South Tyrol's bowlers dream: The world is a guest in Bolzano

Next Tuesday, the 36th World Bowling Cup will be officially opened in Bolzano. Several South Tyrolean luminaries will be in attendance.

09 October 2025

From: pm/sn

For South Tyrol, which boasts approximately 1100 active bowlers, the World Cup is the major highlight of the 2025/26 season. After all, the world's best bowlers will be descending on the South Tyrolean capital for the title fights. Also in the thick of it will be the two reigning Italian and South Tyrolean champions (bowling is only practiced as a competitive sport in South Tyrol, editor's note): Fugger Sterzing in the women's division and KK Neumarkt in the men's division.

"We are well prepared and have been training for the major event, the World Cup in Bolzano, for some time now," said Marion Thaler, captain of Fugger Sterzing. "It's an honor and always a great experience to play in front of our home crowd. We're aware that we're not among the top teams. But we'll all do our best and aim to finish in the top 10."

Neumarkt dreams of the next coup

Neumarkt, which even won a World Cup in 2022, the club's greatest success to date, has somewhat higher expectations. "Our expectations are naturally high, as we're playing the World Cup at home. We want to repeat the success of 2022. We're incredibly excited. A top-four finish is definitely within our grasp, but how far we'll go after that remains to be seen. But we'll also give it our all and are looking forward to this major event on our doorstep," says new captain Georg Righi, who took over from Wolfgang Blaas.

Rot Weiß Zerbst enters the race as defending champions. © Sportissimus

For Neumarkt to repeat its second World Cup victory after the one in 2022, the team from the Lower Saxony region must overcome one team in particular. Rot Weiß Zerbst has won the last two editions, and the Germans have brought the title to Saxony-Anhalt twelve times in total. They are the benchmark in men's bowling.

The anticipation for the World Cup is huge

The women's competition also features a serial winner who enters the race as the overwhelming favorite. KK Mlaka, a team from the Croatian port city of Rijeka, has won the last four editions of the World Cup – and will be looking for a fifth in Bolzano. With Zerbst, Neumarkt, KK Zapresic (Croatia), Zalaegerszegi TK (Hungary), and Zeleziarne Podbrezova (Slovakia), five teams in the men's competition have won the World Cup at least once. In the women's competition, however, only Mlaka has achieved this feat so far.

In addition to Neumarkt and Zerbst, 13 other men's teams have registered, while the women's teams, including Sterzing and Mlaka, have a total of twelve teams participating in the tournament in Bolzano. For your information: All national champions from around the world are eligible to register for the World Cup. Organizing committee chair Annelies Gritsch is very pleased with the number of participating teams: "27 teams is a lot; I didn't expect that, and we're all very happy about it, of course. Preparations are almost complete. We have many motivated volunteers helping us out. We're looking forward to some exciting competitions, hopefully with excellent bowling numbers. We're really looking forward to it," Gritsch concludes.

36th World Cup, Bolzano – the program

Tuesday, 14. October
16 p.m.: Referee meeting and bowling lane inspection
20 p.m.: Opening Ceremony

Wednesday October 15th
From 8.30:XNUMX a.m.: Qualification

Thursday 16 October
From 8.30:XNUMX a.m.: Qualification

Friday October 17
11 a.m.: Women's semifinals
15 p.m.: Men's semifinals

Saturday October 18th
9 a.m.: Games for third place women and men
12.45 p.m.: Women's and Men's Finals

Keywords Bowling World Cup Bolzano