U. S. vs the World
With the end of the Euro championships just wrapped up in Dreux, France, it’ s become clear 2025 has become an interesting turning point for paintball in Europe.
France beat the US in the UPBF Nations Cup in both the Men’ s and Veteran’ s categories. This marks the beginning of a clear shift on the global perception of skill level.
U. S. vs the World
It’ s been a common belief that the US outpaces the Europeans by a huge margin in terms of skill level. However, in recent times there have been signs that the skill gap between Europe and USA is no longer as clear as it used to be.
The first ripple began some years back, when US pro teams started acquiring European players. Axel Gaudin( France) was picked up by Edmonton Impact in 2022 before moving to San Antonio X-Factor then Tonton FSU), followed by Nic Rippel( Germany) by the New Orleans Hurricanes in 2023 and Hugo Verhaeghe( France) by Brooklyn Bears( then by Tonton FSU).
Who can forget the NXL Atlantic City Pro finals this year where Tonton FSU came close to smelling victory over reigning champions Paintball Fit … if only Axel hadn’ t slipped before hitting the buzzer?
Now that the French national team has defeated the creme de la creme of American paintball in 2025 in the two strongest categories- breaking the previous stranglehold the US have historically held- the new question now becomes, can divisionals also reduce the gap?
The second question- if the skill gap is far less marked now, would we allow US Pro teams to come back to Europe to compete?
NXL Europe has not allowed US Pro teams in for some years now, but it’ s no secret that having better teams in a league raises the general level of the teams with time, and brings a refreshing element into the mix. You don’ t grow playing the same teams with the same skill level all the time. Of course, this is provided the superior teams aren’ t so great that it’ s a massacre rather than a lesson.
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