SUMMER FUTSAL, FOOTVOLLEY, FREESTYLE SOCCER, and TEQBALL EVENTS
The World Cup will be held in the fall this year for the first time ever (too hot for soccer in Qatar in the summer!) But while you wait, the world of soccer-spinoff sports has plenty going on this summer. Here’s a roundup in case you’d like to plan a roadtrip—or just watch their highlights on Youtube. (And yes, we promise we’ll tell you what teqball is in a minute!)
July 12-14th: World Futsal Showcase & National Championship: Orlando, FL
An organization called Futsal United will host this youth futsal tournament in Orlando, Florida. The winning teams go on to the same group’s “World Futsal Cup,” held in Spain in December… not to be confused with the FIFA World Futsal Cup, nor the EFA World Intercontinental Futsal Cup…😅
Source: https://www.unitedfutsal.com/
July 14-15th: US Futsal National Championship: Santa Clara, CA
This is the United States’ oldest and biggest futsal championship for youth and adult teams (both men’s and women’s), organized by U.S. Futsal, and held this year in Santa Clara, California. Hmm…two different national futsal championships held in the same week…it’s clear this sport is growing fast!
July 16 and 17th: National Footvolley Association’s Tour: Chicago Area
If the beach is more your speed, check out some of the midwest’s best footvolley players at the Washington Park Beach in Michigan City, Indiana. Or you can even join in! There’s a beginner’s division, as well as coed and open divisions. And compared to the hefty fees for teams to enter the Futsal championships, this tournament is super affordable: from just $40-140 per team.
Source: https://hensel.eu/en/footvolley/
July 24th: Teqball Exhibition at the European Youth Olympic Festival, Slovakia
You’ve heard of footvolley, and foot-tennis, right? (If not, read about cool soccer-spinoff sports in our post here.) Well, now there’s also foot-ping pong, and it’s called Teqball. Yes, bouncing a soccer ball across a curved ping-pong table, using your feet and head. Sounds a little funny, we know, but Teqball is getting really popular fast: It might even be an exhibition sport at the 2028 Olympics! Besides being very fun, and reminding us of silly things we did in the rec hall of our building when our parents weren’t watching, players say it does wonders for their first touch. (More here).
According to FITEQ, the international teqball association, the sport will be on display at this year’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Slovakia…all hopefully part of the road to the Olympics. Just one more reason to visit beautiful Slovakia this summer …I don’t know what to do here because the fiteq website says it will be there but the actual Olympic festival website doesn’t list it…
August 9th to 13th: Super Ball 2022 World Freestyle Competition: Prague, Czech Republic.
This world freestyle football competition is no joke–it has eight different events, with male and female divisions for each. Some of the amazingness on show includes: freestyle battles, freestyle routines with music, doubles routines (two freestylers doing combination moves in tandem), “Challenge” (to see who can do moves the fastest), and the famous Panna KO (nutmeg contests). Super Ball is basically a factory for jaw-dropping video clips. Like this one: