Summer Tour Preview: Open

Written By Felix Nemec

The open division is missing the Top 3 and also some notable mentions that will have to sit back and watch the tournament unfold. Cotarica Grandes from Rimini, Grut from Amsterdam, Tchac from Pornichet and Iznogood from Paris will know only on August 19th if they are qualified for the EUCF. Here is the ranking evolution from June 26th to July 15th

 

It will be especially interesting to see if we get teams outside of the current top 16 to snatch a wild card and disrupt the field. 

You can see all the current rankings here: https://ranking.ultimatefederation.eu 

MALMÖ-SWE 

3rd and 4th of August with 8 teams in attendance:

  • Ranelagh (7) 

  • KFK (25) 

  • Freezzz Beezzz (31) 

  • KFUM Örebro (34) 

  • Hardfisch (38) 

  • Otso (45) 

  • Aarhus (48) 

  • PirU (no ranking)

Two pools of 4 start with round-robin and go directly into the knockout bracket. 

Coming here might have been a smart move from Irish Ranelagh (Dublin), who traveled a bit further but seemed to be the team to beat at this tourney. KFK from Copenhagen should be their opponents in the final, although Otso from Espoo in Finland has a strong history in the EUCS. They could certainly play spoiler to both teams and sneak away with the wild card. Or can this year’s Open iteration of an Örebrö who usually competes in Mixed breakout and go wild?

CHAMBÉRY-FRA 

17th and 18th of August with 6 teams in attendance:

  • One Tribe (6) 

  • Jetset (15) 

  • Quijotes (16) 

  • Monkey (29) 

  • Flying Angels Bern(32) 

  • Black Birds (no ranking)

This tourney will have a round-robin and then a placement game for 1st, 3rd and 5th place. It will be interesting to see if One Tribe, the ‘other’ club from Bologna, will live up to expectations in this small tournament. Jetset from Leuven and Quijotes from Madrid aren’t safe yet at spots 15th and 16th, and only a big win over One Tribe could secure them the points they need. And what if both win against the Italians and then compete for the wild card? Or can the new young FAB team bring the good times back for the club from Bern? This tournament packs a lot of exciting matchups to get into the EUCF - on paper, all of the already-ranked teams have a decent chance to bring their A-game and get that wild card. 

HEILBRONN-GER 

17th and 18th of August with 9 teams in attendance:

  • Wall City (4) 

  • Gentle (5) 

  • Bad Skid (14) 

  • Heidees (20) 

  • FrankN (21) 

  • 7 Schwaben (22) 

  • Panthers Bern (26) 

  • Freespeed (42) 

  • Ars Ludendi (no ranking)

With nine teams, the tournament starts with three pools of three. After the initial round-robin phase, the first and second-placed teams will go into power pools, with the third-placed teams only playing for consolation points. The first and second-placed teams in the power pools will go into the Bracket of the top four. 

Wall City (Berlin) and Gentle (Ghent) have had good results over the last couple of years, are the highest in the ranking and should be the clear finalists here. Home team Bad Skid is probably calculating to channel their energy and win the tournament. While Wall City and Gentle are sitting on a bit of a buffer, Heidees from Heidelberg, with a third place at EUCF 2022, cannot be counted out either. Both Swiss teams, Panthers from Bern and Freespeed from Basel, have been to EUCF, but their 2024 performance doesn’t make them a real contender for qualifying.

LEICESTER-GBR 

17th and 18th of August with 9 teams in attendance:

  • Chevron Action Flash (10) 

  • XVI (12) 

  • Bristol (18) 

  • Alba (23) 

  • SMOG (24) 

  • Smash’D (37) 

  • Ka-Pow! (44) 

  • Rebel (no ranking) 

  • Dublin Frisbee 7’s (no ranking)

Leicester is played similarly to Heilbronn, starting with three pools of three and then going into power pools to determine the bracket for the top four. 

This tournament is Chevron’s (Water Orton) to lose. After winning the UK Nationals in ‘23 and coming in second this year, they have always placed high during EUCF. This 10th rank might be misrepresenting what they can bring to the pitch. Their biggest rival in Leicester is probably XVI from Dublin. The promising teams like Bristol (who won over LaFotta during Tom’s Tourney) and Scottish Alba - usually a quarters’ team at EUCF - have to get good results to punch their tickets to the Finals, so they will go all out. Watch out for wild semis here in Leicester!

TRNAVA-SVK 

17th and 18th of August with 8 teams in attendance:

  • 3SB (8) 

  • Catchup (19) 

  • Outsiterz (27) 

  • Terrible Monkeys (28) 

  • Uprising (40) 

  • Panthers Wroclaw (41) 

  • FWD>> (43) 

  • Armada (47)

Two pools of 4 start with round-robin and go directly into the knockout bracket. 

As a whole, the results of this tournament should not be too surprising. 3SB (České Budějovice) looks comfortable in their 8th spot, while Outsiterz (Bratislava), Terrible  Monkeys (Prague) and Catchup (Graz) are all reaching to take their wild card. Catchup took the win over 3SB, where they split up their roster into two teams) during Vienna Spring Break. Uprising (Poznan), Panthers (Wroclaw), FWD>> (Vienna) and Armada (Brussel) need to take as many points from their opponents as possible to improve their ranking, no slips allowed.

Felix Nemec
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