Football has officially left the ground, literally. A team of Russian daredevils just staged a full match 1,800 meters in the sky, on a field dangling from a hot-air balloon. What began as an audacious idea by Russian gymnast and extreme-sports athlete Sergey Boytsov has now become a viral global spectacle and a newly validated world record.
The stunt involved a full football match staged on a swaying platform dangling beneath a massive hot-air balloon, turning a simple kickabout into one of the most dangerous sports experiments ever attempted. The video has exploded across social media, attracting tens of millions of views. On Instagram alone, Boytsov s post has crossed 51 million views, with users calling the feat surreal, breathtaking, and outright “cosmic.” Boytsov framed the attempt as a breakthrough moment, writing, We set a new world record.
The world s first hot air balloon football match at an altitude of 1,800 metres. Skyborne sports experiment But behind the viral clips lies an engineering challenge that nearly didn t get off the ground. According to Idman.biz, the match has been recorded as the first official football game ever played beneath a hot-air balloon, following strict technical-safety approvals.
Boytsov, known for pushing physical limits through extreme projects, said the vision was to merge adventure sports with football and offer a new experience with an extraordinary record. View this post on Instagram The platform itself was a feat of airborne design. Measuring 16×10 meters and weighing 1.2 tons, it included artificial turf, real goalposts, and a fully drawn penalty box. With players and equipment onboard, the total suspended load exceeded 2.5 tons.
Months for one moment Realizing the project required the team to approach four different engineering bureaus. Early experts simply didn t believe such a structure could ever fly safely, and refused to take responsibility. The team moved ahead anyway, ultimately completing 700 hours of assembly. Test flights didn t go smoothly.
The structure bent under load, forcing multiple recalculations and reinforcements. Weather proved to be the biggest enemy: the balloon could only ascend in perfectly calm conditions and low temperatures. The team waited months for a narrow, ideal window. Once airborne on October 1, the platform hosted a match played according to all the rules goals, referee arguments, and even a mini press conference.
As the aircraft circled overhead, capturing the footage, players in full gear sprinted, tackled, and passed across a field gently rocking in mid-air. In one clip that drew widespread attention, a player celebrated a goal by performing Cristiano Ronaldo s SIUUU jump, timed precisely as he stepped off the platform, parachute strapped on, plunging into open sky.
During the roughly 90-minute flight, 20 footballs sailed out of bounds and dropped into the void, scattering across the landscape below. Online reactions were equally scattered, some amazed, others terrified. So powerful, it s breathtaking! wrote one user.
Another joked, If the ball drops in there, forget it, I m not rescuing it. The achievement has now received international recognition, marking a milestone for extreme sports engineering and for the strange, soaring world of airborne football.
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