What is teqball, the sport that is fashionable among footballers

What was the inspiration for Teqball?

Teqball, the company, was founded by Gábor Borsányi, Gyuri Gattyán and Viktor Huszár. Gábor, the creative force in the team, came up with the idea when he was a young professional soccer player. When he couldn’t get access to a football pitch, he would practice with a friend passing a football across one of the many concrete ping-pong tables found outside residential buildings in Budapest. In later life, he realized that by simply adding a curve to the top of a table, you can create a far more enjoyable game, which we call teqball.

It looks like ping-pong, but not in the way it is known.

It is about teqball, a kind of soccer played on a "scientifically adapted" curved table that has attracted the interest of several of the best players in the world, be they ball legends from the past or figures from the present.

The goal is for it to become an Olympic sport in the future, but for this the first thing you need is to keep growing in popularity.

How to play teqball

• The ball must be returned to the other side of the "net" with a maximum of three touches using any part of the body, except arms and hands.
• You cannot touch the ball twice in a row with the same part of the body.
• Matches are played to the best of three sets.
• Each set is 20 points, although to define the last one you need an advantage of at least two points.
• The World Cup has doubles and singles competitions, for both men and women.

One of the first steps was to create an international federation (FITEQ) and organize an international tournament, the World Cup, which this Friday and Saturday celebrates its second edition in Reims, France.

And in just one year it already has more than 40 countries and 100 players participating.

More than a game

There is no doubt that one of the greatest impulses for this growth was received when the image of Neymar, Coutinho, Gabriel Jesus and Dani Alves playing teqball during a training session was transmitted and published before a qualifying match in Brazil for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Another of his "promoters" has been Ronaldinho, who has a table in his house and usually shares his stunts through his social networks.

Also in France, an event that will distribute a prize of US $ 100,000, will have as special guests the Portuguese Simao and the French Robert Pires and William Gallas.

There is no doubt that all this exposure has had a positive effect, which for the moment hides the lack of accessibility to a sport whose main drawback is the high price of the table where it is played: about US $ 3,000.

Ben Nuttall, a specialist in juggling the ball and the English representative at this year's World Cup, acknowledged that this means that he is not known on the street.

"You can see that many footballers regard it as good training as it improves touch with the ball, but it could really grow if people start to see it as a sport," Nutball, who recently found out, told the BBC. teqball was a sport when he was called to participate in the world cup.

About the Game

The game and table design was created in Hungary as a result of a partnership between a former professional footballer, a businessman and a computer scientist, Viktor Huszar, who admitted that he experienced a moment of euphoria seeing players use the table at the World Cup in Russia.

Huszar considers that in addition to benefiting the business, it was a sign of the "approval" of the world of football.

"Teqball is showing that there is a new model in the world of sports," Huszar said, highlighting the traditional aspect of most sports.