World Freshwater Angling Championships Explained

The World Freshwater Angling Championships is a freshwater angling competition. Participating countries fish in teams of five with titles awarded to the team with the fewest points, the competition area is split into sections and the winner with the most weight will be awarded one point, two for second, three for third, at the end of the two days the team with the least points is the top team. Since its inception in 1954, the competition has been staged on rivers, canals and still waters from a selected host nation. Currently (to 2021), the world championships have not been held outside of Europe.

The 68th event was held in September 2022 at Bilje, in Osijek-Baranja County, Croatia. Held at Lake Biljsko Jezero which holds prussian carp, dwarf catfish, grass carp, catfish, asp, bighead, red perch, silver bream, ide and carassius.^[1] First-time world champions were Serbia, with Italy in second place and Czech Republic in third. and the individual new world champion was Mihael Pongrac of Croatia.

The 69th World Freshwater Coarse Angling Championships was held in Mequinenza-Fayón, at the Ribarroja Dam, on the river Ebro, Spain on 9-10th September 2023.^[2] and the team event won by Serbia, for a second consecutive year, with England in second place, and France in third. The individual world championship winner was Esteve Martinez , with James Dent and Sean Ashby of England in second and third place.

The 70th World Championships was held at Béthune, Pas-de-Calais, France on 21 – 22 September 2024.^[3] First-time world champions were Croatia, with Italy in second place and France in third. The individual world championship winner was László Csillag .^[4]

Brief history

The inaugural world championship was held in West Germany in 1954 and won by team England,^[5] with the first individual title going to Gino Vigarani of Italy.^[6] In 1992, Dave Wesson, an Australian, became the only non-European to win the title.^[7] The 2020 World Freshwater Angling Championships was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[8] but resumed in 2021. The host nation have been team champions on 15 occasions, with the strongest nation at home being Italy who have won on their own waters 6 times, the others were Belgium 2, France, Luxembourg, Romania, East Germany, West Germany, England, Spain.^[7] The host nation has produced a home grown individual world champion from just 9 events of the 67 fished (one in seven).^[9]

For a video history of this major angling event, see External links at the bottom of this page.

World Championship Nations Team Results

Year	Venue and Host Country	World Champions	P/Pts	Runners-up	P/Pts	3rd Place Team	P/Pts	Reference
1954		England	50	Belgium	70	Italy	71
1955		Luxembourg	69	Belgium	71	France	74
1956		France	39	Belgium	64	Luxembourg	71
1957		Italy	23	Luxembourg	52	France	54
1958		Belgium	29	France	32	Luxembourg	86
1959		France	71	Italy	103	Switzerland	104
1960		Belgium	36	France	61	West Germany	87
1961		East Germany	44	Belgium	66	England	70
1962		Italy	21	France	27	Belgium	95
1963		France	57	Italy	77	England	80
1964	Isola dei Pescatori, Italy	France	6	Italy	9	Austria	20
1965		Romania	22	Poland	27	France	32
1966	River Thurne, Martham Ferry, England	France	8	Belgium	15	Italy	24	^[10]
1967		Belgium	12	France	17	England	25
1968		France	18	West Germany	24	Romania	25
1969	Bad Oldesloe, West Germany	Netherlands	17	Belgium	19	France	21
1970		Belgium	8	Netherlands	14	France	16
1971	Peschiera del Garda, Italy	Italy	6	Belgium	21	France	25
1972		France	12	England	24	Italy	25
1973		Belgium	10	France	16	England	26
1974	Ghent, Belgium	France	18	Italy	18	Netherlands	23
1975		France	23	England	26	Belgium	26
1976		Italy	7	Bulgaria	20	Austria	27
1977	Ehnen, Luxembourg	Luxembourg	16	Belgium	18	France	19
1978		France	14	Italy	19	Czechoslovakia	24
1979		France	14	Netherlands	16	Portugal	25
1980	Mannheim, West Germany	West Germany	7	England	23	Belgium	24
1981	Luddington, England	France	25	England	31	Wales	37
1982		Netherlands	20	France	25	England	26
1983	Amersfoort, Netherlands	Belgium	9	England	14	Netherlands	24
1984		Luxembourg	28	England	28	Belgium	40
1985	Florence, Italy	England	16	Italy	17	Belgium	25
1986	Strasbourg, France	Italy	27	West Germany	35	Austria	40
1987		England	9	Italy	18	Austria	40
1988		England	50	Italy	50	France	58
1989		Wales	48	Italy	68	England	83
1990		France	60	England	89	Italy	89
1991		England	44	France	48	Italy	51
1992		Italy	94	France	87	Channel islands	120
1993		Italy	49	France	68	Austria	76
1994	Nottingham, England	England	92	France	96	Italy	117
1995		France	23	Belgium	45	Italy	59
1996	Peschiera del Garda, Italy	Italy	36	England	63	Austria	72
1997		Italy	56.5	England	70	France	72
1998		England	61	France	84	Italy	89
1999	Toledo, Spain	Spain	34	Italy	40	England	52
2000	Firenze, Italy	Italy	37	England	59.5	Hungary	89.5
2001	Paris, France	England	68	France	72	Italy	87
2002	Coimbra, Portugal	Spain	52.5	Portugal	55.5	Belgium	74
2003		Hungary	55	Poland	93.5	France	102.5
2004	Willebroek, Belgium	France	70	England	71	Hungary	79
2005	Lappeenranta, Finland	England	64	Belgium	76	Hungary	77
2006	Rio Mondego, Portugal	England	61	Italy	85	Hungary	101
2007	Lake Velence, Hungary	Italy	57	Belgium	78	Hungary	86.5
2008	Spinadesco Canal, Italy	England	74	San Marino	104	Italy	109
2009	Lage Vaart Canal, Netherlands	Slovakia	39	France	40	Belgium	41
2010	Ciudad Real, Spain?	England	40	Italy	42.5	Netherlands	51
2011		Italy	21	Hungary	27	Belgium	33		-	2012		Poland	32	Czech Republic	44	France	47	^[11]
2013		England	22	France	33	Poland	39	^[12]
2014		Netherlands	38	Hungary	40.5	Serbia	45	^[13]
2015		Italy	37	Czech Republic	42	England	46.5
2016		Hungary	34	Czech Republic	42	England	46	^[14] ^[15]
2017		Belgium	18	England	21	France	24.5	^[16] ^[17]
2018		Germany	46	Hungary	52	Belgium	61	^[18]
2019		France	20	Italy	26	Hungary	32	^[19]
2020		–	–	–	–	–	–
2021	Peschiera del Garda, Italy	Italy	75	Czech Republic	86.5	England	89	^[20] ^[21]
2022		Serbia	31.5	Italy	42	Czech Republic	47	^[22]
2023		Serbia	45	England	54	France	70	^[23]
2024		Croatia	31	Italy	40	France	43

