Tchoukball

Tchoukball

A tchoukball match in progress.
Highest governing body	International Tchoukball Federation
First played	1970
Characteristics
Contact	No
Team members	7
Mixed-sex	Not in international championships, but very common in some national championships
Type	Ball sport, team sport
Equipment	Tchoukball, rebounder
Presence
Country or region	Worldwide
Olympic	No
World Games	Invitational sport at 2009 World Games

Tchoukball /ˈtʃuːkbɔːl/ is an indoor team sport, played by teams of 7 players. It was developed in Switzerland in the 1970s, and is most popular in Singapore, Switzerland and Taiwan, but has become an international sport with national federations in over 60 countries. It is governed by the International Tchoukball Federation (FITB), which was founded in 1971.

It is usually played with a ball on an indoor court with a small elastic rebounder on each end. Teams score by bouncing the ball against the rebounder and getting it to bounce on the floor of the court without being intercepted by the defending team. The sport was designed to limit injuries, and physical contact between players is prohibited.

Tchoukball was created in Switzerland by Hermann Brandt,^[1] who was concerned by the numerous serious injuries among athletes resulting from sports prone to aggression and physical contact. He believed that sports should be not only for champions, but also contribute to the creation of a better and more humane society.^[2] He designed tchoukball to contain elements of handball (it is played with hands, and the balls used are similar), volleyball (as the defending team must prevent the ball from falling) and squash (since there is a rebound).

The name of tchoukball (pronounced as "choukball", with a silent "t") comes from the onomatopoeic "tchouk" sound the ball makes when it bounces off a frame.^[3]

Teams may comprise 12 players, however only 7 may be on the court at any one time.

Physical contact between players is prohibited, and defenders may not attempt to intercept the attacking team's passes. Players may take at most three steps with the ball, and hold the ball for at most three seconds. Teams may not pass the ball more than three times before shooting at the rebounder.

Court

• The court size that is generally used is 27 m × 17 m. However, there are variations to this such as in beach tchoukball where a court size of 21 m × 12 m is used.
• One rebounder is placed at each end of the field of play, one square meter in area.
• In front of each rebounder, a D-shaped semi-circle measuring 3 m in radius is drawn; this defines the limits of a 'forbidden zone' where defenders cannot stand.
• The lines around zones are considered part of the zone: the line marking the semicircle forbidden zone is considered part of the forbidden zone, and the line around the entire court is considered a part of the court.

Ball

Depending on the category of players (Men, Women, Youth), different sizes of balls are used. These range from a circumference of 50 – 60 cm and weights from 325 – 475 grams.

Scoring

Two teams of 7 players each (men or women) compete to score points with the team with the most points at the end winning the game. When a team gains a point, control of the ball is transferred to the other team.

• In tchoukball either team can score at either end of the court.
• A point is scored when the ball rebounds after hitting either of the 2 rebounders and touches the ground outside the forbidden zone, any part of the defending player's body below the knees, or touches the defending player while he is still in the forbidden zone.
• A point is given to the non-attacking team when the attacking team shoots and misses the rebounder, or the ball rebounds outside the playing area (either out of the court or in the forbidden zone).
• If a shot is caught by the defending team, the defending team can proceed to attack immediately.

Each team comprises the following positions:

• 2 Right Shooters or Right Wings
• 2 Left Shooters or Left Wings
• 2 or 3 defenders or Forward Pivot
• 1 Centre (or none if 3 defenders are used) or Centre Pivot

Each side of the court comprises a left shooter, right shooter and 1 or 2 defenders, while the centre usually stays near the middle of the court if this formation is used. The shooters are generally in charge of shooting although in some cases the defender can also take the shot. The defenders are in charge of coordinating the first line of defence while the centre pivot takes charge of the second line of defence. However other formations include not using a centre pivot, the team would bypass the centre and throw full length court passes directly to the shooters/inners. This gives an extra first line defender or a dedicated second line defender.

Players with the ball can take a maximum of 3 steps, and hold the ball for a maximum of 3 seconds. Bouncing the ball is not allowed.

When a pass is not completed (the ball touches the ground or goes out of bounds), the other team gets possession.

The defending team cannot obstruct the attacking one during passing.

For the scoring team, stepping into the forbidden zone with the ball is not allowed. The ball must be released before the player lands in the forbidden zone.

In addition to classic indoor tchoukball, there is also beach tchoukball and wheelchair tchoukball, with slightly different rules. There are also Youth and University leagues, separate from the open league.

