PORTO - The European Cup for teams has been won by the BK Varde team from Denmark. The team with Eddy Merckx (Belgium), Jean Paul de Bruijn (Holland), Dion Nelin and Allain Schröder (both Denmark) defeated FC Porto, the title holder, 6-2 at home in the final match. Although Eddy Merckx lost to Dick Jaspers in this final, De Bruijn, Nelin and Schröder pulled off the final victory. Two players of the new European Cup winner even remained unbeaten for an entire tournament: Jean Paul de Bruijn and Dion Nelin shone with 7 wins and 1 draw.
The Danes played a superior tournament and stood beaming on the podium when the Danish national anthem sounded through the FC Porto arena. The team headed by Eddy Merckx defeated Biliard Club Zurich 7-1, BC Elite Wien 8-0 and Palma 8-0 in the preliminary rounds. Thus the Danes advanced to the final groups, where first Mister 100 was defeated 8-0, Andernos held the team to 4-4 and finally Biljards Cafe was defeated 6-2. That led to the semifinals with an 8-0 win over Cues&Darts and finally a 6-2 win in the final against FC Porto.
Dick Jaspers launched the final with a run of 11 against Eddy Merckx and took a quick lead 20-2 in 7. At the other match tables the balance was sought, among others by Dion Nelin, who took Rui Costa to 23-2 in 10 innings with a fantastic start, but also Allan Schröder gave the Danes hope with a nice start against Soares (15-7 in 7). In that first part, only Jean Paul de Bruijn and Torbjörn Blomdahl were evenly matched (11-9 in 7).
That battle of ups and downs for the two teams continued in the second part. Dick Jaspers kept the margin over Merckx (26-7 in 10) and was the exemplary leader. The other three games ran Varde's side in that first phase: De Bruijn-Blomdahl 20-17 in 11, Nelin-Rui Costa 37-10 in 16 and Schröder-Soares 20-13 in 14.
Dion Nelin took the first win against Rui Costa (40-16 in 19) at high speed. All eyes were on two tables from then on. Dick Jaspers would surely equalize against Merckx (29-10, 35-14 and finally 40-21 in 20). Things ran favorably for Allan Schröder against Soares (23-14, 28-20) and everything pointed to De Bruijn-Blomdahl being decisive: intermediate scores 24-20, 29-23 for De Bruijn, until Blomdahl launched the attack with 9 and a 36-30 lead.
So the score was 2-2 in match score with those last two games close to the climax. Jean Paul de Bruijn went through the finish line first against Blomdahl (40-38 in 28) and to the delight of the Danes, Allan Schroeder also won his match against Soares in those final ultimate minutes 40-37 in 35 innings. FC Porto was dethroned, BK Varde was the new holder of the European Cup because of that 6-2.
Semifinals
Four teams from different countries came to the final day of the European Cup for teams on Sunday. The organizing FC Porto, the title holder, was paired with BC Andernos from France and the Dutch Cues&Darts faced the Danes of Varde BK.
The Danes of BK Varde established their candidacy for final victory by a generous 8-0 victory over Cues&Darts/Extreme. There was no doubt about the supremacy of Varde. Eddy Merckx made short work of Ruben Legazpi (40-27 in 16), Jean Paul de Bruijn did not give Pierre Soumagne a chance either (40-25 in 21), Dion Nelin was the better man against Huub Wilkowski (40-34 in 32) and Alan Schröder ended the match 35-30 against Joey de Kok.
The other semifinal was a demonstration of FC Porto, which handed out a hefty knockout to Andernos (8-0). The best win even came from Jose Miguel Soares, who was too strong in 15 innings for Jérôme Barbeillon (40-35, average 2.666). Torbjörn Blomdahl grabbed the win against Forthomme (40-31 in 21 and Rui Costa was boss over Maréchal 40-26 in 23. Dick Jaspers was allowed to end his match against Marco Zanetti on a score of 30-29 in 19.
The Dutch Cup winner Cues&Darts won 6-2 against Saint Quentin in the final groups on Saturday in the decisive stage by Pierre Soumagne (against Kévin Perrotin 40-16 in 19), Huub Wilkowski (40-39 against Nathan Duriez in 37 innings) and Joey de Kok, who won from Tangui Duriez 40-35 in 34.
FC Porto won on Saturday vs FBN Tekstil, which entered the arena with one player less on the last two days. The score became 6-2 due to wins by Dick Jaspers over Tayfun Tasdemir (40-18 at 13), Torbjörn Blomdahl over Berkay Karakurt and one regular win (6-2) by Jose Miguel Soares due to the absence of Gökhan Salman due to the death of his father.
Varde BK defeated Biljards Cafe thanks in part to Eddy Merckx winning against Glenn Hofman (40-25), Jean Paul de Bruijn against Emilio Sciacca (40-11 in 17) and Dion Nelin against Francesco Orlando 40-20 in 17.
BC Andernos eliminated Mister 100 5-3 in a match with three ties and only a win for Roland Forthomme against Kurt Ceulemans. Peter Ceulemans played a draw against Marco Zanetti in a tactical battle with an 11 for Ceulemans (40-40 in 33). Jerry Hermans shared the points with Gwendal Maréchal and Bart Ceulemans with Jérôme Barbeillon.
The Varde team with its mascotte Anita, Jean Paul de Bruijn's wife