Abstract: A ball valve, in particular for highly pressurized media, with a valve housing (1) in which a ball spindle (16) which is pivoted around an axis in the housing (1) at an axial distance from the pivot support has a ball body (12) as a blocking element between the input part and the output part of a passage (4) of the housing (1) for media, and the flow opening (14) located in the ball body (12) can be oriented to the passage (4) for media for unblocking the ball valve by turning the ball spindle (12), characterized in that the ball spindle (12) is supported on two end sections (8, 10) which are made identical and which are connected to the ball body (12) on both sides and that the support on at least one end section (8, 10) is formed by a support cover (26) which has integrated slide bearing elements (34, 36) and which can be detachably mounted on the housing (1).