World Championship Individual results

Year	Venue and Host Country	Individual World Champion	Individual Runner-Up	Individual 3rd Place	Reference
1954		Gino Vigarani	F Fugazza	H Andef
1955		M Mailly	Dufeys	Ducret
1956		F Cerfontaine	G Dubuc	Robert Tesse
1957		Giulio Mandelli	G De Angellis	F Fugazza
1958		J Garroit	F Cerfontaine	A Negrignat
1959		Robert Tesse	G De Angelli	S Knapen
1960		Robert Tesse	F Cerfontaine	F Swinnen
1961		R Le Gouge	F Schmidt	Robert Tesse
1962		R Tedesco	J Fontanet	M Vanelli
1963			Robert Tesse	M Vanelli
1964	Isola dei Pescatori, Italy	J Fontanet	P Despres	Robert Tesse
1965		Robert Tesse	L Seppi	C Burch
1966		Henri Guiheneuf	P Baudot	C Roelandt
1967		J Isenbaert	K Handt	G Detry
1968		G Grebenstein	I Pana	V Sherwood
1969	Bad Oldesloe, West Germany	Robin Harris	J Leyrer	J Vermeulen
1970		M Van Den Eynde	P Michiels	P Paquet
1971	Peschiera del Garda, Italy	Dino Bassi	A Alfieri	E Zimmer
1972		RJE Levels	A Thommas	Jacques Tesse
1973		P Michiels	M Van Den Eynde	G Herbert
1974	Ghent, Belgium	A Richter	Mendez Gomez	Jean Pierre Fougeat
1975		Ian Heaps	Jacques Tesse	G De Bagi	^[24]
1976		Dino Bassi	Ivan Marks	F Pasinetti
1977	Ehnen, Luxembourg	J Mainil	Poth	J Quinet
1978		Jean Pierre Fougeat	Roberto Trabucco	N Birnbaum
1979		G Heulard	T Eikhout	H Durozier
1980	Mannheim, West Germany	Rudgher Kremkus	O Wessel	Roberto Trabucco
1981	Luddington, England	David Thomas	V Santos	S Lecocq
1982		Kevin Ashurst	M Thill	F Bartolas
1983	Amersfoort, Netherlands	Rudgher Kremkus	J Kohn	P Van Gool
1984		Bobby Smithers	R Stevens	BJ Brouwer
1985	Florence, Italy	David Roper	Roberto Trabucco	P David
1986	Strasbourg, France	L Wever		R Van Neer
1987			Kevin Ashurst	D White
1988		Jean Pierre Fougeat	S Gardner	E Colombo
1989		Tom Pickering	F Casini	R Benton
1990		Bob Nudd	Kevin Ashurst	R Koenig
1991			Kevin Ashurst	J Van Schendel
1992		Dave Wesson	C Guicciardi	M Thill
1993		M Barros	J Savelhoul	B Bodineau
1994	Nottingham, England		R Stronck	JJ Chaumet
1995		P Jean	J Wilmart	J Desque
1996	Peschiera del Garda, Italy		C Guicciardi	E Colombo
1997			Gianluigi Sorti	K Milson
1998			P Carroyer	M Barros
1999	Toledo, Spain	Bob Nudd	J Rodriguez Blasco	R Xarez
2000	Firenze, Italy	Jacopo Falsini	Will Raison	Jean Pierre Fougeat
2001	Paris, France	Umberto Ballabeni	P Lorenc	D Da Silva
2002	Coimbra, Portugal	J Rodriguez Blasco	J Duran	S Conroy
2003			K Schater	R Bednarski
2004	Willebroek, Belgium	Tamás Walter	E van der Hoogan	T Ambrus
2005	Finland	Guido Nullens	Stephane Pottelet	Will Raison
2006	Rio Mondego, Portugal	Tamás Walter	Ivan Biordi	Sean Ashby
2007	Lake Velence, Hungary		N. Gavrobiks	Lee Edwards
