The 2024 Men's World Floorball Championships was the 15th World Championships in men's floorball. It was held from 7 to 15 December 2024 in Malmö, Sweden.
Sweden did not defend their two-time championship after losing to Finland in the finals 4–5 in overtime, after having led the game 4–0 at one stage in the match. Together with a loss against the Finns in a group game, these were the first ever defeats for Sweden on home turf. The Czech Republic for the first time won their group without losing a point. Unlike in the previous championship, however, Czechs did not make it past the semifinals and finished in third place after defeating Latvia.
Latvia knocked out Switzerland in the quarterfinals. This marked Latvia's first appearance in the semifinals of a world championship. It was the first time since the 2012 tournament that a team other than the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland had reached the semifinals. Thanks to a strong result at the previous championship as well, Latvia rose to fourth place in the IFF rankings, becoming the first new country to do so in 23 years. It was the second time in history that Switzerland had not played for medals, the first time being at the first championship in 1996.
The championship also served as qualification for the 2025 World Games, with the five best European teams and the best Asian–Oceanian team from the main tournament qualifying, along with the only automatically qualified team from the Americas. These were the four European semifinalists, fifth-placed Switzerland, the Philippines, and Canada. The Philippines became the first Asian country to advance to the playoffs at the championship.
The tournament was criticised by sports journalists and players for poor promotion and consequently low attendance. The championship had less than half the attendance of the most successful Czech championship in 2018.
Host selection These two nations applied.
Evaluation report Bids Event 135/165 145/165 Financial 193/250 206/250 Delivery 340/450 334/450 Development 112/135 89/135 Overall 780/1000 774/1000 Budget €2.43 million €2.6 million Tournament dates (score) 16–24 November (5/15) 7–15 December (15/15)
The bids were considered very closely matched and thus the evaluation report was considered a draw, although 9/12 people who are involved in different aspects of the IFF gave Singapore the edge.
Originally, the hosts were going to be announced in November 2020 but was postponed in order to learn more details about each bid. Sweden was given the hosting rights on 23 February 2021 after beating Singapore in a bidding process that the IFF called very close. The city had already hosted group stage of 2006 Championships.
Qualification
The qualifiers were held in January, February and May 2024. Slovenia made their debut at a senior IFF tournament. Singapore was the only nation to not qualify having played at the 2022 edition. Date Venue Vacancies Qualified Host nation 24 May 2023 1 European qualification 1 31 January–3 February Liepāja 11 European qualification 2 1–4 February Łochów European qualification 3 31 January–4 February Škofja Loka Americas qualification 17–18 February Toronto 1 Asia-Oceania qualification 21–25 May Pasig 3 Total 16
Venues Both venues are situated in Malmö.
MalmöMalmö ArenaCapacity: 12,600Baltiska HallenCapacity: 3,600
Final draw The draw took place on 5 March 2024 at the Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden. The placeholder name the Asian and Oceanian teams would inherit was based on their world ranking, rather than their position in the Asian Championship.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 (1) (H) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) Asia-Oceania 1 (13) Asia-Oceania 2 (14) Asia-Oceania 3 (15) (18)
Draw + Group A TeamA1 A2 A3 A4 + Group B TeamB1 B2 B3 B4 + Group C TeamC1 C2 C3 C4 + Group D TeamD1 D2 D3 D4
Referees Seven referee pairs were selected on 5 September 2024.
Referees Tomáš Kostinek and Martin Reichelt Steffen Leholk and Tobias Schmidt Thomas Ellis and Janne Sjögren Sharil Ismail and Oswind Rosayro Simon Broman and Martin Matti Thomas Andersson and Rickard Wissman Josef Fässler and Benjamin Schläpfer
Tournament format
After the group ballot, 16 teams were divided into four groups. In the group stage each team played each other once, while the second stage of the event included play-offs and placement matches.
The two best teams of group A and B went directly to the quarter-finals. Teams placed third and fourth in group A and B and the teams placed first and second in group C and D went into the first play-off round (played before the quarter-finals).
Preliminary round
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knock-out stage
Play-off
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Bronze medal game
Final
Placement matches 5th place bracket
5th–8th place semi-finals
7th place match
5th place match
9th place bracket
9th–12th place semi-finals
11th place match
9th place match
13th place bracket
13th–16 place semifinals
15th place bracket
13th place bracket
Ranking and statistics
Final ranking The official IFF final ranking of the tournament: 45678910111213141516
All-star team Tournament all-star team: Best goalkeeper: Best defenders: , Best center: Hampus Ahrén Best forwards: ,
Most valuable player:
Qualification for the 2025 World Games
#EuropeAsia-OceaniaAmericas12345
Marketing Tickets The first tickets sales for the competition started in November 2022 with tickets for select days being made available for purchase. All tickets were put on sale on 27 March 2024.
Preparation The logo was revealed on 13 February 2023, with the slogan The floor is yours. Älgvis (a homophone for Elvis), an elk with antlers made of floorball blades, was unveiled as the mascot for the competition on 24 November 2024; he will also serve as the future mascot of the Swedish Floorball Federation.
References
External links
Official results