From the Editor
A Historical Perspective of the World Cup
Raise your hand if you know the year and location of the very first Paintball World Cup . For many of you the first World Cup was held before you were born . The year was 1990 and the location was Survival New York ’ s paintball field just outside of Newburgh , New York , about 70 miles straight north of midtown Manhattan , NYC . And yes , I was there .
I count myself amazingly fortunate to have attended every World Cup since its inception 34 years ago . The amount of paintball history that has happened at these World Cups is astounding . The ‘ Cup , founded by Jerry Braun as a oneoff event has survived Braun ’ s tenure ; it outlived the NPPL , the PSP , the original NXL and now has matriculated to the “ new ” NXL which began in 2015 . I think it ’ s safe to say that if ownership of the NXL ever transfers to another party , the World Cup will be a major part of the deal . The World Cup is the most important , most influential , most watched paintball event of the season every single year .
As fans of the game and sport of paintball we ’ ve gotten to see Aftershock ’ s World Cup dominance early on ; We witnessed Image come of age in 1997 at the World Cup ; we got to see Dynasty win their first Pro event win at the ‘ Cup 23 years ago ; in 2006 we celebrated the Russian Legion as they became the first non-north American team to win the World Cup ; in 2015 we watched in person or on GoSports , one of the greatest paintball games of all time as Dynasty narrowly defeated Houston Heat to win the World Cup in a literal photo-finish ; And of course there ’ s Dynasty ’ s four straight ( and counting ) World Cup streak that has a chance to go to five here in 2024 .
And in all of that I made no mention of the WNXL and the Youth division being birthed at the World Cup ; or the vast number of new paintball products first seen at the World Cup ; or the Avalanche scandal that took place at the ‘ Cup ; or the conspiracy to keep the UK Predators from becoming the first team to win a World Cup more than 30 years ago .
The World Cup is the event that drives tournament paintball . It ’ s where season series titles are won and lost , teams elevated or relegated and it ’ s where your company ’ s new product can change the industry and the game .
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