OmegaBall is a three-sided variant of association football that puts three teams on a circular pitch and dispenses with the traditional offside rule, according to ESPN. The sport pits teams against each other at a fast pace on a 60-yard diameter field with three goals arrayed around the circumference.
Each side fields five players — four outfielders and a goalkeeper — and defends one goal while attempting to score in the other two. The goals are positioned roughly 60 yards apart and about 30 yards from the center spot, and teams receive one point for each goal they score while an own goal results in a one-point deduction, ESPN reported.
Play resumes immediately after goals: the conceding goalkeeper must restart within five seconds, a rule that often produces quick counters while opponents are still out of position. The format also produces “vulture goals,” when a third team robs possession from an attacking side and converts. There is no offside rule and goal-hanging is permitted; out-of-bounds restarts are taken from the nearest touchline marker as a “Delta Kick,” according to ESPN.
Matches run 39 minutes, split into three 13-minute periods with two short breaks between sessions. Most games require one referee and one scorekeeper, though championship contests are recommended to deploy two referees, a scorekeeper and three line judges to manage the frequent scoring and three-way scoreline, ESPN said.
OmegaBall was devised by Anthony Dittmann along with Bob Funk and Jamie Hemann. Dittmann told ESPN he began by wondering whether removing the offside rule and altering the geometry of the pitch would make the game more exciting. The first OmegaBall match took place in Irvine, California, in 2020, after initial test games at a soccer facility in Oklahoma, and the format follows earlier three-sided experiments such as hexagonal exhibitions in Glasgow and Two-Sided Football World Cups in Sweden (2014) and Germany (2017), according to ESPN. ESPN8: The Ocho listed the 2026 OmegaBall Men’s Championship for Aug. 8 at 4 p.m. ET.
