Yesterday, at the first day of the WFCQ in Europe, Sweden set a new world record by crushing France: 61-0. On social media, discussions started about if games like this will help the smaller European countries develop. However, the IFF has already came up with a proposal: a European Championships. Changes will be made in 2023.
Since the start of floorball, there have been a few dominating countries, like Sweden, Finland and (occasionally) Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Two years ago, the Swedish women set a record by scoring most goals in one game: 36-0 against France. With yesterday’s victory, they set yet another record. Also the Swedish men’s team has set its biggest victory ever against France: 43-1.
Floorball development
On social media, people showed their displeasure: “Think about a change of this format of qualification”, “Losing 61-0 does not develop the game”, and “It [floorball] will never be an Olympic sport with these sort of numbers”. The International Floorball Federation recognized the upcoming problems already and, together with the EFT countries, came up with the following proposal:
“The EFT countries have proposed that Euro Floorball Championships shall be created and started in 2023. The IFF RACC has investigated the matter and reported to the IFF CB that there is a big majority of countries that support the idea of the creation of the Euro Floorball Championships (…).” (From: IFF GMA minutes)
In short, the proposal is like this:
- The top 7 of last WFC qualifies for the Euro Floorball Championship (EF), with the organizing country as the eighth team.
- This EF will be played at the same time the WFCQs are being played, so around January/February in the year of the WFC.
- All competing teams qualify directly for the World Floorball Championships, so out of all ten available European WFC spots, eight will be taken directly.
- It’s unclear what will happen with the remaining two European WFC spots, but these will probably be what’s at stake during the ‘WFCQ without top 7’.
First EF in 2023
The full proposal can be found here. Some extra advantages is that, once the EF is up, the WFC can be organized outside Europe too. Furthermore, the costs for organizing the EF will be lower as the IFF sets fewer requirements. However, it’ll still take four year until the first EF can be organized.
During the latest General Members Assembly, the proposal was approved, so in 2023, we’re likely to see the first Euro Floorball Championships. With this, the chances of France meeting Sweden again will be very limited, making the possibilities for 61-0 results smaller and smaller.
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