At least three rounds of the 2026 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup will feature a women’s tournament, a first for the international series.
Women’s teams will line up at the first round in Kobe (Japan) this Sunday 22 February, the sixth round in Prechtal, Germany (10 October), and the seventh round in Mosnang, Switzerland (21 November).
The launch of a UCI World Cup competition for women follows the introduction of the women’s cycle-ball category at the UCI World Championships in 2023. At the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in Göppingen, Germany, last year, three nations (Germany, Switzerland and Japan) graced the podium of the women’s cycle-ball competition.
The second change to the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup for 2026 is to reduce the number of competing teams from ten to eight, which will result in a modified, more spectator-friendly schedule.
Women to watch in Kobe
Favourites in the women’s tournament at the first round of the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup is the Swiss pair Sava Baumann and Chiara Dotoli: the duo from RC Winterthur were runners-up in both the 2024 and 2025 UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships. Sayaka Tokuhiro and Nana Yamashita (WM Link/JPN), who won bronze at the 2025 UCI World Championships, also have international experience. They form one of two Japanese teams who will be competing in Kobe: Saki Tanaka and Akari Sotana (RSV Osaka) will also be playing at home in Japan.
Asian men’s teams
In the men’s competition, the European guest team is the favourite for the opening round in Kobe. This year it is the Under 23 silver medallists from the European Championships, Moritz Bracht and Tarik Nas (RC Oberesslingen/GER).
Reaching the final is the goal of Yusuke Murakami and Yuma Takahashi from the host club RSV Kobe. They have been representing Japan at the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships since 2021, winning the B division three times and finishing the last two UCI World Championships in sixth place. The duo secured second place the last time a round of the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup was held in Kobe, in 2024. If they match that feat on Sunday, they will qualify for the UCI World Cup final tournament for the fourth time in a row as the best Asian team. Their main competitors are Riku Akatsu and Yutaro Kodaka (Tachikawa CSC/JPN), who finished fourth at the Asian round of the 2025 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup, organised in Hong Kong.
Three other Japanese teams will compete in Kobe: Team II (Koji Okajuma / Nasu Takayuki) and Team III (Taiga Uramoto / Soichiro Takagi) along with Link Tokyo (Tokuhiro Noboru / Ogawa Takuma). HKBTC Flying Gravity (Chan Na Kin Kenny / Ho wing Tai) and SCAA FC (Chan Tsz Chun / Lo Man Fai) come from Hong Kong.
Favourites at the European rounds
The main overall favourites will enter the competition from March, at the six tournaments on European soil. Germany will host four rounds, and Hungary and Switzerland one each, before the final is played in Sulgen, Switzerland, on 12 December.
Following the retirement of the 2025 UCI World Cup overall winners and UCI World Champions Bernd Mlady and Raphael Kopp (RMC Stein/GER), the cards are being reshuffled. Topping the list of favourites for overall victory is the record UCI World Cup winner Patrick Schnetzer (RV Dornbirn/AUT) with his partner Stefan Feuerstein. Although Feuerstein was recently out due to injury, Schnetzer’s previous partner Marcus Bröll – the pair were UCI World Champions six times between 2013 and 2019 – is available as a reserve. They still play well together, as demonstrated by their second place together at the 2025 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup final.
The brothers Yannick and Timon Fröhlich (RS Altdorf/SUI) want to have a say again. Bronze medallist at the 2025 UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships, the pair finished last season as the third-best team in the UCI World Cup ranking, but narrowly missed the podium in the final tournament.
Germany is sending two experienced teams in Eric and Tim Lehman (RSV Großkoschen) along with Michael Birkner and Robert Mlady (RMC Stein). They can reasonably expect to finish in the top eight and qualify for the final, as they did last year.
The Frenchmen Quentin and Mathias Seyfried have the same goal. The brothers from VCE Dorlisheim have recently achieved a good level with two fourth places at the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships.
New to the tournament are Valentin Notheis and Felix Weinert (RKV Denkendorf/GER), who will duel with other teams from Switzerland, Austria and Czechia for one of the final tournament places.
2026 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup calendar
Round 1: 22 February - Kobe, Japan
Round 2: 21 March - Erzhausen, Germany
Round 3: 9 May - Baj, Hungary
Round 4: 29 August - Hähnlein, Germany
Round 5: 12 September - Großkoschen, Germany
Round 6: 10 October - Prechtal, Germany
Round 7: 21 November - Mosnang, Switzerland
Final: 12 December - Sulgen, Switzerland.