Happy 1st International Floorball Day!

Today, on April 12th 2016, it is time to celebrate the first official International Floorball Day and the IFF´s 30th Anniversary!

Exactly 30 years ago the International Floorball Federation was founded in Huskvarna, Sweden, by the floorball associations of Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. Since then, floorball has grown rapidly and after 30 years the IFF now has 60 member associations and over 300 000 licensed players around the world.

The visibility of floorball is one of the key elements for further success and therefore the IFF invites all floorball friends to take part in the #InternationalFloorballDay social media campaign. Share your best floorball memories Then or Now on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (images and videos) with the hashtag #InternationalFloorballDay!

The official IFF 30th Anniversary Celebrations will take place during the Men´s World Floorball Championships in December 2016 in Riga.

IFF History in Short

1986
The International Floorball Federation was founded 12th of April in Huskvarna, Sweden, by the floorball associations of Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.

1991
Denmark and Norway joined the IFF family.

1992
The first official IFF Congress was held in Zürich, Switzerland.
Hungary joined the IFF family.

1993
The first European Cup was played in Helsinki for Women and in Stockholm for Men.
Czech Republic and Russia joined the IFF family.

1994
The first European Championships for Men was played in Finland.
Estonia, Germany, Japan, Latvia and USA joined the IFF family.

1995
The first European Championships for Women and the second for Men were played in Switzerland. To give Japan the possibility to take part IFF decided that the tournaments should be played as an Open European Championships.
Belgium and Singapore joined the IFF family.

1996
The first World Championships for Men was played in Sweden.The final was sold out -15.106 spectators in the Stockholm Globe Arena.
Australia joined the IFF family.

1997
The first World Championships for Women was played in Åland, Finland and the first Presidents´ Meeting was held in connection with this.
Austria, Great Britain and Poland joined the IFF family.

1999
Brazil, the Netherlands and Slovakia joined the IFF family.

2000
IFF gained provisional membership of GAISF
(General Association of International Sports Federations).

2001
The first World Championships for Men U19 was played in Germany.
Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Canada and New Zealand joined the IFF family.

2002
The first World University Championships in floorball was played in Sweden.
Malaysia, India and Georgia joined the IFF family.

2003
IFF applied for IOC recognition and signed the World Anti-Doping Code.
France joined the IFF family.

2004
Pakistan joined the IFF family.
IFF gained ordinary membership of GAISF on May 20.
The first World Championships for Women U19 was played in Finland.

2005
Korea, Ukraine, Liechtenstein and Iceland joined the IFF family.

2006
Mongolia and Armenia joined the IFF family.

2007
Moldova, Ireland, Israel, Serbia, Argentina, Thailand and Portugal joined the IFF family.

2008
Turkey, Romania and Sierra Leone joined the IFF family.
IFF received provisional IOC recognition on December 11.

2009
Belarus, Iran and Indonesia joined the IFF family

2010
Lithuania joined the IFF family

2011
Philippines and Jamaica joined the IFF family. IFF received the full IOC recognition on July 8th.

2012
Mozambique joined the IFF family

2013
South Africa and Cameroon joined the IFF family

2015
Malta and Cote d´Ivoire joined the IFF family

2016
Uganda joined the IFF family as the IFF Member no 60 and as 6th Member from Africa

Floorball Then and Now