The IFF Central Board (CB) held its eighth meeting of the year on the 10th of December to go through all items and election procedures prior to the IFF General Assembly (GA). The IFF CB also elected Ms. Agata Plechan as the new Athletes’ Commission chair for 2021 – 2024.
IFF General Assembly 2020
The 16th IFF General Assembly 2020 will be held over Zoom on Friday the 11th of December as a virtual meeting, starting at 8:30 CET. The meeting will take place on Zoom and not on Teams based on the experience of a number of the different national and international meetings. The invitation link with detailed instructions regarding the technical and practical issues has been sent to all participants. The participants will be instructed to enter the meeting via the Lobby function to update the registrations and let the participants enter the meeting. The participants will be given different time slots to enter the meeting.
The participants will be instructed to turn off microphones when they are in the meeting except when they are given the turn to speak, when they should turn on the video and microphone. The participants are also recommended to enter the meeting by laptops or computers in order to secure that they have all the functions required in the meeting.
If the participants want to speak during the meeting, they will use the “raise hand” or asking for the floor in the chat function, when given the possibility to do so. The system automatically puts the requested speaking turns in time order. All proposed changes must be made in writing over the chat or by email to a designated email address: kalsta@floorball.sport.
The possible elections will be carried out with Webropol and other voting with Mentimeter. The IFF office staff will be running meeting functions and will also get some technical support from the Finnish Floorball Federation.
IFF GA Agenda
The IFF CB approved the updated agenda for the IFF General Assembly 2020:
- Opening of the General Assembly by IFF President
- Approval of present Associations and the voting roll
- Greetings to the General Assembly
- Election of two scrutineers of the General Assembly
- Approval of the agenda
- Approval of the protocol of the last General Assembly (Article 31 paragraph 2)
- Modification of the statutes (changes in statutes a 2/3 majority is needed)
- Admission or expulsion of official member Associations
- Approval of the CB reports
- Approval of the financial report and the auditor’s report 2018-2019
- Decision on freedom of responsibility for the CB
- Decision on membership fee
- Examinations and decisions on proposals and motions of the members
- Approval of the IFF CB proposals, budget and working plan for the next two years
- Elections
- Appointment of a chartered auditor for two years
- Approval of Regulations within the meaning of article 15 paragraph 2 littera c)
- Decision on all affairs being reserved for the General Assembly by the statutes or by law
- Appointment to be honorary member
- Decision on the meeting place for the next General Assembly
- Presentations on coming World Floorball Championships
- Closing of the General Assembly
Elections during the IFF GA
The following elections will be made during the IFF General Assembly:
- IFF President
- 11 IFF Central Board members
- IFF Appeal Committee Chair
- Three ordinary members of the Appeal Committee and substitute members
- IFF Disciplinary Committee Chair
- Three ordinary members of the Disciplinary Committee and substitute members
- IFF Ethics Commission Chair
- Three members of the Ethics Commission
IFF Central Board nominations
Nominations for IFF President:
- Mr. Tomas Eriksson, Sweden (re-election)
Nominations for IFF CB members:
- Mr. Jörg Beer, Switzerland (re-election)
- Ms. Monica Birdal, Norway (re-election)
- Mr. Tamuz Hidir, Ukraine (new)
- Mr. Steen Houman, Denmark (re-election)
- Mr. Stephen King, Australia (re-election)
- Mr. Martin Klabere, Sweden (re-election)
- Mr. Carlos Lopez, Spain (re-election)
- Ms. Pakkamol Siriwat, Thailand (new)
- Mr. Filip Suman, Czech Republic (re-election)
- Mrs. Kaarina Vuori, Finland (re-election)
- Mr. Calle Karlsson, USA (new)
As already decided in the last CB meeting the CB will propose to the GA to enlarge the number of CB members in order to have broader representation reflecting the IFF development. The proposal to the GA includes modification of the IFF Statutes, so that the CB shall consist of a President and 10-12 members. The President and and 9-11 members are elected by the IFF GA.
The IFF Office sent out the invitation for nominations for the IFF Committees in the beginning of November, in order to have the information of candidates before the IFF General Assembly. The IFF Committees will be elected by the IFF CB in its first meeting during 2021. The nominees are found here.
CFU ordinary membership
The Chinese Floorball Union has on the 1st of December applied for ordinary membership and as they have now paid their outstanding membership fees and are fulfilling the criteria’s for the ordinary membership. The CB will therefore proposes that the IFF GA will approve CFU as ordinary members.
IFF Athletes Commission
The IFF Office has collected the nominations from the member associations for the female candidates for the Athletes Commission elections of 2021 for four female members. The IFF received a total of 12 candidates which is a new record.
ATC nominees for 2021-2024
Josefina Eiremo (SWE) – re-nomination
Lidwien Reehuis (NED) – re-nomination
Agata Plechan (POL) – re-nomination
Yui Takahashi (JPN) – re-nomination
Neha Kiyani (PAK)
Daphine Kabaziba (UGA)
Sangeeta Rathi (IND)
Linda Lice (LAT)
Sophie Scott (NZL)
Camilla Olshov (ITA)
Lara Heini (SUI)
Karen Farnes (NOR)
As approved by the IFF Central Board in June 2016, ATC members are elected for a term of four years and the elections are held during the WFC Qualification events. In this way we ensure that a large number of athletes have the opportunity to vote in the ATC elections. Via the elections, the players will elect a minimum of three representatives. As it presently is unclear if all the Women’s WFC qualifications will be able to be organised and when they will take place the IFF Office has prepared a proposal for how the voting shall be conducted online.
