The new North American Floorball League (NAFL) was established during summer 2020 and the first season of the league will be played in summer 2021. According to the NAFL, the new league will strengthen the status of floorball on the other side of the Atlantic.
The first news of the new league were published on 22nd of July 2020. The NAFL is the first floorball league in North America. Previously, the floorball activities have been organised through a few tournaments. Although the league is called the North American Floorball League, it is open to any player in the world, regardless of nationality.
– The North American Floorball League was established to try and help grow the sport of Floorball in the United States and Canada. We currently have some recreational level leagues, and USA Floorball and Floorball Canada both do a great job with their National teams, so this is just another avenue for the sport to grow. Our goal is to provide the highest level competition possible so that it can be enjoyed by spectators and players alike, says Ryan Connor, the Commissioner of NAFL and continues:
– Our expectation for the league is to start small and grow slowly. We will begin play with between four and eight teams the first year, and will have a mix of locally based players and some players joining us from Europe and around the world. So far we have received interest from players in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, and several others. This will be an exciting opportunity for fans in the US and Canada to see some of the best players in the world, and a great opportunity for players around the world to experience living in North America for a short time.
The regular season will begin on 19th of June 2021 and end on 18th of July. The league will be played with eight teams divided into two divisions, East and West. The regular season will be played during four weekends, with each team in each division hosting the other teams in their division for round robin play. Each team will play six of the other seven teams in the league at least once per season. The teams will each play 12 regular season games, and the top two teams in each division will advance to the play-offs, which will be held on the 5th weekend of the season. Semi-finals will be played on Saturday, 3rd place and finals on Sunday. The top four teams will be awarded prize money: the champion will receive $5,000, vice-champion $2,500, 3rd $1,500 and 4th $1,000.
The first NAFL team has already been announced and it is the Fort Worth Panthers.
Source and more information: North American Floorball League
