A Record‑Breaking Weekend: Inside the 2025 World Championships of Foosball

The 2025 World Championships of Foosball in New Orleans will be remembered less for the record‑breaking $155,000 purse than for the way it rekindled the soul of a game long relegated to rec‑rooms and dive bars. Over five days in late August, 725 players—amateurs and legends alike—packed into the Hyatt Regency’s ballroom to shoot, fake and spin their way through the biggest Tornado foosball event since the mid‑1990s. From open finals broadcast on Twitch to all‑night pick‑up games in the hotel lobby, Worlds felt like a reunion and a renaissance rolled into one.

Much of the energy came from a crop of young stars who have refused to bow to history. Canadian foosers Mario Ariganello and Kane Gabriel stunned a deep field to capture the Open Doubles title. They are the first team from Canada to win the crown and earned a $20,000 payday—no small thing in a sport whose top prizes have historically been trophies and bragging rights. On the women’s side, Isabelle Stelly and Sullivan Rue combined craft and composure to win Women’s Doubles, giving Stelly her first world title and Rue her fifth.

Yet the weekend’s defining story was about perseverance. Tommy Yore, a 26‑year‑old from Texas known for his quiet intensity, finally broke through in Open Singles. In a best‑of‑five final against perennial powerhouse Tony Spredeman, Yore held his nerve in a tense fifth game to win 5–2 and take home the $8,000 top prize. Yore’s victory, the tournament’s emotional high point, underscored how deep the men’s field has become: Yore entered Worlds ranked second overall behind Costa Rican star Brandon Munoz. 

Sullivan Rue added another chapter to her already formidable résumé by capturing her third women’s singles world title. Rue defeated perennial foosball powerhouse Hannah Bufkin. The Texan prevailed 9–7 in a deciding game, showing the same poise she displayed in doubles. Rue’s win underscored her dominance on the Tornado tour. Taken together, Yore’s and Rue’s breakthrough performances signalled a generational shift in elite foosball.

Championship Highlights

Open events

  • Open Doubles – Champions: Mario Ariganello & Kane Gabriel (Canada) – Their run through the bracket culminated in a gripping final against veterans Terry Rue & Paul Smith. With a boisterous Canadian contingent cheering from the stands, Ariganello and Gabriel overcame nerves and experience to become the first all‑Canadian pair to lift the open doubles trophy.

  • Open Singles – Champion: Tommy Yore (USA) – Yore’s five‑game win over Tony Spredeman electrified the ballroom. Spredeman, a multiple world champion, took second.

  • Open Mixed Doubles – Champions: Tommy Yore & Hannah Bufkin (USA) – In his third finals appearance of the weekend, Yore paired with Hannah Bufkin—to win their first mixed world championship. The pairing underscored the depth of U.S. talent on both sides of the bracket.

Women’s events

  • Women’s Singles – Champion: Sullivan Rue (USA) – Rue added to an already formidable resume by winning her third women’s singles world title. The final went the distance vs Hannah Bufkin, and she sealed a 9–7 victory to claim the trophy.

  • Women’s Doubles – Champions: Sullivan Rue & Isabelle Stelly (USA) – The duo’s chemistry and defensive prowess helped them avenge their runner‑up finish from 2024. The win marked Rue’s fifth women’s doubles world title and Stelly’s first.

Other divisions

The tournament schedule also included dozens of amateur, senior and junior divisions, drawing entrants ranging from first‑timers to long‑time masters.  The breadth of the event showcased foosball’s inclusivity and its appeal across generations.

Why This Tournament Mattered

A record‑breaking purse

The 2025 World Championships offered $155,000 in total prizes, the largest payout in Tornado foosball history. Top prizes in open and women’s events ranged from $8,000 for singles to $20,000 for doubles, injecting new financial legitimacy into what has long been a passion‑driven sport.

A truly international field. Players from more than twenty countries competed in New Orleans. This mix of nationalities carried over to Worlds, where Canada’s historic doubles win signalled that foosball’s elite no longer comes exclusively from the United States.

The crowd and the culture

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the 2025 championships was the atmosphere. Videos from InsideFoos and Twitch showed hundreds of spectators crowding around tables, chanting players’ names and singing along to 1990s hip‑hop between points. In interviews, veterans remarked that the weekend felt like the heyday of the sport’s television era. The hotel lobby turned into an impromptu practice hall; novices played pick‑up games with world champions, and the line between pro and fan blurred.

Looking ahead

The foos calendar shows no signs of slowing. The ITSF World Cup & World Championships were held earlier this summer in Zaragoza, Spain, with matches staged at the Prince Philip Hall in the Pabellón Príncipe Felipe. Attention now turns to a run of regional events: the 2025 Mississippi State Championships in Pearl, Mississippi (September 25–28, 2025), the Great Lakes Classic in Lansing, Michigan (October 2–5, 2025) and the Bonzini North Carolina State Championships (October 10–12, 2025). These tournaments may not match the World Championships in scale, but they offer ranking points and a chance for emerging players to gain experience.

After the record‑breaking weekend in New Orleans, the momentum is palpable. Bigger purses, larger crowds and an increasingly international roster of champions suggest that foosball’s future will be loud, global and fiercely competitive.