People call it Loopyball, while other countries in UK call it bubble football or bubble soccer. The sport game that sweeps the globe actually started out as a joke between Henrick Elvestad and Johan Gold, hosts of the Norwegian comedy sports show Golden Goal. The duo posted a video of them playing bubble soccer on YouTube, and its popularity spread across Europe like warm Nutella.
The soccer game itself is a cross between soccer and zorbing, a sport where an individual rolls down the side of a hill or sometimes a level surface in a giant plastic zorb. The plastic zorb surrounding the player in bubble soccer is similar in construction but differs where these allow the player’s legs to run around freely or essentially wear the zorb. We call our zorbs as Battle Balls, because the alliteration evokes the moods of both competition and silliness.
The objective of bubble soccer is to score against your opponent’s net and knock each other down while trying. You could argue that this is one of those games where defense is more fun. The game starts much like a competitive game of dodge ball. When players hear the whistle, they fearlessly rush in to the center to find and kick a soccer ball through their about-to-be sweaty Battle Ball suit. The ever-increasing amount of sweat will eventually make visibility an ongoing struggle because the exercise is real and this is most definitely a amazing sport.