2008	Spinadesco Canal, Italy	Will Raison	W Wheeler	Steve Gardner
2009	Lage Vaart Canal, Netherlands	Igor Potapov	Will Raison	Simon Jensen
2010	Ciudad Real, Spain	Frank Meis	Cathal Hughes	Rumen Vitkov
2011		Andrea Fini	Peter Milkovics	Ferruccio Gabba
2012		Sean Ashby	Sergey Fedorov	Stephane Pottelet
2013		Didier Delannoy	Steve Hemmingway
2014		Goran Radovic	Stefan Altena	Arjan Klop
2015		Yuri Siptsov	Tamás Walter
2016		Jernej Ambrozic	Josef Konopasek	Rastislav Dudr	^[25]
2017		Luc Thijs	Stephane Linder	Geoffrey Duquensne	^[26]
2018		Johannes Böhm	Eric Di Venti	Ralf Herdlitschke	^[27]
2019		Alan Perko	Alexandre Caudin	Maxime Duchesne
2020		–	–	–
2021		Goran Radovic	Imre Szákovics	Petr Klásek
2022		Mihael Pongrac	Mitja Kmetec	Balázs Csöregl	^[28]
2023		Esteve Martinez	James Dent	Sean Ashby	^[29]
2024		László Csillag	Wiktor Walczak	Matija Krajevać

Roll of Honour

Team competition : France 16, Italy 14, England 13, Belgium 7, Netherlands 3, Luxemburg 3, Germany 3, Spain 2, Hungary 2, Serbia 2, Wales 1, Poland 1, Romania 1, Slovakia 1, Croatia 1

Team medal table

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Medals
France	016	014	014	044
Italy	014	015	010	039
England	013	013	010	036
Belgium	07	012	09	028
Netherlands	03	02	03	08
Luxembourg	03	01	02	06
Hungary	02	02	06	10
Germany	2	2	1	5
Serbia	02	00	01	03
Spain	02	00	00	02
Poland	01	02	01	04
Wales	01	00	01	02
Romania	01	00	01	02
East Germany	01	00	00	01
Slovakia	01	00	00	01
Croatia	01	00	00	1
Czech Republic	00	04	2	6
Portugal	00	01	01	02
Bulgaria	00	01	00	01
San Marino	00	01	00	01
Austria	00	00	06	06
Switzerland	00	00	01	01
Channel Islands	00	00	01	01
Total	70	70	70	210

External links

• Video of 49th World coarse angling championships in N.Ireland 1992
• Video of 51st World coarse angling championships in Belgium 2004
• Video of 56th World coarse angling championships in Netherlands 2009
• Video of 57th World coarse angling championships in Spain 2010
• Video of 58th World coarse angling championships in Italy 2011
• Video of 59th World coarse angling championships in Czech 2012
• Video of 60th World coarse angling championships in Poland 2013
• Video of 61st World coarse angling championships in Croatia 2014
• Video of 62nd World coarse angling championships in Slovenia 2015
• Video of 63rd World coarse angling championships in Bulgaria 2016
• Video of 64th World coarse angling championships in Belgium 2017
• Video of 65th World coarse angling championships in Portugal 2018
• Video of 66th World coarse angling championships in Serbia 2019
• Video of 67th World coarse angling championships in Italy 2021

