15th World Championship of Classic Feeder and World Championship Feeder for athletes with disabilities

Ostellato, world capital of sport fishing

In April 2026, the Municipality of Ostellato, in the province of Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, hosted the 15th World Championship of Classic Feeder for Nations and, for the first time in history, the 1st World Championship Feeder reserved for athletes with disabilities. The organization was entrusted by the International Federation (Fips.Ed) to the Provincial Section FIPSAS of Ferrara, confirming Ostellato as one of the leading international locations for freshwater sport fishing.

The competition venues: Vallette and Cavalli

The competitions took place along the canals of the Oasi delle Vallette and the Cavalli stretch, a body of water extending for about three kilometers with depths varying between 1.5 and 2.5 meters. It is a competition venue already known to enthusiasts for its competitive tradition and for the care with which it is prepared by the volunteers of the FIPSAS Section of Ferrara. The Vallette area hosted three competition sectors, while the Cavalli area hosted another two.

Twenty-nine nations competing

29 national teams participated in the event, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine. Four teams also competed in the category reserved for athletes with disabilities. The feeder technique, based on the use of a bait feeder cast at a distance, requires great precision and careful reading of the water conditions: in this edition, the fish proved to be rather elusive, making the challenge even more technical and selective.

The week's program

The week opened on Sunday, April 12th with the inaugural ceremony: a parade of national delegations through the streets of Ostellato's center, preceded by the flag-wavers of the Ferrara palio, with flag performances, food stalls, and entertainment, as well as hot air balloon rides in the urban park. The competitive trials for the Nations took place on April 16th, 17th, and 18th, while athletes with disabilities competed on April 17th and 18th. Each trial lasted five hours, starting at 10:00 AM. The awards ceremony and final proclamations were held on the late afternoon of Saturday, April 18th, at the Ostellato sports field.

The results

In the Nations classification, victory went to the Netherlands, ahead of Germany and Poland; Italy finished in twelfth place, with Lorenzo Sinibaldi being the best Italian angler (24th individually, in a ranking dominated by the Belgian Benny Mertens). Italy was a great protagonist in the category reserved for athletes with disabilities: the Italian team, composed of Fabrizio Fracassi, Alessandro Begnoni, Giulio Oddi, Alessio Caleffi, and Giampaolo Pedrali, won the world team title ahead of Slovakia and Hungary, while in the individual competition, the success also went to Fabrizio Fracassi.

Sport, inclusion, and territory

The event, the fifth fishing world championship hosted in Ostellato and the sixth in the province of Ferrara, also had a strong value for territorial promotion: the municipal administration highlighted the positive economic impact on the area's accommodation facilities and the significance of sport fishing as part of the Ostellato community's identity. All this in a context of valuable natural beauty, that of the valleys and canals of the lower Ferrara region, a few kilometers from the Po Delta Park.