Team France wins the PCI-Alpencup 2026

At the fifth PCI-Alpencup, the French team, comprising 21-year-old Nathanael Ball and Samuel Retiere (23), secured first place with a strong performance. The Swiss team, featuring Noah Hess and Tobias Liechti this year, won silver as they did in 2024, whilst third place went to the winners of GermanSkills 2025, Luis Brauner and Lukas Blos from Germany.

PCI had introduced the 2021 PCI-Alpencup as a new format as part of its youth development programme, in close collaboration with the European Union of National Tile Trade Associations (EUF). A total of fourteen young craftspeople from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as from Denmark, France, Sweden and the Czech Republic, took part in the competition and demonstrated their skills over two days of competition. The event took place on 25 and 26 June at the ABZ training centre run by the Builders’ Guild, with the awards ceremony and prize-giving on the evening of 26 June bringing the event to a close.

As with previous events, each team of two had to work together to complete a task – modelled on the standard of the WorldSkills and EuroSkills competitions – within a specified time limit. One participating country takes the lead in setting the task and appoints the chair of the jury. In 2026, Switzerland once again took on the role of jury chair and task developer.

As usual, in addition to the competition itself, participants and visitors were treated to an attractive programme of side events throughout the event, featuring various practical demonstrations and a trade exhibition with renowned industry partners.

PCI covered the 2026 PCI Alpine Cup across various channels. Furthermore, all competition results, video recordings, photos, films, posts and stories can be accessed retrospectively on the landing page at www.pci-alpencup.com.