The FITB, founded in 1971, is based in Geneva, Switzerland. As of 2021, it includes 50 member associations^[4] and 22 (15+7) countries with a designated FITB Representative. It supports and advises national associations and individuals willing to spread tchoukball in new areas. For instance, tchoukball was recently integrated in the school program of some regions of Senegal. The FITB was a demonstration sport in the 2009 World Games, which took place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

At the world championship level, tchoukball has been dominated by Taiwanese teams since 1980. Their only losses since then were in 2004 when they were defeated by Switzerland in the men's final, and in 2023, when Italy defeated them in the women's semi-final.

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
1971	Switzerland	France	-
1976
1980	Switzerland	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
1982	France	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
1984	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
1987	Switzerland	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2000	Geneva,  Switzerland	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2004	Taiwan	Switzerland	Chinese Taipei
2011	Italy	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2015	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2019	Malaysia	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2023	Czech Republic	Chinese Taipei	Switzerland

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2005	Switzerland	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2017	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
1989	Germany	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2009	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei

Year	Host	M-18 Boys winner	M-15 Boys winner	M-12 Boys winner	M-18 Girls winner	M-15 Girls winner	M-12 Girls winner
2004	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	-	-	Chinese Taipei	-	-
2011	Austria	Italy	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Italy	-
2013	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2015	Singapore	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Singapore
2019	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2023	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2017	Malaysia	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2017	Indonesia	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2023	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2003	India	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2006	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2008	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2010	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2012	Philippines	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2014	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2016	China	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2022	Malaysia	Chinese Taipei	Singapore

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2009	Hong Kong	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2011	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2013	South Korea	Philippines	Chinese Taipei
2015	Malaysia	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2019	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2013	Thailand	Chinese Taipei	Singapore

Year	Host	M-18 Boys Winner	M-15 Boys Winner	M-12 Boys Winner	M-18 Girls Winner	M-15 Girls Winner	M-12 Girls Winner
2010	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	-	Hong Kong	Chinese Taipei	-	Chinese Taipei
2013	Malaysia	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2014	Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei
2016	Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei

Year	Host Nation	Men's winners	Women's winners
2009	Thailand	Singapore	-
2011	Vietnam	Philippines	Singapore
2013	Thailand	Singapore	Singapore
2015	Malaysia	Singapore	Singapore
2017	Thailand	Singapore	Singapore

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2012	Nepal	India	-
2014	Nepal	India	-
2016	India	India	-

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2016	China	Chinese Taipei	-
2017	South Korea

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2003	Italy	Switzerland	Switzerland
2006	Switzerland	United Kingdom	Switzerland
2008	Czech Republic	Switzerland	Switzerland
2010	United Kingdom	Switzerland	Switzerland
2014	Germany	Austria	Switzerland
2016	Czech Republic	Austria	Switzerland
2018	Italy	Italy	Italy
2022	United Kingdom	Italy	Switzerland

Year	Host	M-18 Boys Winner	M-15 Boys Winner	M-12 Boys Winner	M-18 Girls Winner	M-15 Girls Winner	M-12 Girls Winner
2016	Czech Republic	Italy	Italy	Czech Republic	-	Austria	-
2022 Championships	United Kingdom	Switzerland

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2010	Ghana	Togo	Senegal
2012	Togo	Togo
2014	Benin	Togo
2016	Kenya	Cameroon

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2014	Uganda	Uganda

Year	Host	Men's winners	Women's winners
2010	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil
2012	Uruguay	Brazil	Brazil
2014	Colombia	Brazil	Colombia
2016	Mexico	Brazil	Uruguay
2022	Brazil	Brazil	Argentina

Name	Nationality	Years	FITB headquarters
Hermann Brandt	Switzerland	1971–1972	Geneva, Switzerland
Théodore Werey	France	1972–1984	France
Liu Zhengfeng	Taiwan	1984–1996	Taoyuan, Taiwan
John Andrews	United Kingdom	1996–2000	United Kingdom
Michel Farve	Switzerland	2000–2004	Switzerland
Daniel Bushbeck	Switzerland	2004–2009	Geneva, Switzerland
Huang Chin Cheng	Taiwan	2009–2017	Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Fang Shen Szu	Taiwan	2017–2021	New Taipei, Taiwan
Huang Chin Cheng	Taiwan	2021–present	Kaohsiung, Taiwan

• Tchoukball at the 2009 World Games

• FITB - International Tchoukball Federation - official site