In a court divided by a 1.10 m high net, indoors or outdoors, two teams consisting of one, two or three players aim – without touching the net – to score a point, hitting the ball with any part of their body except for the hands and making it bounce in the opponent’s area in a way so as to make it difficult for the other team to return it over the net.
First recorded mentions of futnet date back to 1920s to ex-Czechoslovakia when young football players of Slavia Prague started to kick the ball over a horizontal rope which was later replaced by a net.
Lucerna Palace in Prague, 1945
Many changes and developments have taken place since then and, nowadays, almost a hundred years later, in many countries futnet is recognised as an independent sport with its own identity and a proper organisational structure. National and international futnet competitions in various disciplines have been organised for decades and the number of followers all over the world is growing.
There are three disciplines in futnet determined by the number of the players – single, double and triple. Basic rules as laid down by UNIF Laws of Futnet for each discipline are as follows:
Single: one player, two touches, one bounce in all categories, court dimensions 9 m x 12.8 m
Double: two players, up to three touches (not two consecutive touches by the same player), one bounce allowed for men and two bounces for women and juniors, court dimensions 9 m x 12.8 m
Triple: three players, up to three touches (not two consecutive touches by the same player), one bounce allowed for men and two for women and juniors, court dimensions 9 m x 18 m
The futnet ball may remind of a football in its size, but is glued, made of 32 panels, black and white, of synthetic (natural) leather and when properly inflated, should bounce more than half a meter.
The team scores a point whenever the opponent commits a fault, for example: netting the ball, kicking the ball out of the court, touching the net, the same player touching the ball twice in a row (except for the single), touching the ball with the hand or the arm etc.
To win the match, the team has to win 2 sets. A set is won by the team who first scores 11 points with a minimum two-point lead or first scores 15 points.
See the Laws of Futnet for more details on the rules of this sport.