# 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.

## 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, which Ibai tweeted with the caption "I want to buy the rights to this and set up a World Cup." 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.

## 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.
| Person | Role |
| Ibai Llanos | Announcing team |
| Gerard Piqué | Announcing team |
| Alfredo Duro | Announcing team |
| Jorge D'Alessandro | Announcing team |
| Ander Cortés | Announcing team |
| Rafa Guerrero | Referees |
| Franc Tormo | Referees |
| Xavi Sánchez | Referees |
| Nacho Tellado | Assistant referee |
| Cristóbal Soria | Delegate |
In 2022:
| Person | Role |
| Ibai Llanos | Announcers |
| José Riobó | Announcers |
| Ander Cortés | Announcers |
| Suzyroxx | Pre-show interviewers |
| Sekiam | Pre-show interviewers |
| Rafa Guerrero | Referees |
| Sandra Adell | Referees |
| Franc Tormo | Referees |
| 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.

## 2021

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. The tournament was broadcast live in its entirety on Llanos's Twitch channel, and culminated with Peruvian Francesco de la Cruz defeating German Jan Spiess in the final.
After Francesco de la Cruz won the tournament, he was congratulated on social media by President of Peru Pedro Castillo.

### Competitors

All of the competitors were announced as the representatives of their country.
| 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 32 | Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | 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 | 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 | |
| 2022 | The Streamer Awards | Best Streamed Event | Nominated | |

## 2022

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.

### Participants

2021 World Cup champion Francesco de la Cruz was announced as a participant during the Spanish qualifier. In September 2022, national qualifiers for multiple Latin American countries were announced as well.
| 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.
| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | 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.
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | 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 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | 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 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | 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 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | 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 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | 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.
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | 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 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| P1kapeach | 0 | | | | |
| Coco_chm | 4 | Coco_chm | 0 | | |
| TheWildLatina | 1 | MDee14 | 4 | | |
| MDee14 | 2 | | | MDee14 | 4 |
| GuhRL | 1 | | | Dreads | 9 |
| Zummmers | 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.
| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | 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 | 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 | | | | | | |