Foreword IFF President WFC U19 women 2004 in Tampere in Finland
Distinguished guests and Floorball friends,
On behalf of the International Floorball Federation (IFF) I have the pleasure and honour to announce the first historic World Floorball Championships U19 for women in Finland.
The tournament is organized by the Finnish Floorball Federation (SSBL), and supported by the city of Tampere. The IFF is very pleased with the SSBL as a good organizer, and with top officials and good management. At the last WFC 2002 for men we saw that SSBL´ s good job on media, in particular TV, and attracting the spectators, was very successful.
We great welcome the nations participating in the WFC, i.e. the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. These eight nations will always be remembered for taking part in the very first edition.
The WFC U19 is a very important step in order to handle women and men, girls and boys the same way and equally. It’s important to organize the U19 women also from the marketing point of view, in order to have a complete portfolio of international events. The IFF calendar year of international events is now complete with the European Cup finals in January, the WFC C division in April, the women/ men WFC in May, the European Cup qualifier in August and ended with the WFC U19 in November.
Concerning the process to get IOC recognition, soonest possible, it is decided by the IOC in Lausanne to be an ongoing process, i.e. Floorball does not have to wait another four years to get IOC recognition if we fulfil the requirements of the IOC charter. In this sense it is vital that Floorball continuously attracts the media and the youth, and because of this the WFC U19 and the Internet generation of girls taking part is important.
Looking forward to seeing you all and a thrilling tournament. The IFF conveys many thanks to the Finnish Floorball Federation in cooperation with the city of Tampere for organizing the WFC 2004.
Yours sincerely,
Tomas Eriksson
IFF President
