Athletes from 30 countries will descend upon Cincinnati, Ohio, USA this weekend for eight days of spirited competition at the WFDF 2022 World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC), which will run from the 23rd to the 30th of July. The 3,021 players across 128 teams will compete in 659 games in three divisions (Mixed, Women’s, and Open) in the northeast suburbs of Cincinnati, the site of the successful staging of WUCC 2018. The competition kicks off on Saturday, July 23 with an opening ceremony and showcase match between Japan’s MUD and Canada’s Traffic in the Women’s division.
“Coming off of a very competitive and exciting week at The World Games, we are really looking forward to continuing our action-packed summer with such an amazing, large-scale tournament,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “World Clubs is a truly special event, with its combination of elite play, club team dynamics, and social bonding on a global scale. We also want to give our thanks to Tournament Director Dale Wilker who heads up a team of experienced and passionate Cincinnati Ultimate staff and tournament volunteers with the support Oshadega LLC, Columbus Ultimate Disc Association (CUDA), and the Warren Country Convention and Visitors Bureau (WCCVB).”
The WUCC website has the full schedule, information on how to buy tickets and more.
Earlier this month, WFDF announced a partnership with Ultiworld.com for live-streaming at WUCC. There will be two showcase pitches, with eight live-streamed games available per day during the preliminary rounds, and extensive coverage of the quarterfinals in each division. All semifinals and finals will be streamed. While much of the content will be behind a subscription paywall, there will also be a free game streamed every day during WUCC on the WFDF and Ultiworld YouTube channels, and the championship finals for each division of play on Saturday the 30th of July will also be available free.
The commentating team, led by managing editor Tom Styles (GBR), includes an all-star line-up of ultimate luminaries, including Hannah Pendlebury (GBR), Evan Lepler (USA), Liam Grant (IRL), Katie Killebrew (USA), Theo Wan (CAN), Robyn Fennig (USA), Tyler Byrum (USA), Claire Babbott-Bryan (USA), and a surprise guest or two on the microphone during the week-long tournament.
Live-streaming and VOD access will be available to subscribers to Ultiworld. Ultiworld subscriptions with live-streaming access start at US$12.99 per month (cancelable at any time), or US$129.99 annually (with two months free), which includes not only WUCC video access but also makes all of its premium content available. All three Finals games on Saturday the 30th of July will be live streamed for free via the Olympic Channel.
The WUCC is the third major event for Flying Disc this summer. The WFDF World Masters Ultimate Championships were held from 25 June to 2 July in Limerick, Ireland with 2,664 athletes on 115 teams from 23 countries. And Flying Disc was one of the sports featured at The World Games in Birmingham, AL, USA, which concluded just last weekend. From Cincinnati, WFDF hosts the World Overall Championships in San Diego, CA, USA the first week of August, The World Juniors Ultimate Championships in Wroclaw, Poland with 650 athletes from 18 countries in the second week of August, and the World Team Disc Golf Championships with players from 26 countries over the third weekend of August in Varazdin, Croatia. WFDF will also be hosting its Annual Congress prior to the opening of WUCC on Saturday the 23rd of July.