| Event: | 2021 Balloon World Cup |
| Venue: | PortAventura Convention Centre |
| Location: | Vila-seca, Tarragona, Spain |
| Competitors: | 32 |
| Nations: | 32 |
| Gold: | Francesco de la Cruz |
| Silver: | Jan Spiess |
| Bronze: | Jan Franquesa |
| Gold Nation: | Peru |
| Silver Nation: | Germany |
| Bronze Nation: | Spain |
| Next: | 2022 |
The 2021 Balloon World Cup is the first 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. It was held on 14 October 2021, at the convention center in the PortAventura World resort in the province of Tarragona.[1] [2] The tournament was broadcast live in its entirety on Llanos's Twitch channel,[1] and culminated with Peruvian Francesco de la Cruz defeating German Jan Spiess in the final.[3] [4]
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,[5] which Ibai tweeted with the caption "I want to buy the rights to this and set up a World Cup."[6] 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.
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 | ||
| Alfredo Duro | ||
| Jorge D'Alessandro | ||
| Ander Cortés | ||
| Rafa Guerrero | Referees | |
| Franc Tormo | ||
| Xavi Sánchez | ||
| Nacho Tellado | Assistant referee | |
| Cristóbal Soria | Delegate |
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.
All of the competitors were announced as the representatives of their country.[7]
| Competitor | Country | |
|---|---|---|
| Walid Seddiki | ||
| Ramon Cierco | ||
| Elián Barrado | ||
| Gor Khechoyan | ||
| Israel Quispe | ||
| Diego Mendez | ||
| Tsetevan Mladenov | ||
| Felipe Pávez | ||
| Funtxi Ursua Zhang | ||
| Tarik | ||
| Eric Guzmán González | ||
| Matías Boho | ||
| Pol Jorquera | ||
| Tamaz Tsagareishvili | ||
| Jan Spiess | ||
| Momo Benavides | ||
| Luis "Pollo" Forzan | ||
| Gerelt-Od Tserennorov | ||
| Yahya El Hajouji | ||
| Javi Damas | ||
| Raúl Eduardo Giménez | ||
| Francesco de la Cruz | ||
| Ricardo Ferreira | ||
| Yana Rudenko | ||
| Pape Ndour | ||
| Jan Franquesa | ||
| Nicklas Hallback | ||
| Andrii Mostavchuk | ||
| Moses Duckrell | ||
| Diego Arredondo | ||
| Isaac "Suko" Leal | ||
| Raúl David Carrero |
After Francesco de la Cruz won the tournament, he was congratulated on social media by President of Peru Pedro Castillo.[8]
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | ESLAND Awards | Best Event of the Year | [9] | ||
| 2022 | The Streamer Awards | Best Streamed Event | [10] |