The IFF Player of the Year award is a form of acknowledgement for athletes by the governing organisation of the sport. The award recognises players (female and male) who best exemplify skill, determination, team success, and sporting character on and off the court during the preceding season. This IFF award is a logical follow up on the launch of the IFF Hall of Fame in 2021. The floorball community had asked IFF to create such an award, with wishes for clear and transparent rules for the nomination and voting process. The nominations are made by national federations (and selected floorball equipment manufacturers) and voting involves a broad sample of people.
This will be first year players will be crowned as IFF Player of the Year 2024/2025.
Timeline of the voting
- Nomination of candidates by the 9th of May
- Preparation of the voting files by mid-May
- Voting period till mid-June
- Result evaluation and publication of short list (Top 5) by end June
- The awards are handed out in December at World Floorball Championships*
(*in the inaugural year the IFF Player of the Year 2024/2025 awards will be handed out at The World Games 2025)
Nomination of candidates
Each year the national federations that have registered for the World Floorball Championships for the preceding season in question are eligible to nominate and vote for candidates. For this first year this means countries that had registered for the 2024 championships. Floorball equipment manufacturers will also be allowed to nominate players.
The nomination criteria for candidates:
- Performance in the national team (overall performance, scoring points / save %)
- Performance in domestic league (overall performance, scoring points / save% / +- rating would be great but not necessarily available)
- Selection to the WFC All-Star Team / as MVP / national awards
Each eligible federation can nominate three players for each gender but only two from their own country. Floorball equipment manufacturers can nominate two players for each gender. The candidates need to be ranked in order 1-3.
List of candidates
The nominations are be submitted via an online nomination form. The federations and manufacturers must in their nomination include player facts and performance data of each nominee. A form with missing information will be a reason to disqualify the nomination.
The final voting list is to include a minimum of 15 and maximum 30 players per gender as candidates. The IFF has the right to narrow down the number of candidates and create the final voting list.
Voting and procedure
The parties eligible to vote will receive (per e-mail) a unique link for voting once the final voting list has been prepared.
The following will be eligible to vote (to select first/second/third choice for both genders):
- WFC registered countries for the preceding season in question/ national team head coaches
- WFC registered countries for the preceding season in question / national team captains
- WFC registered countries for the preceding season in question / federation media
- Selected national media (sports reporters that cover major IFF events)
- Selected floorball specific media (websites, podcasts, bloggers, etc.)
- Selected national TV companies that broadcast IFF events
For voting the IFF utilises the Webropol platform which the IFF also uses for the WFC All-Star and MVP voting. The candidates will be presented in the Webropol survey system with their respective achievements.
Once the result is final the top ten list of each gender will be published.
Evaluation logic
The scoring system will be based on a 5-3-1 system where the first choice will receive 5 points, second 3 points and third one point.
In the case of a draw between top candidates first the number of 5-point choices will be considered, then 3 points and further 1 point. In the unlikely further draw situation, the decision will be submitted for the IFF Executive Committee.
Award
The winners will receive an award which will be handed out during the World Floorball Championships. For the inaugural year the trophies will be handed out at The World Games 2025 in Chengdu, China. In case the winner would not be on the participating teams the award will be handed out on another occasion.