The current ATC chair, Ms. Lidwien Reehuis, has informed that she is not in position to continue for the next four year period. The CB thanked Ms. Reehuis for her valuable input during her time as the ATC chair and wished her all the best for her future.
The IFF CB then decided to elect the present ATC member and nominee for the next period Ms. Agata Plechan as the new ATC chair and the ex officio CB member.
AOFC Annual General Meeting
The Asia Oceania Floorball Confederation organised the AOFC General Meeting over Zoom on the 29th of November. The AOFC AGM was organised by Thailand Floorball Association. The meeting discussed the present situation of the AOFC and the upcoming plans and the Asian Indoor and Martial Games in Bangkok Thailand from the 22nd to 29th of May 2021. The AOFC AGM re-elected Mr. Chaiyapak Siriwat as the AOFC President and Mr. Stephen King as the Senior Vice President. Read more here.
Future World Floorball Championships and bids
The IFF CB appointed the organiser of the Women’s WFC 2023 and the organiser will be published during the IFF GA. The contract negotiations will start during spring 2021.
Concerning the Men’s WFC 2024 bids the IFF Office has reverted to the applicants (Singapore & Sweden) and asked for some extra information and due to the pandemic situation prolonged the bid until to 18th December and then the evaluation will take place.
The bidding for the U19 WFC 2023 and 2024 started on 1st December and will end by 15th January 2021. The evaluations will take place still in January and thereafter put forward to the CB.
IFF Events
Men’s WFC 2020, Helsinki, Finland – played in December 2021
The Men’s WFC 2020 to be played from the 3rd – 11th of December 2021. Visit the website here!
TV discussions have been re-started with both Polar-HD concerning signal production, Finnish Yleisradio and other takers, as there now is an extra need for coordination in regards of the timing of the main matches during the overlap of the Women’s and Men’s WFC’s on the 3rd-5th of December 2021. The negotiations concerning the TV rights for the Swedish market have been agreed upon in cooperation with the Swedish Federation.
Women’s U19 WFC 2020, Uppsala, Sweden – played in May 2021
The Women’s U19 WFC is played 5th – 9th of May 2021. Visit the website here!
The Go/NoGo dates has been discussed between LOC and the IFF to be set to 8th of March for the teams and 12th of March for the LOC. The LOC is preparing an information letter to the teams.
Women’s WFC 2021, Uppsala, Sweden
The Women’s WFC is played 27th of November – 5th of December 2021. Visit the website here!
TV discussions are ongoing with the Swedish Floorball Federation. It has been agreed to build a solution where the IFF gives the Swedish Federation the right to try to sell the IFF TV-rights in Sweden in a larger floorball package including a number of Swedish features for the years 2021 – 2024, to secure a good visibility and coverage, as well as a increased financial revenue for the IFF rights. It has been agreed that IFF has full insight to the negotiations.
WFC 2021 Qualifications
The WFC qualifications will be played according to the Future of Floorball concept with match time 3 x 15 minutes and team delegations consisting of 17 players and five officials.
Discussions about possible postponements are ongoing with the organisers of the WFC 2021 qualifications. The Go/NoGo dates for the European and American qualifications are the 6th of December for the LOC and the 13th of December for the teams. The qualifications must be finished before the 4th of July.
For the WFCQ AOFC in Japan the Go/NoGo dates were set to 19th April for the teams and 26th April for the LOC.
Men’s U19 WFC 2021, Brno, Czech Republic
The Men’s U19 WFC is played 28th of April – 2nd of May 2021. Visit the website here!
The final round ballot will be organised 16th of December 2020 as a combined virtual and in person event.
MU19 WFC 2021 qualifications
The AOFC qualification were cancelled and that the top three ranked teams, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, are directly qualified for the final round, in accordance with earlier decisions. The CB confirmed this decision, which was made in cooperation between the Singapore Floorball Association and the IFF.
The Americas qualification has been postponed to 14th-15th February 2021 and that European qualifications are currently in preparation to be played at the set dates. The Go/NoGo dates are 6th January 2021 for teams and 13th January for the WFCQ LOCs.
Men’s WFC 2022, Zurich, Switzerland
The WFC 2022 logo has been launched and the cooperation with myclimate is running well. So far five countries have registered, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland (31st of December is the last day to register).
Women’s U19 WFC 2022, Wellington, New Zealand
Five countries have registered so far: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland (31st of December is the last day to register).
Other Events
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
The Asia Indoor and Martial Art Games, which will be organised in Thailand and played in Bangkok and Chon Buri. The dates are set to 21st – 31st of May 2021.
SEA Games in 2021
The SEA Games will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2021. The dates are 21st of November – 2nd of December. The SEA Games Council is to decide upon the programme, based on the appeals made concerning a total of 24 sports, the Vietnamese LOC wants to remove from the programme.
FISU
FISU has informed that the WUC 2022 will be organised in Liberec, Czech between the 25th to 29th of June 2022. These dates work with the IFF calendar, even if there might be some effect in participation from the top players due to The World Games 2022 in July in Birmingham, USA.
The minutes from the IFF CB meeting will be published soon here
