London edges Lomme 145-137 in WFTDA European opener

London Brawling opened the 2026 WFTDA European Regional Championships with a 145-137 win over Lomme, but the eight-point margin made the first whistle in Namur feel more like a warning shot than a clean launch. As the sixth seed, London escaped Friday morning’s Game 1 with the result it needed, yet Lomme’s 137 points showed the twelfth seed was close enough to keep the favorite under real pressure.

The tournament is being hosted by Namur Roller Derby at Centre Namurois des Sports Tabora in Namur, Belgium, with play running June 12-14 and coverage available through the WFTDA tournament page, including live viewing on Sporfie and MVP voting. The European regional structure has remained unchanged since WFTDA launched its current competitive-region system in 2023, and this opener fit the format’s unforgiving logic: one narrow game can alter the tone of an entire weekend.

The matchup numbers made London look safe on paper. Flat Track Stats listed London 26th in the rankings and Lomme 44th, and gave London a 79% chance to win. The scoreline still came in tighter than expected, which matters in a tournament where point differential, momentum and bracket position all carry weight. London’s 145 points were enough to protect its opening-round standing, but not enough to suggest the defense and jammer rotation had fully separated the teams. Lomme, meanwhile, left the bout with enough scoring output to show it could trade punches with stronger opposition for a full two hours.

That tension carried real bracket consequences. The WFTDA schedule sent London into Game 5 later Friday against Paris All Stars, and Paris responded with a 184-102 win over London, a result that exposed how thin the margin for error can be in Namur. Lomme dropped into Sunday’s placement path against Stockholm in Game 13, still alive after forcing London into a far more uncomfortable opener than the seed numbers implied.

The result also fits Lomme’s recent profile. Flat Track Stats shows the team has handled opponents such as Lyon and SAM in recent play, and it recorded a 140-125 loss to LRD: Brawl Saints in 2019, another sign that Lomme has spent years operating in competitive European company. For London, the opening win was the kind that keeps a tournament alive. For everyone else in the bracket, it was a reminder that the favorites are not cruising through Namur.