What sport is Colpbol, and what are its rules? 2026

It has been 22 years since physical education teacher Juanjo Bendicho opted for a new integrative sport that did not exclude anyone from the field. A sport that also broke ground in favor of gender equality by advocating that boys and girls play on the same team and under equal conditions.

Now, 22 years later, this sport, which Bendicho baptized with the name Colpbol, is not only played in all the Autonomous Communities of Spain, but has crossed our borders and is already practiced in European countries such as Finland - famous for the success of its educational system and its very low rate of school failure -, France, Germany or Poland, and on the American continent such as Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela or Colombia.

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In these two decades, Colpbold has made possible what until recently was almost unthinkable: that boys and girls and fathers and mothers saw it as absolutely normal for their children, regardless of their gender, to play together and on the same team.

"When I created Colpbol in 1997, I did so with the intention of creating a sport with more educational parameters, and to put an end to the deficiencies or limitations that I saw in traditional team sports at an educational level; I wanted to put an end to the separation of men and women and commit to gender equality so that boys and girls, all, would have equal participation," Bendicho explains to Ser Padres. "At that time there was a lot of talk about team sports, but in all of them there were a lot of individual actions. In addition, people who had disabilities could not participate either," he points out.

Taking all these premises into account, Bendicho created a sport in which necessarily mixed teams played, with boys and girls (seven players on each team) and in which neither the age (as long as the players are at least in fourth grade) nor the physical or mental condition of its participants matters. Hence, parents and children can play together (on the same or opposing teams) in this sport that, Bendicho clarifies, "allows for matches between people with a great difference in both age and motor skills. And the fact that the ball cannot be caught makes the players very equal."

The rules of the game

To play Colpbol, the seven players on each team have to try to put the ball into the opposing team's goal. Of course, without picking it up, without touching it from the waist down and without anyone dribbling it more than once in a row. Rules that, according to Bendicho, "give this sport a totally collaborative and team aspect. No one can play the game alone, everyone has to collaborate so that the ball reaches the opponent's goal."

A ball that, according to what he tells us, must be made of plastic, weighing 150 grams and measuring 65 to 76 centimeters in circumference. Apart from that, Colpbol only requires a multi-sports court to play that is 20 meters wide by 40 meters long (standard size). "One of the bases of our sport is simplicity. Colpbol is very simple by regulation, from a technical point of view and from an infrastructure point of view," says Bendicho.

Third Spanish Championship

Colpbol, whose colors are green and blue, which in 2011 received the National Award for Educational Innovation from the Ministry of Education and which already has a channel on YouTube, is about to celebrate its third Spanish championship, on June 21, 22 and 23 in the city of Valencia and Burjassot. A championship in which, according to Bendicho, teams from various Autonomous Communities will participate.

In addition to this championship, there is a Colpbol league for people with different functional abilities, as Bendicho explains.

Looking to the future, the creator of this sport aspires to continue with the process of normalizing the practice of Colpbol like any other sport. Among its objectives is also for Colpbol to have the structure and recognition of any other sport at all levels. “It would be very good and interesting if this recognition came at the state level and by the Higher Sports Council,” he concludes.