See main article: world championships.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 68th Coarse Angling World Championship for nations - Croatia 2022 . zsrubaranje.hr . 2022.
2. Web site: 69th Coarse Angling for Nations World Championship Spain 2023 Mequinenza-Fayón 09-10 September 2023 . fips-ed.com . 2023.
3. Web site: FIPSed 70th Coarse Angling Nations World Championship - Béthune, France . anglingtrust.net . 21 February 2024.
4. Web site: 70th Coarse Angling World Championship for Nations - Canal D'Aire a la Bassée Béthune . fips-ed.com . 22 September 2024.
5. Web site: World Freshwater Angling Championships Tables . angling-news.co.uk . January 16, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20160324095611/http://www.angling-news.co.uk/Angling_News_Weekly-WorldChampionshipTables.htm. 2016-03-24 . usurped.
6. Web site: Special Shot Fishing, The World Cup in Figures . gpofishing.it . September 7, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210005/http://www.gpofishing.it/dblog/stampa.asp?articolo=286 . 3 March 2016 . dead.
7. Web site: World Freshwater Angling Championships Tables . angling-news.co.uk . January 15, 2022.
8. Web site: The FIPS-M has decided to postpone all the Championships from 2020 until Autumn 2021 . fips-m.org . January 14, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220114053138/https://www.fips-m.org/ . 14 January 2022 . dead.
9. Web site: Coup Nations M Fra 2019 . FIPS-ED . 2019. January 17, 2022.
10. Web site: 1966 and all that . canalrivertrust.org.uk . April 18, 2017.
11. Web site: Gold for England's Sean Ashby in 2012 World Angling Championships . https://web.archive.org/web/20171228171848/http://www.anglersmail.co.uk/uncategorized/gold-for-englands-sean-ashby-in-2012-world-angling-championships-29091 . dead . December 28, 2017 . anglersmail.co.uk . 2012 .
12. Web site: World Angling Championships 2013 . anglersmail.co.uk . 17 September 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131102033416/http://www.anglersmail.co.uk/match-results/world-angling-championships-2013-overall-win-for-drennan-team-england/ . 2 November 2013 . dead.
13. Web site: World Angling Championships 2014 . anglersmail.co.uk . 14 September 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160308120113/http://www.anglersmail.co.uk/match-results/world-angling-championships-2014-results-51450 . 8 March 2016 . dead.
14. Web site: 63rd Coarse Angling World Championship for Nations - Team Final Ranking 2016 . Facebook . 2016 .
15. Web site: 63rd Coarse Angling World Championship for Nations - Team Winners 2016 . Facebook . 2016 .
16. Web site: Belgium's Anglers win gold at World Championship . Brussels Times . 2017 .
17. Web site: 64th Coarse Angling World Championship for Nations - Team Final Ranking 2017 . Facebook . 2017 .
18. Web site: 65th Coarse Angling World Championship Team Final Ranking 2018 . Facebook . 2018 .
19. Web site: Team England finishes in 5th Place in the 66th FIPSed Nations World Championship 2019 . anglingtrust.net . September 10, 2019.
20. Web site: 67th Nations Coarse angling World Championship 2021 . facebook . September 12, 2021 .
21. Web site: 67th Nations Coarse angling World Championship 2021 Team Result . kirchberg.neumann.lu . September 12, 2021 .
22. Web site: 68th Nations Coarse Angling World Championship 2022 Final team Rankings . facebook . September 11, 2022.
23. Web site: 69th Nations Coarse Angling World Championship for Nations 2023 Final team Rankings . facebook . September 11, 2023.
24. Web site: September 7, 1975 in on the Bydgoszcz Canal between Okole and Osowa Góra locks . facebook.com . June 5, 2021.
25. Web site: 63rd Coarse Angling World Championship Individual Final Ranking 2016 . Facebook . 2016 .
26. Web site: 64th Coarse Angling World Championship Individual Final Ranking 2017 . Facebook . 2017 .
27. Web site: 65th Coarse Angling World Championship Individual Final Rankings 2018 . Facebook . 2018 .
28. Web site: 68th Coarse Angling World Championship Individual Final Rankings 2022 . Facebook . 11 September 2022 .
29. Web site: 69th Coarse Angling World Championship Individual Final Rankings 2023 . Facebook . 11 September 2023.