Cycle ball
Sport similar to association football played on bicycles
title: "Cycle ball" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["team-sports", "cycle-sport", "association-football-variants", "games-and-sports-introduced-in-the-1890s"] description: "Sport similar to association football played on bicycles" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_ball" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Sport similar to association football played on bicycles ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox sport"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Cycle ball |
| image | UCI Cycle Ball 2on1.jpg |
| imagesize | 300px |
| caption | Cycle ball |
| union | Union Cycliste Internationale |
| first | 1883 |
| country/region | Europe, Japan |
| contact | No |
| team | Yes |
| mgender | No |
| category | Cycle sports |
| olympic | No |
| IWGA | 1989 |
| :: |
| name = Cycle ball | image = UCI Cycle Ball 2on1.jpg | imagesize = 300px | caption = Cycle ball | union = Union Cycliste Internationale | first = 1883 | firstlabel = | country/region = Europe, Japan | registered = | clubs = | contact = No | team = Yes | mgender = No | category = Cycle sports | equipment = | venue = | obsolete = | olympic = No | paralympic = | IWGA = 1989 ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Liebig_bike_polo.jpg" caption="Cycle-ball, early 20th century"] ::
Cycle-ball, also known as "radball" (from German), is a sport similar to association football played on bicycles. The two people on each team ride a fixed-gear bicycle with no brakes or freewheel. The ball is controlled by the bike and the head, except when defending the goal.
History
The sport was introduced in 1883 by American artistic cyclist Nicholas Edward Kaufmann. The first match was played on September 14 that year between Kaufmann and fellow artistic cyclist John Featherly. Its first world championships were in 1929. In the early 20th century, the sport spread to Germany; in the modern day, Germany is the location of the sport's largest fanbase. Cycle-ball is also popular in Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. The most successful players were the Pospíšil brothers of Czechoslovakia, world champions 20 times between 1965 and 1988. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Spielfeld_Radball.svg" caption="Cycle ball court"] ::
Closely related is artistic cycling in which the athletes perform a kind of gymnastics on cycles.
Rules
The game is played by two teams of two players in a field of 11 meters length by 9 meters width.
Championships
- UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships since 1930 (Men) / 2023 (Women) / Artistic since 1956/1959 / Pair 1986 / Quartets 2003
- Cycle-ball at the 2005 and 2007 Asian Indoor Games
- Cycle-ball at the 1989 World Games
- European Cycleball Championship since 1967
- 15th Asian Indoor Cycling Championships in Hong Kong 2024
- UEC Indoor Cycling Juniors European Championships (Union Européenne de Cyclisme)
- Club Competitions
Results
Since 1.1.2010 to 1.1.2026:
Men / Women
Ranking
Last Update: 1.1.2026
Men
Source:
Since 1930
Rank Matches Points
1 Germany 484 4122
2 Austria 475 4016
3 Switzerland 498 3884
4 France 466 3687
5 Czechia 474 3641
6 Liechtenstein 21 3516
7 Croatia 70 3320
8 USA 32 3225
9 Romania 60 3188
10 Belgium 434 3149
11 Japan 313 3101
12 Spain 49 3020
13 Serbia 5 2983
14 Denmark 195 2961
15 Sweden 122 2938
16 Hungary 118 2913
17 Türkiye 5 2832
18 Italy 61 2816
19 Slovakia 52 2773
20 Hong Kong 255 2769
21 Norway 11 2769
22 Netherlands 132 2766
23 Armenia 35 2728
24 Australia 68 2637
25 Ghana 5 2608
26 Jordan 16 2459
27 Malaysia 234 2451
28 Canada 56 2370
29 Thailand 25 2284
30 Great Britain 21 2069
31 Macau 52 1604
Ranking generated from a database of 2479 matches.
Ranking generated at 09:42:38 on Tuesday, 16 December, 2025.
Women
Source:
Since 2023
Rank Matches Points
1 Germany 11 3472
2 Switzerland 11 3201
3 Czechia 9 2961
4 Japan 11 2880
5 Austria 4 2486
Ranking generated from a database of 23 matches.
Ranking generated at 09:42:47 on Tuesday, 16 December, 2025.
National Teams
Have 5 women (Since 2023) and 31 men (Since 1930) teams at 1.1.2026.
Men
Africa (1):
Americas (2): -
Asia & Oceania (7): - - - - - -
Europe (21): - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Women
Asia & Oceania (1):
Europe (4): - - -
References
References
- (October 16, 2011). "Historical Dictionary of Cycling". [[Rowman & Littlefield]].
- "UCI CYCLING REGULATIONS - PART 8 INDOOR CYCLING - CYCLE BALL".
- https://www.indoorcyclingworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20240811_ACWC_III_startlist.pdf {{Bare URL PDF. (July 2025)
- https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1143069/european-cycling-championships-locations {{Bare URL inline. (July 2025)
- https://roonbasports.com/cycleball/men/2026.html
- https://roonbasports.com/cycleball/women/2026.html
- https://roonbasports.com/cycleball/men/rankingworld.html
- https://roonbasports.com/cycleball/women/rankingworld.html
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