There was a sense of déjà vu in the seventh round of the 2025 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup in Schöftland, Switzerland, on 15 November.
In the tournament’s final, UCI World Champions Bernd Mlady and Raphael Kopp (Stein/GER) faced long-time rivals and UCI World Championships silver medallists Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feurstein (RV Dornbirn/AUT).
Going into the match, eight-time cycle-ball UCI World Champion Schnetzer was hoping to celebrate his 32nd birthday by turning the tables on the result at the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships final in Göppingen, Germany, a week earlier. The scores were tied after two seven-minute periods, and the fans were treated to more action in extra time. Stein was not prepared to give Schnetzer a birthday present, scoring the decisive goals for a 10-7 victory.
However, there was still reward for Schnetzer and Feurstein, whose second place in Schöftland was enough to give them the overall lead in the 2025 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup, three weeks before the Final.
Overcoming difficult starts
Both teams in the final had faltered once each in the preliminary round. Mlady and Kopp lost their third game against the Swiss pair Björn Vogel and Rafael Artho (Mosnang) 4-7. Schnetzer and Feurstein, meanwhile, were narrowly beaten (3-4) by Germans Michael Birkner and Robert Mlady (Stein II) in the match for the preliminary round victory.
The semi-finals therefore featured a club derby, Stein I against Stein II, which the favoured Mlady and Kopp won 7-4. Meanwhile, Schnetzer and Feurstein eliminated Mosnang with the day’s biggest victory, 12-3. The match for third place between Stein II and Mosnang also went into extra time, with the German team Birkner and Mlady finally prevailing 7-5.
Positives for home team
After a difficult start, Schöftland's home team, Michael Baumann and the club’s President Freddy Schenk, had some success in the end. “After we last held a high-level tournament with the Swiss Championships nine years ago, we wanted to organise a larger event again. We knew that we were competitive at this level, but only had outsider chances. We wanted to keep up as well as possible and cause one or two surprises.”
The team from the second-tier Swiss B division initially failed in the preliminary round, recording four defeats. In the match for ninth place, the local heroes faced the French team Dorlisheim II (Thomas Leclerc and David Luck), who had also lost all their preliminary round games. The Swiss locals finally got their win 5-2 to end on a positive note.
The final UCI World Cup tournament will take place on 6 December in Hofen, Germany, featuring the best eight teams in the UCI World Cup ranking along with the best Asian team (Kobe/JPN) and the tournament host, Hofen.
2025 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup Ranking
1. RV Dornbirn/ AUT (Patrick Schnetzer/ Stefan Feurstein) 190 points
2. RMC Stein/ GER (Raphael Kopp/ Bernd Mlady) 185
3. RS Altdorf/ SUI (Yannick Fröhlich/ Timon Fröhlich) 160
4. RSV Großkoschen/ GER (Eric Lehmann / Tim Lehmann) 154
5. RMC Stein II/ GER (Michael Birkner/ Robert Mlady) 145
6. RMV Mosnang/ SUI (Björn Vogel/ Rafael Artho) 130
7. RS Altdorf II/ SUI (Fabian Hauri / Jon Müller) 128
8. VCE Dorlisheim I/ FRA (Quentin Seyfried / Mathias Seyfried) 106
Full results from round seven of the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup