2016 World Cup Veterans

RUSSIAN Veterans team wins Seniors World Cup title in Spain!

It is a simple fact of the matter that every athlete is bound to go through an age-related decline that eventually robs them of their physical skills to some degree. For some, a lifetime of devotion to fitness helps to delay these effects, while others experience a rapid unraveling thanks to the impact of Father Time. When an athlete is able to continue to compete at the highest of levels in spite of their age, it is undeniably impressive and is certainly worth appreciating.

In some sports, however, it is easier to hang on despite aging, like in paintball. These guys who all played for a long time really had to be focused and motivated to continue to perform at a high level... despite they all want to believe that they can remain world-class athletes well past their prime, winning by being alone on the field against 3-4 opponents in their star games and gaining the final point.

Some people can actually stay in shape for decades – and on stages much bigger than local tournaments. This year in Spain we were lucky to see the most impressive veteran athletes still playing today. 

The Veterans (40+) European Championship is an annual event - the Season opener, holding regularly during the first Millennium Series event. But this time the level was much higher! For the first time in a paintball history, it was the WORLD CUP Veternas for players aged 40 and older. As usual, in order to be one of the many active participants, players must fulfill the criteria set by the National Federations (Associations).

There were 10 National teams this year in Spain. Probably because of the location, European Continent was the most represented.

Sporting events are home to the most frequent public displays of patriotism, with National anthem performances taking place before the games start. But this year our programm has been sufficiently corrected by the severe weather conditions. Because of the strong wind we had to cut the Opening ceremony out of the programm entirely. There was a big time delay with games on the CPL and SPL fields, so the World Cup finals were held in a darkness with artificial light.

How it played out

This year we missed French Veterans on the field, one of the strongest Veterans teams in Europe. Despite that it was a very good possibility for other teams to win the World Champion title! They started their preliminaries in 2 groups and based on the results 2 top teams from each group went straight to Semi-Finals. The result of prelims was more or less predictable, except that Norway was beaten out by Sweden. So in the semis were: Great Britain and Latvia from group A, against Russia and Sweden from Group B.

In semis Latvian Veterans did not give a chance to Swedish guys to get gold (but were then beaten in the final by Russians), with a 4-2 victory proving enough to see Latvia celebrating silverware for the first time. According to Captain Viesturs Sterns, it wasn`t easy for them, the game schedule with 3 games in the row was pretty tough, they are not 18 any more... plus they were disappointed about cancelling of the Opening ceremony. And the hassle with Spanish law regarding the paintball markers was really annoying. But in general it was a wonderful experience, so they are looking forward to the next year.

We would like to congratulate all the participants, the National Teams and all the National Federations that were involved in the organization. Thanks must go to the Euroref guys for all their hard work, and those who helped to produce the very best paintball atmospheres – the spectators! And also we are grateful to Millennium Series for their help in organisation of such wonderful event!

INVITATION LETTER (download PDF format)

ACCREDITATION FORM (download PDF format)

TOURNAMENT REGULATIONS

Participants: Players aged 40 and older. 
Age limit: 1976 and earlier.
Teams limit: 8 teams. If registered more then 8, the qualification system will be applied.
Format: Race to 4.
Roster: 12 players (only 10 per game allowed).
Qualification system: Direct Elimination. 2 games Minimum. Teams which will lose their first game, will have to play a 2nd game for ranking purpose for 2016.

The European Referee organization Euroref will provide referees for this event. 

EVENT REGISTRATION FEE: 750 EUR

NATIONAL JERSEYS

All the players of each National team should wear jerseys, designed in National colours. Jerseys of each National team`s player should be the same design.