Swamp football (sometimes called Swamp soccer, and ''Suopotkupallo'' in Finnish) is a form of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

that is played in bogs or swamps. The sport is said to come from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

where it initially was used as an exercise activity for athletes and soldiers, since playing on soft bog is physically demanding. Swamp soccer is especially very popular in the Kainuu region.Info about the event
Ukkohalla. Referenced on July 6, 2021 (in Finnish) The first organized championship was the 1998 Finnish championship and was the brainchild of Jyrki Väänänen nicknamed "The Swamp Baron". There are currently estimated 300 swamp football teams around the world. The officially recognized global body for Swamp Soccer is Swamp Soccer UK Ltd, based in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. As well as managing the Swamp Soccer World Cup, Swamp Soccer UK has a mission to introduce the sport to other countries. Lead by Stewart Miller, in the last few years from 2011 to 2015, official tournaments have been launched in China (

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

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Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

) and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

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Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

Swamp football in the UK

In 2008 the

Dunoon Dunoon (; gd, Dùn Omhain) is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As wel ...

competition moved to nearby Strachur to become the World Cup. 43 teams entered the tournament, which was contested over 3 days. Top honors went to Team Rambos in the men's competition with Belgium's De Rode Modderduivels winning the mixed competition. In 2009, sponsored by FRijj (part of the Dairy Crest Group), the world cup competition attracted 100 teams from 25 countries. FRijj and Swamp Soccer ran an innovative on pack promotion which included augmented reality - the first time an established UK brand had used this medium for a national promotion. In 2011, the tournament moved to Edinburgh and 2012 it was in Inverness, the capital city of the Scottish Highlands. The Swamp Soccer World Cup moved back to its spiritual home, to the Dunoon area in 2013. In 2014 Ardbeg single malt whisky became the title sponsor. In 2016, the Swamp Soccer World Cup moved to Istanbul in Turkey.

Rules

The standard football rules have been modified significantly to suit the demanding sport: * The game is played in two halves of 12 minutes * Corner kicks, penalties and throw-ins are made by dropping the ball on to a chosen foot * There is no off-side rule * There are 6 players on the field, with no limit on the size of squads * The players can be substituted as often as they want * The World Cup is held in Scotland annually, usually on the last weekend in June * World Championship is held in Finland annually, usually in the middle of June a week before World Cup

References

External links

Swamp Soccer EuropeSwamp soccer world championships in FinlandThe world cup swamp soccer tournament in ScotlandBBC's web page on swamp football and its rulesImages from a Scottish tournamentThe Icelandic swamp soccer page
{{Association football Association football variants Sports originating in Finland