Balloon World Cup tournament organised by FC Barcelona's Gerard Pique

You know that balloon game you play at birthday parties, the one where the balloon can't touch the floor...

...it's now an official sport, with its own World Cup.

The competition was organised by Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique and Spanish internet celebrity Ibai Llanos.

The first Balloon World Cup took place in Tarragona, Spain, on Thursday, with Peru's Francesco de la Cruz being crowned the very first balloon world champion.

The tournament was played on a small court, which had living room furniture as obstacles, obviously.

Another obstacle was less obvious, as competitors also bounced their balloon off a small car. Participants from 32 countries competed to get a balloon to touch the ground before their opponent could touch it.

"It's been amazing, it's something totally different. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and try new things," said organiser, Pique.

Shakira, Gerard Pique and his sons posing at the Balloon World Cup

Inspired by a family on TikTok

The tournament was inspired by a series of viral videos posted by two brothers and their sister living in Oregon, in the United States.

Antonio, Diego and Isabel played the game, keeping their balloon in the air as a way to entertain themselves during Covid-19 lockdowns.

They posted videos of their matches on TikTok, receiving thousands of likes.

"We played the game as kids, and then, during the start of quarantine for Covid, we wanted to play it again," Antonio said.

"We started arguing with each other over if it hit the ground or not, so we started taking videos in slow-mo to see if it did, and then finally it got to the point of let's post this video of us on TikTok.

"When I woke up the next morning it was completely viral, like a million likes, and then after that we just decided to keep playing and played more and more until one of our rounds got the attention of Ibai and Pique."

Following their TikTok success, brothers Antonio and Diego teamed-up again, this time to play professionally in the World Cup.

With teams from 32 countries taking part, the eventual winner was 18-year-old Francesco De la Cruz from Peru.

"I am very, very happy, I thank God that I have been able to achieve this," he said.