The IFF Central Board had the second meeting in Solna, Sweden during the weekend. During the second meeting of the year, the IFF CB discussed various topics including the new International Calendar, Future of Floorball, and the renewed Floorball: Fit for Future – development programme.
Future of Floorball
The IFF CB was discussing about the Future of Floorball and created a list of the topics to work with and how to move forwards. The work is ongoing and will be updated in the upcoming CB meetings. Some actions have already been taken.
International calendar
Based on the feedback from the Associations Meeting as well as the last CB meeting the IFF Office and RACC have now made new international calendar proposals, which the CB also discussed in the CB workshop. These proposals reflect the need to have major events spread throughout the year, playing of events in periods where most TV exposure is possible, the distribution of major events for the benefit of the players as well as the National Associations. The RACC will produce concrete proposals for the next IFF CB meeting which will take place in September in Zurich. The aim is to present the outcome to the IFF General Assembly in Malmö in Sweden in December 2024.
Floorball: FitForFuture
The Floorball – Fit for Future Erasmus+ project ended in the end of the year 2023 and now continues as part of the IFF Development Programme. The programme is run as an IFF operation, coordinated by Mr. Frederik Dilger, working for the programme, based on the financial support provided by the EFT countries.
The programme had its official launch on the 17th of April with the first Teams meeting and the second meeting was held on the 24th of April. In the meeting the programme was introduced. Based on the two first introduction meetings held, already eight one-to-one meetings about the programme have been scheduled (with Austria, Belgium, China, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, and Ukraine).
Members
The CB decided based on the application from the Cameroon Floorball Association to reorganise the IFF member association in Cameroon. The new IFF member is the Cameroon Floorball Association and is led by Ms. Elise Kana.
Upcoming events
Women’s U19 WFC 2024 from 8th — 12th May in Lahti, Finland
The LOC has a special theme day for each of the Event days. The opening day is a School day, with over 1,000 students in the morning games. On Thursday there is a Sokos Family Day with outdoor activities and a Paw Patrol Meet & Greet (Finnish children’s TV programme). On Friday there is the National Club Day, with season ending programme and then a memorial game FIN-NOR for a former U19 female player who passed away due to cancer. On Saturday there is a Eurovision Song contest happening and on Sunday it is Mother’s day and also the WFC lottery, where 6,000 floorball balls are dropped from the ski jumping tower.
The TV production is being done by PolarHD and the preparations for this are all in order. All matches will be streamed on the IFF media App and the Finnish matches will be broadcasted on the online platform of the Finnish National Broadcasting Company YLE Areena. Discussions are still ongoing concerning the possibility of a highlights package to be shown for the final game of Finland on Sunday the 12th on TV. The Danish matches will be streamed on the Sportway channel. Discussions are still ongoing with the Czech Republic and Switzerland for possible broadcasts.
3v3 WFC 2024 from 11th — 12th May in Lahti, Finland
The groups and match schedules were released in early April. The event will be played with 30 men’s teams divided into 7 groups and 14 women’s teams in 3 groups. Both a Championship Final and B-final will be played for both men and women. Originally, the plan was to have the final matches and medal ceremonies in the U19 WFC venue, however the logistics of this proved too difficult and it was decided that it was better to keep all matches and ceremonies in the 3v3 venue.
Men’s WFC 2024 from 7h – 15th December in Malmö, Sweden
Tickets for all days/all passes have been released on March 27th in connection to publishing the first version of the match schedule. The ticket sales linked to the final weekend is still very positive. So far, the fans from, mainly, Finland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic are still waiting to see how/when the quarterfinals will be played (on Thursday 12th or Friday 13th December).
The school project “Little WFC” has so far reached over 8,600 pupils up to the age of 9 in 67 schools. A floorball instructor has visited their physical education lesson and they have been invited to a training session at a local floorball club afterwards. The goal is to visit over 20,000 pupils in the region.
The Region of Skåne will, together with the Swedish Floorball Federation, invite the Swedish Ambassadors of the qualified nations to a welcome ceremony in Malmö on June 18th. The purpose is to offer the participating nations to invite their national networks to the championships, to organize activities with their targets groups and the possibility to present themselves in conjunction with the world championships to promote tourism and business opportunities.
Last qualifications event to decide the AOFC teams at WFC 2024 will be played in Pasig, the Philippines from 21st — 25th May. Three best teams will qualify from the AOFC WFCQ.
Men’s U19 WFC 2025 from 29th April — 4th May in Zurich, Switzerland
Swiss Life Arena has been confirmed for the final weekend of the U19 WFC 2025, and during other days the matches are played in Saalsporthalle and Sporthalle Hardau. The 3v3 WFC 2025 will be played in conjunction of the U19 WFC 2025.
A total of 26 teams have registered, which is one more than in 2023. Japan and Ukraine are back in the U19 WFC and Hungary has not registered. The Americas qualification will be played 02-04.08.2024 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. For the AOFC qualification there are discussions on playing in the Solomon Islands during mid-late September 2024. For the EUR qualification there is currently only one interested organiser (Poland) and discussions are in progress to see if it is possible to play the complete qualification with 11 teams in one place.
Women’s WFC 2025 from 6th — 14th December in Brno & Ostrava, Czech Republic
A total of 29 teams have registered, which is one less than in 2023 and the Ukraine is the one missing. Discussions with possible organisers for the qualifications have begun.
International World Games Association / The World Games
Direct contact with the TWG 2025 Sports Department has begun. The first meeting between the IFF and the Floorball Competition Department in Chengdu was held on the 7th of March. Initial discussions were to do with the competition venue, official equipment required, the need of a training venue, and the match schedule. Since the meeting we have received confirmation of a training venue which is located next to the competition venue.
Asian Indoor and Martias Arts Games 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand
The preparations for the event have been very problematic (it was originally scheduled to be played in 2021) but the organisation now appears to be well advanced for the event which will be held from 21st – 29th November 2024. The Floorball venue has been confirmed, flooring has been secured and it is now agreed that Taishan Sports will provide all the FOP equipment. The team registration was extended until the end of May, with a maximum of 8 men’s & 8 women’s teams to be included. The event will be played with the teams divided into two groups in each gender, according to ranking, and will use a 3 x 15minute playing format.
SEA Games 2025 from 9th — 20th December in Bangkok, Chonburi & Songkhla, Thailand
Floorball is in for the next three upcoming SEA Games – Thailand 2025, Malaysia 2027, and Singapore 2029. The host city contract for Thailand will be signed in early June.
