14 – 16 March: Yukigassen Championship In Filzmoos - Austria's Largest Snowball Fight
The registration deadline for Austria's largest snowball fight is the end of January. The International Austrian Yukigassen Championship will take place from March 14th to 16th in Filzmoos. A Yukigassen team consists of at least seven people. Apart from a minimum age of 13, there are no other participation restrictions. No previous knowledge is required. The team sport Yukigassen (Japanese for snow fight) was invented in 1988 in Hokkaido (Japan) and is, to put it simply, a sporting snowball fight with clear rules and structures between two teams. In order to be successful, there are a number of strategies and tactics that the teams can use.
This is how Yukigassen works: In a Yukigassen match, two teams of seven players each face each other. The teams throw snowballs at each other, with each team having 90 snowballs made with a special snowball machine from Finland. On the 10 x 36 meter snow-covered playing field, there are small protective walls behind which the players can take shelter from the opponent's snowballs. Anyone who is hit has to leave the playing field. The playing time per set is three minutes. The winner is the team that has the most players on the field at the end of the set and is the first to win two sets. Capturing the opponent's flag can also lead to victory. All participants are equipped with helmets and goggles for protection.
The Japanese Yukigassen came to Filzmoos via Finland
Tourism director Peter Donabauer, who is also the founder and president of the Austrian Yukigassen Association, became aware of the new winter sport through a contact in Finland. Yukigassen is already very popular in Finland and the European Championships are held in Lapland every year. "After a few phone calls, it quickly became clear that we wanted this new trend sport in Austria and that Filzmoos as a venue offers the ideal conditions for it," says Donabauer, looking forward to the Yukigassen tournament as another highlight of the season in the Filzmoos winter sports region.
The Filzmoos tournament management is supported by a three-person team of experts from Finland under the leadership of Ari Pöyliö, the president of the Finnish Yukigassen Association. Filzmoos also has a seat and a vote in the International Alliance of Sports Yukigassen, the world association of Yukigassen. Together with the national associations, the aim is to establish Yukigassen as a discipline at the Winter Olympics.
The International Austrian Yukigassen Championship will take place from March 14 to 16, 2025 in Filzmoos. Interested teams can now get information from the Yukigassen Austria office (email: yukigassen@filzmoos.at ) and register for the tournament on the homepage of the Austrian Yukigassen Association ( www.yukigassen-austria.at ). The winning team can bear the title “Austrian Yukigassen National Champion” and will receive medals and non-cash prizes from the sponsor Stiegl as well as prize money of 3,000 euros (the vice national champion receives 2,000 euros, the third-placed team 1,000 euros).
More information: www.filzmoos.at / www.yukigassen-austria.at
