You might not know it, but the sport of soccer actually originated from the city of Florence, Italy, and not England. Though, the sport played in 15th-century Florence was slightly different from today’s soccer, to say the least. In fact, it featured soccer, rugby, Greco-Roman wrestling, and boxing moves.

The premise of Calcio Storico is somewhat similar to modern-day soccer. The players compete on a square-shaped field, running around in an attempt to throw the ball into the designated goals. The rules, however, are quite different. The 27 (!) players on each team are free to use Greco-Roman wrestling techniques, tackle opponents rugby-style and even box one another on the field.

Does that sounds batsh*t insane? If it does, that’s normal. The goal of such sport is to toughen its participants, in a Spartan way. It’s far, far away from what you can witness in modern-day soccer. The players frenetically run on the field, trying to throw the ball in the net, while being kicked, punched, and thrown on the ground in the process. Bloodbaths and injuries are rife in this crazy sport.

As you can imagine it’s pretty brutal, and outright insane. There’s no way such sport could still be played to this day, right? …Right?

Wrong.

Nowadays, a big tournament called Torneo dei Quattro Quartieri (Tournament of the Four Neighborhoods) takes place every year in Florence. Featuring 3 matches, the Tournament of the Four Neighborhoods perpetuate the ancient tradition of Calcio Storico. The tournament is actually a big part of Florence’s cultural heritage and thousands of people gather to Calcio Storico games in order to witness modern-day gladiators in action.

Have a look at the following footage which takes you into the heart of Calcio Storico, also known as the most insane sport on Earth.

“>