Balloon World Cup

The Balloon World Cup is an event organized by Spanish celebrities Ibai Llanos and Gerard Piqué, based on a viral balloon keep-up game on social media.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Background

Ibai was inspired to organize the tournament by a video of American siblings Antonio, Diego and Isabel Arredondo playing a game of keep-up with a balloon in their Canby, Oregon home,^[7] which Ibai tweeted with the caption "I want to buy the rights to this and set up a World Cup."^[8] Antonio and Diego attended the tournament in Spain to represent the United States, but Diego was eliminated early after a first-round loss to Cuba's Eric Guzmán González.^[9]

Staff

Llanos enlisted several panelists of Spanish sports talk show El chiringuito de Jugones for the event's staff, including former La Liga assistant referee Rafa Guerrero as one of the referees for the tournament's matches, and Alfredo Duro, Jorge D'Alessandro and Ander Cortés as commentators.^[10]

Person	Role
Ibai Llanos	Announcing team
Gerard Piqué
Alfredo Duro
Jorge D'Alessandro
Ander Cortés
Rafa Guerrero	Referees
Franc Tormo
Xavi Sánchez
Nacho Tellado	Assistant referee
Cristóbal Soria	Delegate

In 2022:

Person	Role
Ibai Llanos	Announcers
José Riobó
Ander Cortés
Suzyroxx	Pre-show interviewers
Sekiam
Rafa Guerrero	Referees
Sandra Adell
Franc Tormo
Nacho Tellado	Assistant referee

Competition rules

• Matches would last for 2 minutes, except for the final, which would last 5 minutes.
• Players had to touch the balloon with their hands, launching it upwards.
• Players could only touch the balloon once before their opponent touched it.
• A player is awarded a point when their opponent fails to touch the balloon before it hits the ground.
• The player who has scored the most points when time runs out wins the match.
• If the two players are tied when time runs out, they go to an overtime where they must use their head and feet instead of the hands to touch the balloon; the first player to score a point wins the match.

Format

In spite of the championship having initially been announced as a 24-country tournament with a group stage that would ensure every participant played at least two matches, this was abandoned when the field was expanded to 32 participants, opting instead for a single knockout tournament. All matches were played inside a glass cage that contained a number of pieces of furniture acting as obstacles, and simulating the home environment in which the keep-up game is usually played.^{[citation needed][11]}

2021

2021 Balloon World Cup
Venue	PortAventura Convention Centre
Location	Vila-seca, Tarragona, Spain
Date	14 October 2021 (2021-10-14)
Competitors	32 from 32 nations
Medalists
Francesco de la Cruz    Peru   Jan Spiess    Germany   Jan Franquesa    Spain
2022 →

The 2021 Balloon World Cup is the first edition of the event. It was held on 14 October 2021, at the convention center in the PortAventura World resort in the province of Tarragona.^[9][10] The tournament was broadcast live in its entirety on Llanos's Twitch channel,^[9] and culminated with Peruvian Francesco de la Cruz defeating German Jan Spiess in the final.^[12][13]

After Francesco de la Cruz won the tournament, he was congratulated on social media by President of Peru Pedro Castillo.^[14]

Competitors

All of the competitors were announced as the representatives of their country.^[15]

Competitor	Country
Walid Seddiki	Algeria
Ramon Cierco	Andorra
Elián Barrado	Argentina
Gor Khechoyan	Armenia
Israel Quispe	Bolivia
Diego Mendez	Brazil
Tsetevan Mladenov	Bulgaria
Felipe Pávez	Chile
Funtxi Ursua Zhang	China
Tarik	Colombia
Eric Guzmán González	Cuba
Matías Boho	Equatorial Guinea
Pol Jorquera	France
Tamaz Tsagareishvili	Georgia
Jan Spiess	Germany
Momo Benavides	Italy
Luis "Pollo" Forzan	Mexico
Gerelt-Od Tserennorov	Mongolia
Yahya El Hajouji	Morocco
Javi Damas	Netherlands
Raúl Eduardo Giménez	Paraguay
Francesco de la Cruz	Peru
Ricardo Ferreira	Portugal
Yana Rudenko	Russia
Pape Ndour	Senegal
Jan Franquesa	Spain
Nicklas Hallback	Sweden
Andrii Mostavchuk	Ukraine
Moses Duckrell	United Kingdom
Diego Arredondo	United States
Isaac "Suko" Leal	Uruguay
Raúl David Carrero	Venezuela

Replaced competitors

Name	Country	Reason for replacement	Substitute
Marco Fiorillo	Italy	Tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the event	Gerónimo "Momo" Benavides

