Belgium hosts first official Spikeball Roundnet World Championships with 33 nations
Belgium’s first official world championship drew 33 nations and more than 250 teams, giving roundnet its clearest proof of a real international title path.
Belgium gave roundnet its clearest sign of adulthood when the first official Spikeball Roundnet World Championships ran from Sept. 8 to 11 at Park Molenheide in Houthalen, with 33 nations and more than 250 teams spread across several divisions. Spikeball Inc. had already said in August that the field would include 33 countries, but the size of the lineup in Belgium made the point unmistakable: this was no exhibition, it was a true world-title event.
Spikeball made that shift visible in real time. Its live coverage was billed as the first time it had ever streamed a Spikeball Roundnet World Championships, with broadcasts beginning Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022. The company’s own video description put the emphasis exactly where the sport wanted it: “For the FIRST TIME EVER we are bringing you LIVE coverage of the Spikeball Roundnet World Championships!!” A later Spikeball video, posted Oct. 6, thanked “players and coaches from 33 different countries,” along with Roundnet Belgium for hosting and the International Roundnet Federation for organizing.
That matters because national-team legitimacy is what separates a serious international system from a fast-growing local scene. By the time squads arrived in Houthalen, Belgium had become the place where roundnet could show its structure: national entries, multiple divisions, and enough depth for a world championship bracket to feel earned rather than improvised. The tournament’s scale also dwarfed an earlier championship that had only 70 teams from 11 countries, a title won by the German side Optic Boom.
The Belgium event did not emerge from nowhere. Spikeball Inc., founded by Chris Ruder in Chicago in 2008, grew through local tournaments before launching a competitive season in 2014. By 2022, that pipeline had produced a World Championship with 33 countries on the board, and by 2024 the IRF Roundnet World Championships in Guildford, UK drew 34 countries, pushing the standard one step higher. Belgium was the first clear proof that roundnet had moved from a backyard game with a tour to an international sport with a real pathway to a world title.
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