“Can nobody defeat the Fagerlis?” This could be the epic title of the 2021 Super Ball, a tournament that reached its climax on Saturday, August 21st with an authentic exhibition of freestyle football. A selection of the best athletes in the world battled in no less than ten different categories and celebrated the sport with the global community after a particularly difficult year due to the Covid pandemic.
In the male battle category, the Fagerli brothers were unbeatable until the Grand Final; Norwegians Erlend and Brynjar ended up first and second, respectively, and renewed their extraordinary record as the two most successful siblings in the history of freestyle football. Even with his magnificent performance, the 2020 Super Ball champion, Dutch Jesse Marlet, could not repeat the title this time and had to settle for third place.
In the female Grand Final, Polish star Aguśka Mnich defeated British sensation Lia Lewis, who put up a tremendously impressive display in her first-ever Super Ball (and live competition) participation. Yet another renowned star of the sport, Yoanna Dallier from France, claimed the third spot.
Super Ball offered plenty of spectacle in its many other categories as well. In the 1vs1 Panna KO competition, French Anas Boukami defeated Boston Jade, from the US, in the final; local Czech hero Martin Gajdos ended up third, and British Harriet Pavlou made history ending up in the fourth position – the first woman to ever reach this spot in the Super Ball Panna tournament.
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The Sick Three challenge saw local Czech talent Danny Prazak beat German Chris Bennet Bröker aka CBB in the final to claim the title, with an unexpected third-place finish: Tony Ma, from Hong Kong. Vasek Klouda, the Czech legend of footbag (a brother sport to Freestyle Football), also participated and landed an amazing combo, but the judges found it wasn’t according to the rules of the competition, so he couldn’t make it to the podium in the end.
In the Routine competition, Nick Seyda from the USA took the crown, with Patrick Bäurer from Germany and Nicolas Rossier from Switzerland in the second and third positions respectively.
The Show Flow tournament, just like the male battles one, was claimed by Norwegian legend Erlend Fagerli. Crowd favourite Philip Warren Gertsson aka PWG and Álvaro López from Spain ended up second and third.
In the Ironman category, Dutch Bodhi Bos defeated Polish Olivier Grodecki from Poland in the final; Ethan Audiot, from France, took the bronze medal. French-Guyanese Wiwi claimed the title of Kill The Beat champion.
The Intermediate Battles saw Joshua Lockard from the USA taking the title, with Italian Giorgio Luppi and Belgian William Cochart finishing in the second and third spots. Last but not least, in the Rookie Battles, Alex Herbaut from France beat Dutch Mike van der Streek aka Mighty Mike in the Final; yet another Frenchman, Enzo Ruta, ended up in the third position.
The event, hosted at the Clarion Congress hotel in Prague, was live-streamed on the WFFA channels for the first time, with a luxury team of casters and commentators that included the likes of Pekko Piirto, Daniël Rooseboom, Paloma Mayo, Miran Pirner, Alex Hyland-Cid, Bailey de Regt, Mighty Mike and Kevin Medina. The 2021 Super Ball was judged by an elite team of officials led by Kitti Szász (the first female Head Judge in the history of the tournament) and consisting of Javi Sanz, Jordan Meunier, Mateusz Odrzygóźdź aka Lotar and Michał Rycaj aka MichRyc, as well as Miran Pirner, Pekko Piirto and Daniël Rooseboom. The tournament also saw the debut alongside the traditional Super Ball MC, Lorenzo Pinciroli, of promising names such as Nabil Hamza and Laura Biondo – the first time ever in which a female master of ceremonies co-hosted the Finals.
Stay tuned to the official channels of the WFFA to follow the latest updates!