Keeping up a balloon has always been fun when you’ve got nothing else going on, but no one ever expected it to evolve into an actual sport. Based on the reception of the 2021 Balloon World Cup, it seems that many are interested in watching teams play keep-up with a balloon. Now, the brackets for the 2022 Balloon World Cup have been selected ahead of the stream.
According to Ibai’s stream from earlier today, the bracket is complete, with the United States being the last pick on the board. Last year’s winners, Peru, will start off against Canada in the first round of competition. There should be 15 matches in total starting today, Oct. 27 at 12:30pm CT and running through the next few days. Players can watch the stream on Ibai’s Twitch channel.
This sport has been something that people have been doing for as long as balloons have been around, but it didn’t quite reach peak popularity until the Coronavirus lockdowns. People were stuck inside with nothing to do but bat some balloons around and it quickly grew in popularity on social media sites like TikTok.
It seems that Spanish streamer Ibai was a big fan of these videos, as he’d go on to create the first Balloon World Cup last October. What was created is a new sport where players try to keep a balloon in the air among furniture and other objects that often block the way. This requires players to be unique in their movements, doing whatever it takes to hit the balloon.
With the stream set to begin soon, these 16 teams will battle it out to prove who’s the best at keeping a balloon from touching the ground.
