soccer tennis

Footballtennis is a hybrid sport originating in Czechoslovakia; in both the Czech and the Slovak languages it is called nohejbal. In German it is called Fußballtennis, and in French it is Tennis-Ballon.
HistoryIn 1922 the members of the soccer club Slavia Prague started playing a game which they called soccer over the rope, because it was initially played over a horizontally suspended rope, which was later was replaced by a net. This new game had similar rules to volleyball, except that an arbitrary number of players - usually 2 or 3 on each side - played with their feet instead of their hands.
In 1936 the first official footballtennis rules were written. The first footballtennis cup was played in 1940, although up to 1962 footballtennis was essentially considered a purely recreational sport. However, in this year the Czech footballtennis league was founded, though it was centered largely in Prague. In 1971 the "Český nohejbalový svaz" (Czech footballtennis association) was founded.
Up until the 1980s, the sport gained little international recognition; however, in 1987, the International Footballtennis Association (IFTA, now the FIFTA, the Federation International Footballtennis Association) was founded. European championships have been held since 1993, and world championships since 1996. Footballtennis remains popular in Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also has a following in France, Hungary, Brasil, Switzerland, Austria, Romania and Croatia, as can be seen from the list of FIFTA members