Tournament bracket

	Round of 32				Round of 16				Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Francesco de la Cruz	6
	Tsetevan Mladenov	4			Francesco de la Cruz	3
	Gerelt-Od Tserennorov	3			Gerelt-Od Tserennorov	2
	Luis "Pollo" Forzan	1							Francesco de la Cruz	2
	Tamaz Tsagareishvili	3							Elián Barrado	1
	Raúl Eduardo Giménez	2			Tamaz Tsagareishvili	1
	Walid Seddiki	2			Elián Barrado	4
	Elián Barrado	5											Francesco de la Cruz	2
	Nicklas Hallback	4											Jan Franquesa	1
	Yahya El Hajouji	6			Yahya El Hajouji	6
	Momo Benavides	2			Momo Benavides	4
	Funtxi Ursua Zhang	1							Yahya El Hajouji	2
	Diego Arredondo	2							Jan Franquesa	4
	Eric Guzmán González	4			Eric Guzmán González	5
	Jan Franquesa	2			Jan Franquesa	6
	Isaac "Suko" Leal	1															Francesco de la Cruz	6
	Diego Mendez	3															Jan Spiess	2
	Raúl David Carrero	1			Diego Mendez	5
	Javi Damas	4			Javi Damas	4
	Andrii Mostavchuk	3							Diego Mendez	3
	Ricardo Ferreira	7							Israel Quispe	1
	Gor Khechoyan	2			Ricardo Ferreira	2
	Israel Quispe	4			Israel Quispe	3
	Yana Rudenko	2											Diego Mendez	1
	Moses Duckrell	3											Jan Spiess	4
	Matías Boho	5			Matías Boho	1											Bronze medal match
	Ramon Cierco	7			Ramon Cierco	6
	Pol Jorquera	6							Ramon Cierco	0							Jan Franquesa	6
	Pape Ndour	4							Jan Spiess	1							Diego Mendez	4
	Felipe Pávez	3			Pape Ndour	1
	Jan Spiess	3			Jan Spiess	5
	Tarik	1

Awards and nominations

Year	Ceremony	Category	Result	Ref.
2021	ESLAND Awards	Best Event of the Year	Nominated	[16]
	The Streamer Awards	Best Streamed Event	Nominated	[17]

2022

2022 Balloon World Cup
Venue	PortAventura Convention Centre
Location	Vila-seca, Tarragona, Spain
Date	27 October 2022 (2022-10-27)
Competitors	16 from 16 nations
Medalists
Miguel Imbroda    Spain   Claudio Lassance    Brazil   Lautaro Maqueda    Argentina
← 2021

The 2022 Balloon World Cup is the second edition of the Balloon World Cup, a sporting event organized by Ibai Llanos and Gerard Piqué, based on a game of keep-up with a balloon that went viral on social media. This was the first edition for which national qualifying tournaments were held.

The tournament was held on 27 October 2022, at the PortAventura Convention Centre in Vila-seca, Tarragona, the same venue that had hosted the first World Cup the year prior. The number of entering countries was reduced from 32 to 16, with defending champion Francesco de la Cruz being the only returning player. Spain's Miguel Imbroda was crowned world champion defeating Brazil's Claudio Lassance in the final.^[18][19]

Participants

2021 World Cup champion Francesco de la Cruz was announced as a participant during the Spanish qualifier.^[20] In September 2022, national qualifiers for multiple Latin American countries were announced as well.^[21]

Competitor	Country
Lautaro Maqueda	Argentina
Claudio Lassance	Brazil
Monte Doebel-Hickok	Canada
Gabriela Amaro Salazar	Chile
Jorge Alba Ortiz	Colombia
Clément Dumais	France
Vanessa Klein	Germany
Joseph Romano	Italy
Gerardo Nocedal	Mexico
Dion de Brouwer	Netherlands
Francesco de la Cruz	Peru
Gustavo Cardoso	Portugal
Miguel Imbroda	Spain
Ogeday Girișken	Turkey
Thomas Hughes	United Kingdom
Keem Kim	United States

National qualifiers

Spain

The Spanish national qualifier was held on 3 July 2022 at Fira de Barcelona in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, as part of the third and final day of the 2022 U-Beat Live Fest. Jan Franquesa, who won the bronze medal for Spain at the 2021 World Cup, took part in the tournament, but was eliminated in the first round.^[20][22]

	Round of 16				Quarterfinals				Semi-finals				Final
	Pere Marquès	3
	David Palanques	2			Pere Marquès	4
	Ricard Brufau	4			Ricard Brufau	7
	Cristina Homet	1							Ricard Brufau	3
	Yeray Veróniz	1							Adrián Pérez	4
	Hugo Ramírez	3			Hugo Ramírez	1
	Adrián Pérez	4			Adrián Pérez	2
	Joel Gafarot	2											Adrián Pérez	2
	Evilmoon	2											Miguel Imbroda	7
	Javi Domingo	9			Javi Domingo	0
	Miguel Imbroda	4			Miguel Imbroda	2
	Marc Páez	2							Miguel Imbroda	4
	Jan Franquesa	0							Alex Aymerich	3
	Àlex Pérez	4			Àlex Pérez	0
	Alex Aymerich	5			Alex Aymerich	2
	Judith Pelejero	4

