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Curiosities week 4 - 2026
World Team Carcassonne Online Championship
2026
Dear meeplific readers,
Week 4 has come to its conclusion. Woohoo’s were woohoo’d, upsets might’ve caused some tears. Some teams clasped to that last straw, others secured their spot for the next round.
Qualified teams:
Group A
China and Greece have both secured progression to the next round with Croatia already eliminated.
For Peru, winning their match vs Croatia will confirm their progression. In fact, winning 5-0, coupled with a 0-5 loss for China will put the South Americans at the top of Group A.
It is a tougher journey for Hungary who will have to win the match against China while also hoping that Croatia defeats Peru. A 4-1 win over China, coupled with a 2-3 loss for Peru will put both teams at an equal position for 3rd place - and the games won tiebreaker will be the decider as to which team will proceed.
Group B
Japan, Portugal and Argentina have all secured progression. With Portugal facing Argentina this week, whichever team that wins will finish 2nd in the group. Both Uruguay and Sweden have been eliminated.
Group C
Both Germany and the Czech Republic have secured progression, with the remaining three teams vying for the final spot.
With Lithuania playing Australia, and Lithuania having an extra duel win, winning the match 5-0 will secure their progression. A score of 4-1 for Lithuania will put them equal with Thailand if the South East Asian team 5-0 Germany - forcing the next set of tiebreakers.
As for Australia and Thailand, being equal on duel wins, both would have to win their matches by a larger margin than the other team to progress.
Group D
France has secured progression, and Romania, Taiwan and Catalonia will compete for the remaining two spots. Guatemala has been eliminated. France will play Romania to secure the top spot of the group.
Things are more complicated for the Romanians. They will need a 5-0 scoreline to top the group. A 4-1 victory will put them on equal footing with the French and the next set of tiebreakers will be the decider of the team who will top the group. However, a 0-5 defeat for the Romanians will knock them down to 3rd place putting them at risk of elimination.
Catalonia will play against Guatemala to potentially progress at the expense of Taiwan (or Romanians). Should the Catalans defeat their opponent 5-0 and Romania suffer heavy defeat, the Catalan will progress to the next round at the expense of Romania. Otherwise, a 4-1 victory for the Catalans may trigger the next set of tiebreakers - potentially involving Romania, Taiwan and Catalonia with all three teams at 10 duels win and 10 duels lost.
Group E
Poland has secured progression. Italy’s match vs Malaysia will determine whether they will top the group as a 4-1 victory will assure their progression to the Round of 16 at the top of the group. However, an overwhelming 5-0 defeat for the Italians (and a lopsided results between United States and Netherlands) could see them eliminated.
As the United States will play Netherlands, victory for either team, coupled with defeat for the Malaysian team should see their team progress.
For the Malaysians, they will need to win vs Italy by at least 4-1 to trigger the next set of tiebreakers (if the USA vs Netherlands match ends in a 3-2). However, with the Malaysians’ games won being significantly less than their counterparts, it would seem like a 5-0 win will be the only way for the South East Asian team to progress.
Group F
Hong Kong has secured progression, but things are looking tricky for the 2nd placed Mexicans. Despite having 2 matches won and can still possibly top the group, Mexico only has 7 duel wins. With RCP, Finland and Belarus all having 1 match won, a 1-4 or 0-5 defeat for the Mexicans would put them at risk of being eliminated at the expense of their Belarusian opponents.
As for RCP vs Finland, victory for either team will ensure progression to the next round.
Group G
Brazil, Colombia and Belgium have all secured progression, and Chile and Vietnam are eliminated. The placements for the three teams are not confirmed as all three teams can still top the group. Brazil, while currently at the top of the group could be pushed down to 3rd place should they suffer a heavy defeat vs Colombia coupled with the Belgian team winning 5-0 against Vietnam.
Group H
Ukraine has secured progression and Ecuador is eliminated.
Spain, Latvia and the United Kingdom will be competing for the remaining two spots. With Spain playing the United Kingdom and Ukraine playing Latvia, victory for any of the three countries should confirm their progression to the next round. The United Kingdom in particular will need to win at least a 4-1 to trigger the next set of tiebreakers to have a chance to progress.
Week in review
Weekly records
Rookie of the Week
Tor_UA (Ukr)
After winning their WTCOC debut, Tor_UA was matched with former UK National and World Champion statmatt. Bringing this duel home not only delivered a very nice and well deserved victory, it also helped Team Ukraine qualify for the play-off’s. A big congrats!!
41 rookies played this week (which is the highest amount during this contest), 16 won their duels. Congrats to all
Team Fun Stuff
0607 (Twn) did indeed play senglar (Cat) in week 4, taking over Bluste’s (Cro) role to face their 2nd world champion in a row, having played Mars15 (Rom) last week.
This week, a few other players can join the ranks of 0607 (Twn) and Bluste (Cro)
Crucial victorious draws
Of the 6 games that ended with draws/ties this week, 2 were from the China - Greece match and 2 were from Italy - Poland match. In all four draws, the wins were awarded to the Chinese player and the Italian player, helping them to secure the crucial 3-2 wins in both matchups, keeping China’s undefeated streak going and consolidating Italy’s chances of proceeding to the playoffs.
Fun fact: 3 of the draws this week involved World Champions: senglar (Cat), statmatt (UK) and dark_passenger84 (Gre)
Behind the scenes: Team Colombia
Team Colombia opened the door for Mr. Curiossonne, giving him a chance to peek behind the scenes of the team and their preparations.
Eight of the team’s ten players live in or near Bogotá, the capital, making the core of the team very centralized. Even more remarkably, more than half of the Colombian team studied at the same university: Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Only the Henao brothers, Tomás and Esteban (aka TRojasHenao & Ext4ur), live in another city.
To prepare for their matches, the team gathers together every Tuesday for an analysis session to review past games. They bring charts illustrating various aspects of each player’s performance over the past month, including heat maps of individual training intensity, line plots showing each player’s Elo trend in a different color, and multi-variable radar/spider charts incorporating five different performance measures.
On top of that, the team also trains with Argentina every week. That’s dedication!!
Does your team do anything special to prepare for a match?
From broken hearts to board games
It’s a good thing Team Colombia came prepared, because their match against Belgium carried a much deeper backstory—and perhaps a little more tension—than most people realized.
It all started with a love story, a broken heart and a jilted leader who sent a failed war letter in 1867.
At that time, José de los Santos Gutierrez went to study in Belgium and fell in love with Josefina. Sadly for the man, the parents of Josefina were opposed to the relationship. José returned to Colombia broken hearted and without a wife.
While not formally documented, many believed that José—a key political figure in the then-independent sovereign state of Boyacá, and perhaps motivated by heartbreak over the rejection—sent a war letter to the Kingdom of Belgium in 1867. This resulted in one of the longest and most absurd wars of all time where not a single bullet, nor a tiny drop of blood was shed—possibly due to the letter never reaching its destination. The Belgians didn’t even know they were at war.
This week, 160 years after the letter, the Henao brothers—both born in the province of Boyacá—met eye to eye with Belgium. Fortunately for everyone involved, the rivalry once again ended without a single casualty.
Mr. Curiossonne needs your help
Some players are flooding Mr. Curiossonne’s mailbox, but he’s still keen on more juicy stories. So… Did your attention seeking kid push your laptop’s power button during those crucial dying seconds of your game? Or did you all meet up for a beer to celebrate your latest victory? Please let us know!
Thank you for reading, sharing & caring,
szigfrid, JinaJina, Mingo, kaika87, posij118 😘
