The IFF Executive Committee (ExCo) has been forced to take the decision to cancel the Men’s IFF World Floorball Championships 2020 qualification tournament for the Asia-Oceania region, which was to be played in Bangkok, Thailand, March 2nd – 6th, based on force majeure, due to reasons related to the spread of the COVID-19 in the region.
The Thai Hockey Association is no longer in a position where they are able to host and organise the event, due to the following:
- A quarantine directive from the Thai Ministry of Public Health for people returning/arriving from affected countries (China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore)
- Withdrawal of the host venue, the Bangkok Arena, by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration; and
- Withdrawal of the support of Thailand National Sport University for operations as part of a ban by the Ministry of Education.
The ExCo further decided that, as the WFCQ cannot be played the four top ranked teams will be directly qualified to the WFC 2020 Final round in Helsinki, Finland.
The IFF ExCo further strongly recommends that the participating teams do not start/continue their travel to Bangkok, Thailand, due to the imminent risk of being put into quarantine.
– Due to the rapid spreading of the coronavirus and the new directives from the Thai Government, the IFF had no other option than to cancel the event in Thailand. This decision has not come lightly and we truly apologise for any inconvenience caused, says John Liljelund, the IFF Secretary General.
