The Salzburg mountain village of Filzmoos is bringing Yukigassen, a new winter sport originating from Japan, to Austria.
The registration period for Austria's largest snowball fight - the International Austrian Yukigassen Championship - which will take place from March 14 to 16, 2025 in Filzmoos, runs until the end of January. The team sport Yukigassen (Japanese for snow fight) was invented in 1988 in Hokkaido (Japan) and, to put it simply, is 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. A Yukigassen team consists of at least seven people. Apart from a minimum age of 13, there are no other restrictions on participation and no previous knowledge is required.
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.
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.
Interested teams can contact the Yukigassen Austria office by email to yukigassen@filzmoos.at or on the homepage of the Austrian Yukigassen Association at www.yukigassen-austria.at to register for the tournament. The winning team can bear the title “Austrian Yukigassen State Champion” and will receive medals and non-cash prizes from the sponsor Stiegl as well as prize money of 3,000 euros (the vice-state champion receives 2,000 euros, the third-place team receives 1,000 euros).
More information is available at www.yukigassen-austria.at.