The first ever 3v3 World Floorball Championships took place in Lahti, Finland in conjunction with the Women’s U19 World Floorball Championships this past weekend, where Finland in the Women’s competition and Latvia in the Men’s left with with the winner’s trophy as they both won in super close final matches on penalties.
It was a real festival of Floorball in Lahti this past weekend for the brand new 3v3 format as the first ever 3v3 World Floorball Championships attracted over 400 athletes and 43 teams from across the world to congregate at the Lahti Sports and Fair Centre to battle it out for 3v3 World Championships glory. Teams such as Burkindi (Burkina Faso), USA, New Zealand & Côte d’Ivoire made to journey to Finland with countries all across Europe also represented. Many familiar names were present from National Teams as several extremely strong squads were assembled. Although the battle was intense, immense joy was to be had as the overall vibe was one of fun, fair floorball and a real party atmosphere.
The men’s competition started immediately with a big shock as New Zealand had a huge upset win over Czechia in the group stage, following that result up with yet another win over the Czechs in the playoffs to prove that the first time was not a fluke. New Zealand eventually fell in the Quarter-Finals to Latvia 1 who alongside Latvia 2 made the semi-finals to show the strength of Latvian’s men’s 3v3 teams. The women also had a solid tournament falling in the Quarter-Finals only to super strong Sweden by a last second goal. Sweden were strong in both competitions with their men’s side making the final with the Women also joining them, proving that no matter the format, when it comes to Floorball, Sweden will always be one of the best in the world. Eventually it came down to Finland vs Sweden in the Women’s Final and Latvia 1 vs Sweden in the Men’s final. In a back and forth contest with fans surrounding the show court at the Lahti Sports and Fair Centre, the score in the Women’s final was all level after 2×10 minutes of play, meaning a standing penalty shootout to crown the victors. It was Finland who held their nerve as the penalty shots went into sudden death, with captain Suvi Hämäläinen providing the dagger to Swedish hearts with the winning penalty shot to hand Finland Blue the first ever Women’s 3v3 WFC title! On the Men’s side the final was also super close as the team from Latvian side Rubene took on an assortment of Swedish SSL stars in the final. Sweden were strong and held multiple leads and almost won in regular time before a Latvian equaliser sent it into deciding penalty shots. Every shot was perfect until Filip Wramdemark’s penalty shot was saved by Latvian goalkeeper Roberts Trepss to set up the perfect moment for team Latvia and Jekabs Keiss who put it in the back of the net via a deflection off the post to send the Latvian side into a frenzy, celebrating their massive win over Sweden and claiming the Men’s 3v3 World Floorball Championship trophy for Latvia.
The Latvian Men’s team were also congratulated on X by the President of Latvia on their victory:
Malači, apsveicu! https://t.co/rmsr7YdbAS
— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) May 12, 2024
All the match reports can be found on the IFF App on the links below:
All pictures from the 3v3 WFC can be found on the IFF Flickr
If using any photos please credit the Photographer by name alongside IFF
It was a thrilling event over two days and we are looking forward to returning for more 3v3 World Championships action next year! The 3v3 WFC will be an annual event coinciding with the U19 WFC going forward.
