Women's World Floorball Championship
| Upcoming season or competition: 2025 Women's World Floorball Championships | |
| Sport | Floorball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| No. of teams | 16 (finals) |
| Continent | International (IFF) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Sweden (2023, 11th title) |
| Most titles | Sweden (11 titles, the last in 2023) |
| Related competitions | Men's World Floorball Championship |
| Official website | floorball.sport |
The Women's World Floorball Championship is an international floorball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the International Floorball Federation (IFF). It is held regularly in odd years since 1997. In even years, the men's championship is played. The tournament takes place in December.
Sweden, the reigning champion from the last 2023 championship in Singapore, is the most successful team with eleven titles.[1] Finland has won two times, and Switzerland once. The only other medalists are the Czech Republic and Norway, each with two bronze medals.
The next championship will take place in 2025 in the Czech Republic.[2]
Format
There are 16 teams participating in the tournament. The host country is automatically guaranteed a spot, while the remaining 15 spots are determined through regional qualifiers. These qualifiers, typically comprising several European tournaments and one each for the Americas and Asia-Oceania, are usually held at the beginning of the year before the championship itself.[3] Starting with the 2027 championship, they will instead take place in the autumn of the previous year.[4]
The teams are then drawn into four groups (A–D), each consisting of four teams. Groups A and B are drawn from the top-ranked teams according to the IFF rankings, while Groups C and D are drawn from the remaining teams. Within a group, teams play against each other. The top two teams from Groups A and B advance directly to the quarter-finals. The other two teams from Groups A and B and the top two teams from Groups C and D compete in a playoff preliminary round.[3]
Next, the playoffs are played by elimination. The eliminated teams, including the teams that did not qualify for the playoffs, participate in additional placement matches.
The entire tournament spans nine days, from one weekend to another.
Format history
The first World Championship in 1997 was preceded by the only European Championship in 1995.[5][6]
Until the 2009 World Championship, with the exception of the first tournament, teams were divided into two divisions (A and B). In Division A, teams competed in two groups, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals played in the final, while the losing teams contested the bronze medal match. The bottom teams of both groups played for relegation from Division A, while the winner of Division B was promoted.[3]
Until the 2007 World Championship, the tournament was held in May or early June.[7]
Qualification was introduced for the 2009 World Championship, but only from 2015 onwards did all teams (except the host nation) have to qualify. Previously, the top teams from the previous championship received automatic qualification.[3]
The current system, where the higher-ranked teams are placed into two groups and the remaining teams into two separate groups, was introduced at the 2015 World Championship, along with the playoff preliminary round.[8]
Tournaments
Medal table
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Medals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 11 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| 2 | Finland | 2 | 9 | 3 | 14 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 4 | Norway | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 14 | 14 | 14 | 42 | |
Participation details
| Team | 1997 |
1999 |
2001 |
2003 |
2005 |
2007 |
2009 |
2011 |
2013 |
2015 |
2017 |
2019 |
2021 |
2023 |
2025 |
Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15th | 12th | 12th | 15th | 11th | WD | 16th | q | 7 |
| Austria | 9th | – | 8th | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| Canada | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13th | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 6th | 5th | 5th | 7th | 7th | 5th | 4th | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 3rd | q | 15 |
| Denmark | – | – | – | – | – | 6th | 9th | 8th | 11th | 10th | 9th | 10th | 8th | 8th | q | 10 |
| Estonia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11th | 14th | 13th | 13th | q | 5 |
| Finland | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | q | 15 |
| France | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15th | – | 1 |
| Germany | 8th | 6th | 7th | 8th | – | – | – | 11th | 8th | 6th | 10th | 7th | 10th | 10th | q | 12 |
| Hungary | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14th | 14th | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| Italy | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16th | – | – | 1 |
| Japan | 10th | – | – | – | 8th | – | – | 16th | 15th | 15th | 14th | 13th | WD | 9th | q | 9 |
| Latvia | 7th | 7th | 6th | 6th | 5th | 4th | 6th | 7th | 5th | 5th | 6th | 8th | 9th | 7th | q | 15 |
| Netherlands | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13th | – | 14th | – | – | – | – | q | 3 |
| Norway | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 8th | 7th | 5th | 6th | 9th | 8th | 9th | 7th | 11th | q | 15 |
| Poland | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8th | 6th | 7th | 7th | 7th | 5th | 5th | 6th | q | 9 |
| Russia | 5th | 8th | – | 5th | 6th | 7th | 5th | 10th | 10th | 11th | – | – | 11th | – | – | 10 |
| Singapore | – | – | – | – | – | 10th | – | – | – | 16th | 16th | 12th | 14th | 12th | q | 7 |
| Slovakia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12th | 9th | 8th | 5th | 6th | 6th | 5th | q | 8 |
| South Korea | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16th | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Sweden | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | q | 15 |
| Switzerland | 4th | 2nd | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | q | 15 |
| Thailand | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13th | 15th | 15th | – | – | 3 |
| United States | – | – | – | – | – | 9th | 10th | 9th | – | 13th | 12th | 16th | 12th | 14th | q | 9 |
| Debuts | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Cumulative | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 24 |
See also
- List of floorball world champions
- Men's World Floorball Championship
- Under-19 World Floorball Championships
References
- ^ "Sweden stave off Finland comeback to win ninth straight Women's World Floorball Championship". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
- ^ Muzika, Rudolf (24 May 2023). "Český florbal se raduje. Získal pořadatelství dalšího světového šampionátu". Deník.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 14 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Women's World Championships". IFF Main Site. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
- ^ "Výkonný výbor IFF se sešel poprvé pod Šumanem. Nová struktura fungování i termíny pro juniorské šampionáty". Florbal.cz (in Czech). 12 February 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
- ^ "European Championships". Retrieved 30 June 2024.
- ^ "Historie" [History] (in Czech). Retrieved 30 June 2024.
- ^ "Švédsko 2009 a Češky poprvé v semifinále". www.ceskyflorbal.cz (in Czech). 14 November 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
- ^ iDNES.cz, ČTK (5 March 2013). "Florbalistky se na MS utkají se Švýcarskem, Lotyšskem a Norskem". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 24 March 2025.
- ^ "IFF CB Meeting News 2/2023: WFC hosts awarded, Future of Floorball status and upcoming events". 24 May 2023.