Conversation often inspires. Collaboration is a base for all human invention. The imagination just needs one thing to spark an idea. This is how OmegaBall, a sport that debuted in March of 2022, came about- a simple conversation turning into something bigger. 

Anthony Dittman and two of his former ESPN colleagues were discussing a new American Football league when the conversation took a turn. The three started discussing traditional soccer. From this conversation Dittman drew up the idea for OmegaBall, a spin on the classic sport. 

Dittman, who isn’t a soccer fanatic, started thinking about why soccer was not as popular as football in America. For Dittman, offsides was the problem. Offside prevents cherry picking by making an offensive player in able to stand past the line created by the last defender of the opposing team. Dittman wanted to encourage this in his version of the sport. 

He started considering a round or circular field to eliminate players being offside. Instead of the rectangular about 345 ft by 224 ft. Dittman made the field 175 feet in diameter and takes up half the size of the standard field. 

The next issue was the flow only going from north to south limiting the action. Dittman found that the flow was completely changed by adding a third goal and a third team. The movement of the ball on the field became more circular. This idea could not be achieved in any other American sport making it revolutionize soccer.

The differences between OmegaBall and traditional soccer lie deeper than the foundation. 

The style of play is completely different. Instead of the standard 11 players and 2 teams the game is played as 5 players for each of the 3 teams or 4 field players and one goalie on each team. 

Unlike the conventional soccer field the OmegaBall field has no corners or sidelines for throw-ins or kicks. The field is entirely composed of circles. There are three equidistant goals and three kick-in circles, where players play the ball if it goes out of bounds.

Another notable difference is no throw-ins. When the ball goes out on a sideline in OmegaBall the play starts from what would be a corner. As well as when teams score, the team that conceded the goal starts play within 5 seconds. 

Standard soccer has limits to substitutions such as when they come on and how many. Dittman decided to completely change this. In OmegaBall players can come on at any time from one of the dead ball play areas or corners. Players also can go out of the game and return as many times as they want. 

By removing and changing the rules that slow down the game OmegaBall becomes fast paced and only takes up about 36 minutes of playing and two 5 minute intermissions.

Bored of soccer? Play OmegaBall!