Intense first rounds at the FAI World Drone Soccer Championship
Sunday 16 November saw the first rounds of the FAI World Drone Soccer Championship begin in Shaghai, China. The fierce battles to defend and score goals required intense concentration and serious levels of determination from the teams playing out their dreams in the first ever world championships for their sport.
In the morning, the Youtube livestream cameras started rolling at 8.30am to film the matches in the F9A-A subclass (40cm diametre drone balls and five players per team). Twenty four matches took place during four hours of intense play for the teams in four groups.
Then it was the turn of the F9A-B subclass (20cm drone ball and three players per team) to step up to the cages, for matches across the eight groups. These will continue on Monday 17th November.
In both subclasses, each team has one drone ball designated the Striker. This is identified by a ribbon attached to the orb. The Striker must pass through the opponent's goal ring to score. The other players either support their Striker as they try to score, or defend their own goal.
The red Striker with its red ribbon attempts to pass through the goal ring, defended by the opposing team (credit: Antonis Papadopoulos)
The two subclasses therefore have quite different game-play, with the F9A-A teams of five and larger drone balls meaning more "players" on the pitch to attack and defend across a larger space inside their cages. With the F9A-B subclass there are only three players per team so the pressure to score and defend backed up by the third drone ball adds a level of intensity.
Within each team, then, there is significant importance on strategy: players must communicate and collaborate almost intuitively to keep up with the rapid progress of the match. Absolute focus - not only on their own drone ball, but also the others on the pitch - is essential for the whole three minutes in order to have a chance of beating the opposing team.
Scoring
- Matches are played in three sets, each lasting three minutes.
- The team that scores the most goals in a set wins that set.
- The first team to win two sets wins the match.
- A tie = penalty shoot-out (three attempts per team: The striker has 10 seconds to fly through the goal while a defender from the opposing team tries to block the shot.)
- If the match remains tied after penalties, a sudden-death set begins: the first team to score wins!
Watch the livestream from 16 November
How to follow the event
Images: Courtesy of event organisers unless otherwise stated
