Nobody has a head start
The child who is never picked for football starts here on a strictly equal footing with the others. Nobody began at the age of five: everyone discovers it at the same time.
Belgian Tamburello Sports Federation
National federation · Member of the FIBaT
A sport almost nobody knows. Which is exactly what makes it open to everyone.
Tamburello is a French-Italian sport played in more than twenty countries. In Belgium it fits inside a school gym, 25 Sundays a season, and it is waiting for you.
You are visitor number to take an interest in tamburello on this site.
Many people stop at curiosity. You could be playing this Sunday: first session free, tamburello lent to you, and nobody knows how to play when they arrive.
I'm coming to try — it's freeWhy this one rather than another
Nothing to buy
The tamburello and the balls are provided. Sportswear and clean indoor shoes are enough — you will not go home with a list of equipment to pay for.
Mixed, non-contact, from the age of 10
Girls and boys play together, with no separate categories. No physical contact, no fitness required beforehand. Parents play alongside their children.
A genuine competitive sport
Behind the simplicity of the first session lie world championships, an international federation and a Belgian national team ranked among the ten best in the world.
From nothing to an international podium in twelve months
In April 2024, Belgium had no tamburello federation at all. In December 2025, it hosted the first European Cup ever played on Belgian soil, and finished last there, for lack of experience. Two months later, in Rome, its national team reached the round of sixteen of the World Championship and finished tenth out of fifteen nations. In April, it stood on a podium in Beauvais, France. All of it from a single municipal hall, with a team built from scratch.
10ᵉ
mondiale
Indoor World Championship, Rome 2026
24
équipes
European Cup hosted in Evere in 2025
2ᵉ
place
Beauvais tournament, France 2026
How this sport reached Belgium
A match in Barcelona, and an idea that never let go
It was Giuseppe Palma who took me to see a competition in Barcelona. I could not picture people playing ball with a tambourine in hand: it struck me as absurd. Curiosity is what made me say yes.
Once there, I was floored. I had never imagined such a spectacle — the speed of the rallies, the intensity, shots that knock you backwards. There was a beauty in the movement and the stances that held me rooted to the spot.
But what won me over was not the game. It was what surrounded it. On one team, a father and his daughter. On the opposing team, his son. And in the stands, the mother shouting at her son to pass the ball to his father, because he was not getting a touch.
A sport that brings a whole family onto one court, all generations mixed together, in mixed teams or not, with nothing but the pleasure of playing and the certainty of never being bored. And I will say it plainly: the women are formidable at this game. It is astonishing.
When Giuseppe told me they were looking to spread the sport around the world, I thought it would be a fine challenge. This sport deserved to be known. I decided to take it on.
How did we get here? Jean-Luc Moerenhout, founding president, tells how the magic happened.
The second encounter
Narcisse Amoussou, the ace nobody saw coming
The federation was founded on 3 April 2024. Everything was still to be built: finding players, training them, forming a team. A second encounter, as unexpected as the one in Barcelona, made it possible.
The tambourine world is small, and news travels fast. By word of mouth, Narcisse Amoussou heard that a federation had just opened its doors in Belgium. He tracked down my number and called me.
Now settled in Belgium, Narcisse discovered tambourine ball in 2016, in Benin, his home country. He was a handball player at the time, until the day Thomas Tossou-Dan, president of the Benin Tambourine Ball Federation, put a tambourine in his hands for the first time. It was he who trained him.
Results came quickly. In 2018, in his very first national championship, his club, AS ACADEMIA of Cotonou, made it all the way to the final, where it lost to the Aigles Rouges of Comé: second prize.
He then earned his place in Benin’s national team, as a cordier (front player). In 2022 he was crowned Labor Gate champion. That same year, he played the Open World Cup in Montpellier, where Benin finished fourth. In 2023 he played the Indoor World Championship in Monzambano, Italy, where his team won its first matches.
He also refined his game in France, with the Ganivenq family. For ten years, Louis, a pioneer of French tambourine ball, and his daughter Patricia have supported Narcisse and the Beninese players. Patricia has since become president of the French federation.
By the end of our meeting, my last doubts had vanished. I had found the ace we were missing, and my resolve was all the greater for it.
Narcisse then took the reins on the court. One by one, he trained and coached the players who, in September 2025, became the Tamburello Red Devils, and a few days later he led them to Les Pennes-Mirabeau: the Belgian team’s first World Championship, and already his third.
He has written what came next with them. In December, in Evere, the team finished last in the European Cup, for lack of experience. Two months later, in Rome, it reached the round of sixteen of the World Championship. In April, it took second place on the podium in Beauvais.
As sporting director and captain, Narcisse has given himself body and soul to this sport.
You only have to watch him play. Every movement is precise, as if frozen in time; every ball is struck with nobility, his eyes locked on the opponent he is about to strike down.
Narcisse Amoussou, sporting director and captain of the national team
In their own words
Filmed during the European Cup in Evere, December 2025.
December 2025
The French president and the mayor of Evere Patricia Ganivenq, president of the French tambourin federation, Pascal Fabre, of the Florensac club, and Alessandro Zappala, mayor of Evere.December 2025
A member of parliament, and the president of the International Federation Louis Ganivenq, a tambourin pioneer, Ridouane Chahid, member of parliament and chair of the Evere municipal council, and Edoardo Facchetti, President of the International Tambourin Federation.Tambourin, seen by people who had never heard of it
We approached passers-by in a park, put a tambourine in their hands, and listened to what they said after playing.
In a Brussels park
Several passers-by, the same surprise They had never seen this sport. They take the tambourine, play a few rallies, and say what they think.In a Brussels park
First rallies, first reactions The longest conversation of the series: a passer-by discovers the game, tries it, and comes back to it.Our story, on film
Four milestones, filmed. From the very first taster session at Parc Albert in Ganshoren to the World Championship in Rome — seventeen months.
14 and 15 September 2024
The very first taster session, at Parc Albert Massimo Scotti looks back on the federation’s first event, in Ganshoren: the first tambourin taster session ever held in Belgium.28 April 2025
Tamburello at NATO An introductory day at NATO headquarters in Brussels. A sport for every nation.12 – 14 December 2025
The European Cup, in Evere The 32nd Indoor European Club Cup, the first ever held in Belgium. Nine nations on court, around a hundred participants, the President of the International Federation in attendance.February 2026
The national team at the World Championship Rome, Indoor World Championship. Two months after finishing last, for lack of experience, at its home European Cup in Evere, Belgium reaches the round of sixteen. There it meets France, the reigning champions, and the run ends: tenth out of fifteen nations.Next sessions, open to everyone
- Session open to all
- Session open to all
- Session open to all
- Session open to all
News
Wednesday 30 September 2026
The Red Devils of Tambourine win the Les Pennes-Mirabeau World Championship in men's Series D
A year ago, they finished last in men's Series D (under-age). This weekend, in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, they won all five of their matches and brought the cup home to Belgium. Next year, they will play in Series C.
Sunday 13 September 2026
Sessions resume on 13 September
The L'Aubier hall reopens for the 2026-2027 season: 25 Sundays, from 9 am to noon.
Monday 10 August 2026
Tamburello at the European Sport For All Games in Limerick
Four days of demonstrations in Ireland — and an invitation to Riyadh in 2028.
Come and write the beginning of this story
Tamburello has existed in Belgium for barely two years. Everything is still to be built, and that is exactly what makes this moment unique: you are not joining an established club, you are joining the pioneers. The first session is free, tambourine provided.