The Swedish Floorball Association has signed a letter of intent with the City of Malmö, Malmö Arena and Event in Skåne to jointly apply for the Men’s World Floorball Championships 2024.
The application is to be submitted to the IFF in mid-November and the IFF Central Board will decide about the future organisers in its meeting in December. In addition to Sweden, Singapore has also applied to organise the Men’s WFC 2024.
The last time that Sweden hosted a Men’s WFC was in 2014. The event was a success when Sweden could celebrate gold in front of a packed arena. Now the idea is that the scenario will be repeated ten years later – in Malmö Arena.
A thorough analysis has been carried out to get the best conditions for a successful WFC.
– During the evaluation, discussions have been held with several cities and arenas and we appreciate all the stakeholders’ serious commitment. We have now decided that we, together with Malmö and Skåne, will apply for hosting the WFC 2024. The event concept that Malmö and Skåne have presented is incredibly exciting. Swedish floorball will grow further with this WFC, which has all the prerequisites to become one of the best international events, says the Swedish Floorball Federation Secretary General Mikael Ahlerup in Swedish Floorball Federation’s press release.
Per-Olov Bergqvist from the administration in the city of Malmö is proud to be able to submit a bid to arrange a major floorball event:
– We believe a lot in our concept and look forward to inviting Malmö residents and all visitors to a international championship. Our long-term ambition for this type of event is to increase activity and movement in society, says Per-Olov Bergqvist.
Malmö Arena is intended to be the main arena for the nine-day championship, with the Baltic Hall as the second arena.
– We look forward to welcoming floorball to Malmö Arena again. We completed four very successful Swedish Championship Finals together with the Swedish Floorball Federation during the period 2011-2014, says Karin Mårtensson, CEO of Malmö Arena.
Event in Skåne’s CEO Pehr Palm also comments on the application:
– Floorball is one of the biggest sports in the region. A championship of this category contributes to making Skåne internationally visible. We can deliver a fantastic event for the participating players and fans who visit us during the event.
Sweden has previously hosted the Men’s WFC in 1996, 2006 and 2014.
Facts, Malmö Arena:
Audience capacity: 12,512
Audience record (floorball): 11,324
Facts, Baltic Hall:
Audience capacity: 4,077
Audience record (floorball): 3,650
Interested World Floorball Championships hosts
The IFF has received the letter of interest to organise the World Floorball Championships 2023 and 2024 from the following Member Associations (originally published in the CB meeting news 5/2020):
- Australia (U19 WFC 2023 and 2024)
- Denmark (U19 WFC 2023)
- Italy (U19 WFC 2023 and 2024)
- Slovakia (U19 WFC 2023),
- Singapore (WFC 2023 and WFC 2024)
- Sweden (WFC 2024)
Source & more information: Swedish Floorball Federation & IFF CB Meeting news 5/2020
