought an expansion of table hockey. The Swedish company Stiga started to make hockey tables in the late 1950s. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Swedish players, table hockey expanded to the rest of the world. Big worldwide development arrived in the late 1990s. That led to an idea founding an international federation. ITHF was established during the World Championship 2005 in Riga, Latvia. Now it associates 21 national federation. Especially in Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Latvia, table hockey is quite popular. But it is growing in lots of countries and there are many tournaments played every week. Game rules These are the most important rules. Whole rules. Game model and preparation Stiga games must be used. Goal cups must be removed. Games must be