When Longshore secured the rights to create Subbuteo products, Giochi Preziosi SPA continued managing the Subbuteo brand and its distribution in Italy. This arrangement lasted until around 2023/2024, when Rocco Gioccatolli became the new distributor, adding further complexity to the story and to the already confusing modern Subbuteo range. This mean Giochi Preziosi now only handles distribution in Greece, rather than both markets.

Giochi Preziosi continued the range from previous years, reverting back to the traditional base design, of which every market including Eleven Force have switched back to since Longshore took over. It seems they maintained the old ranges, including the Champions League teams, which I only discovered for sale on Francesco Manetti’s Subbuteo Village website. Before finding them, I wasn’t even aware this range was still being sold. These teams now feature the new Champions League branding, which UEFA introduced around 2024, replacing the dark blue background with a more purple hue.

Rocco Gioccatolli appears to have carried on from where the previous distributor left off, which is a relief as it means we’re not facing another full relaunch of the brand. Thank goodness for that!

One notable thing Rocco Gioccatolli has done is release a new pitch: an astroturf pitch, which hasn’t been seen in the Subbuteo range since the Waddington’s era. While it’s not the traditional astroturf, it’s still exciting to see a new product like this, especially since markets seem confident that something like this would sell. Unlike the deluxe pitch, which caters to those with limited space and a need for something that can be easily rolled out flat, this new astroturf pitch seems aimed at more serious players (although most may still opt for Extreme Works or other premium brands). Stewart Grant has reviewed and compared this new pitch, the deluxe pitch, and the original astroturf on his Subbuteo Collector YouTube channel, highlighting the differences.

In short, it’s great to see Rocco Gioccatolli releasing innovative products like this when they could have played it safe and stuck with the Deluxe pitch Released in other Markets…


Anyway back to what this website is about Teams:) The only other thing of note It looks like so far, in the Longshore era, No Licensed Clubs have been released since the Atlanta 2019/20 set… Surprising when Italy is a Massive Subbuteo Market… But that may change as Rocco Gioccatolli get further into the tenure as Distributor…

More Info here http://www.peter-upton.co.uk/longsh01.htm

Anything missed let me know THIS MODERN RANGE IS SO HARD TO PIN DOWN…