Drone Soccer - a fun new sport - 1st March 2024

A new game's mixing technology and sport. In 'drone soccer', players fly drones in teams. These pilots work together.

Sean Greenhalgh plays drone soccer. It's a hard game to play.

Sean Greenhalgh: "This is the actual competition arena. Right here we got the goal post the goal posts that these drones fly through. And these drones when you're flying through, you only have two to three inches around the drone to fly through that, so it is very precise."

Each game has two teams. A team has 5 players. Games take 9 minutes. The team's lead striker can score goals. This drone has to fly through the goal.

Sean Greenhalgh: "In a real competition, there will be ten inside the arena at a time. There's five players on each team consisting of three defenders, two strikers, one is a lead striker the other one is a backup striker. The lead striker is the only one who can score and he's the one with the green tassels underneath the drone."

People use drones to take photos. Drones deliver products too. Now, people are using them for fun and competitions. For some people, drone soccer is like quidditch. This is Harry Potter's favourite sport.

Players need to be good pilots. It's difficult to score a goal. But drone soccer's a sport for everyone. Women, men and disabled players can all be on the same team.

Ro Sang Heub is president of drone soccer.

Ro Sang Heub: "There will be a World Cup in 2025 in South Korea, and I dream about this sport being played regardless of any gender, any type of people, disabled people. I wish it becomes one of the major sports played by everybody."

Drones are sometimes dangerous. Now, you can't fly them in many cities. This sport helps people to learn to fly drones.