Chile

National qualifiers for Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia were held concurrently in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 17 and 18 September 2022.^[23]

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Matheo Jara Ziller	2
	Gonzalo Pauchard Silva	3			Gonzalo Pauchard Silva	4
	Mario Espinoza	4			Olavia Paz Campos	0
	Olavia Paz Campos	5							Gonzalo Pauchard Silva	4
	Gabriela Amaro Salazar	2							Gabriela Amaro Salazar	6
	Lorena Castillo Bordón	0			Gabriela Amaro Salazar	4
	Manuel Raggio Tocol	5			Manuel Raggio Tocol	0
	Yasna Leiva Cortés	1

Argentina

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Lautaro Maqueda Channame	3
	Santiago Rodríguez Zahn	0			Lautaro Maqueda Channame	1
	Milagros Mansilla	3			Milagros Mansilla	0
	Anabella Gamboa	2							Lautaro Maqueda Channame	5
	Luca Prezioso	1							Juanfrancisco Suárez	4
	Facundo Sgro	2			Facundo Sgro	0
	Juanfrancisco Suárez	1			Juanfrancisco Suárez	2
	Martiniano Fontanelle	0

Colombia

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Víctor Fabián Aldana	4
	Braian Ramírez Masmela	0			Víctor Fabián Aldana	2
	Robert Mendoza Ospina	3			Robert Mendoza Ospina	4
	Fabián Vera	2							Robert Mendoza Ospina	1
	Wilder Portocarrero González	4							Jorge Alba Ortiz	6
	Johan Bermúdez Viasus	1			Wilder Portocarrero González	1
	Jorge Alba Ortiz	1			Jorge Alba Ortiz	3
	Yisel Morales	0

Mexico

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Luis Fernando Montoya	1
	Estefanía Yvonne Farias	2			Estefanía Yvonne Farias	0
	María Fernanda Rayna	0			José Daniel Trejo	1
	José Daniel Trejo	1							José Daniel Trejo	0
	Luis Gerardo Ortega Nocedal	2							Luis Gerardo Ortega Nocedal	2
	Silvio Miguel Suárez	1			Luis Gerardo Ortega Nocedal	2
	José Miguel Caro	1			José Miguel Caro	1
	Jorge Mandujano	0

Brazil

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Cléber Francisco dos Santos	0
	Agda Balestra	1			Agda Balestra	2
	Isla Montalier Queiroz	1			Isla Montalier Queiroz	1
	Natalí de Andrae Oliveira	0							Agda Balestra	3
	Daiane Alves Villaboes	3							Claudio Lassance	4
	Alexander Souza do Nascimento	1			Daiane Alves Villaboes	0
	Lucas Rubín	0			Claudio Lassance	2
	Claudio Lassance	4

United States

National qualifiers for the United States and Canada took place on 7 October 2022 as part of the first day of the TwitchCon event in San Diego, California, United States.^[24]

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Alixxa	1
	MeesterKeem	3			MeesterKeem	2
	CookSux	1			JoeyKaotyk	1
	JoeyKaotyk	6							MeesterKeem	6
	Smirky	0							Nesua	0
	Nesua	2			Nesua	2
	Britanny	0			DailyDasher	0
	DailyDasher	1

Canada

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	P1kapeach	0
	Coco_chm	4			Coco_chm	0
	TheWildLatina	1			MDee14	4
	MDee14	2							MDee14	4
	GuhRL	1							Dreads	9
	Zummmers[note 1]	0			GuhRL	1
	ParkenHarbor	2			Dreads	2
	Dreads	3

Tournament bracket

The draw to determine the first-round matchups and the tournament bracket was held on 26 October 2022.^[25]

	Round of 16				Quarterfinals				Semi-finals				Final
	Gabriela Amaro	2
	Vanessa Klein	3			Vanessa Klein	1
	Claudio Lassance	3			Claudio Lassance	2
	Thomas Hughes	2							Claudio Lassance	3
	Monte Doebel-Hickok	3							Lautaro Maqueda	0
	Francesco de la Cruz	0			Monte Doebel-Hickok	1
	Lautaro Maqueda	3			Lautaro Maqueda	2
	Gerardo Nocedal	0											Claudio Lassance	2
	Ogeday Girişken	0											Miguel Imbroda	4
	Dion de Brouwer	1			Dion de Brouwer	0
	Miguel Imbroda	3			Miguel Imbroda	2
	Jorge Alba	2							Miguel Imbroda	3			Bronze medal match
	Joseph Romano	1							Clément Dumais	2
	Gustavo Cardoso	3			Gustavo Cardoso	1							Lautaro Maqueda	3
	Clément Dumais	4			Clément Dumais	3							Clément Dumais	2
	Keem Kim	1

Notes

1. The match was abandoned after the first point due to an injury sustained by Zummmers.