Floorball, also known as floor hockey, is played indoors, which makes it a perfect choice for any weather all year round. Floorball is a team sport played on foot with special sticks and a plastic ball.
It is believed that the game has originated in Sweden in the 1970s. It has quickly gained popularity in Europe, especially Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland, and in 1986 the International Floorball Federation (IFF) was founded. Currently the IFF unites 49 member federations and the sport is rapidly spreading around the world including North America, Japan, India, Singapore, and Australia.
First men’s Floorball world championship was held in 1996. As of now there is at least one national floorball association on every continent of the world. The first national floorball federation in Africa was founded in Sierra Leone.
In December, 2008, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IFF hopes that this provisional recognition will help allow floorball to become a part of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
4th-11th December 2010, the 8th Men´s World Floorball Championship took place in Helsinki, Finland. 16 teams from all over the world including Finland, Canada, Denmark, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Singapore, and other countries played in four groups to determine this year's champion.
Watch an official WFC2010 promotion video:
Floorball is relatively inexpensive and can be played by people of any age and gender; it doesn’t require the skating skills and as much physical strength as ice hockey. All equipment needed for the game is a plastic ball, two goalcages, floorball sticks for players, and helmet and pads for goalies.
Each team can field six players at a time on the court, one player being a goalkeeper. A floorball game is officially played over three periods lasting 20 minutes each. Time is stopped in the case of penalties, goals, time-outs and any situation where the ball is not considered to be in play. An intermission of 10 minutes takes place between periods.
| Floorball stick |
Plastic balls |
Goalcage |
Goalie protection  |