Competitions at the highest level in a multitude of diverse, popular and spectacular sports make up the mainstay of The World Games. Sports practiced on land, in the air, in and on the water, all concur in the pursuit of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”.
Above all, The World Games provide the unique setting for thousands of athletes from different sports and countries to join in a celebration of unity and friendship across all boundaries. The World Games are the main event for all these athletes – one marked by sporting exploits as well as by camaraderie.
The World Games are staged over a period of 11 days. They start with the Opening Ceremony and conclude with the Closing Ceremony. Their organization is entrusted by the IWGA to a Local Organising Committee formed by the host city and entities such as the regional and national governments, the National Olympic Committee and other sporting authorities.
While the International Olympic Committee grants its patronage to all editions of The World Games, and while the IWGA explicitly accepts and adheres to all principles in the Olympic Charter, the multi-sport games differ in one important aspect from the Olympics. The host is never required to build facilities or extend upon available infrastructure for the sake of The World Games alone. Ideally, the event is to be staged at existing venues, in appropriately sized facilities that have been planned or built regardless of the candidate host bidding for the event. This condition influences the composition of The World Games program. Not all sports feature necessarily on every edition. Existing infrastructure and venues in and around the host city are the determining factor in the selection of sports to the Official Sports Program.
The conduct of competitions as well as ceremonies is subject to the Rules of The World Games, the directives for the organization and the staging of the event. Jointly with the hosts, IWGA puts particular emphasis on publicizing and promoting the sports of its Member Federations to the public at large and to the media.
Floorball at the World Games
In 1997, Floorball was an invitational sport at The World Games held in Lahti, Finland. Twenty years later, in 2017, Floorball returned to The World Games in Wroclaw, Poland, this time as an official medal sport.
2025 – Chengdu, China
2022 – Birmingham, AL, USA
2017 – Wroclaw, Poland
1997 – Lahti, Finland (Invitational sport)
For more information on The World Games visit www.theworldgames.org
