Opening Ceremony  

WFC 2004 officially opened

Tomas Eriksson (SWE), president of the International Floorball Federation (IFF) opened the 5th Men’s World Championships together with Renato Orlando, president of the organizing committee of the WFC in Kloten and Zurich. In the next eight days, the new World Champion in Floorball will be decided.

The host nation Switzerland welcomed the 18 participating countries in a colourful opening ceremony prior to the game Swiss-Latvia. A group of cheerleaders captivated the audience in the Schluefweg arena in Kloten with impressive show acts themed with the slogan “go, fight and win”. Children and teenagers from around Zurich presented the flags of all participants. The numerous spectators in the arena provided a great atmosphere which held on for the whole opening game.

Renato Orlando, president of the Swiss Floorball Federation and of the organizing committee welcomed the fans and teams warmly to the World Championships. IFF president Tomas Eriksson from floorball mother country Sweden thanked Switzerland for the organisation of the WFC. Hereafter, he opened the Championships officially.

The locations for the World Floorball Championships are Zurich and Kloten. The two cities are situated approximately 15 kilometres from each other. Main location is Kloten and the Schluefweg arena, which is home to the ice hockey team Kloten Flyers. The arena where the gold medal game will be held can be filled with 7500 spectators. The Saalsporthalle in Zurich is the second location of the tournament. It is well known for international sports events such as the Daviscup (tennis tournament).

European Championship 1995 was held in Switzerland

For the second time Switzerland is host of a multi-national floorball tournament. In 1995 Switzerland hosted the Open European Championships which were held in Chur. At this time no World Championships existed. It was one of the first floorball events outside of Scandinavia. Winner of this EC was Finland. The Finns which beat Sweden in the gold medal game with 3-2 after shoot-out. Switzerland finished the tournament ranking 3rd.

Floorball has significantly grown since. In the EC 1995 only 11 nations participated. In the meantime, there are 28. They are divided into three divisions and compete every other year for the world championship title. The games of Division A and B will be held from May 16th through 24th in Switzerland. Division C was already played in Spain last April and was won by Japan. They will compete in the B Division in Sweden in 2006.

Sweden for the fifth consecutive time?

Favorites of WFC 2004 are Sweden, Finland and the host nation Switzerland. Sweden aspires to win the fifth consecutive World Championship title. Finland has one of the best teams of the last years. Finnish fans are hoping that their team will push the neighbouring country Sweden from the throne. The Swiss shouldn’t be underestimated. With a big audience backing them they could be capable of a big success. They proved in the pre-WFC tournament Founders Cup last fall that they can compete with the best.