Mr. Eriksson greeted Mr. Gilardi welcome to the IFF Central Board meeting as the RC Chairman, upon invitation by the President.

§ 2. Approval of the agenda

The agenda was scrutinized, completed/updated with seven new appendixes
Appex 2: Financial report 29.12.2006;
Appex 3: Claims 29.12.2006;
Appex 8a: Danish questionnaire for the EFC 2010;
Appex 10b: Swiss questionnaire for the WFC 2011;
Appex 10c: Swiss questionnaire for the WFC 2012;
Appex 22: Additional division for EFCQ;
Appex 23b: Finnish declaration on WFC 2010;

§ 3. Minutes from the CB meeting 05/2006 in Helsinki, Finland (08.09.2006) – Appendix 1

The minutes from the last meeting 05/2006 in Helsinki, Finland were scrutinized, approved and put ad acta. After the last CB meeting the ExCo has decided that the minutes of the CB shall be put out more quickly, in order to deliver press releases earlyer.

§ 4. Economy

a) Preliminary financial report 31.12.2006 Appendix 2
Mr. Jonsson presented the preliminary financial report, per 29.12.2006. The financial result is not closed for the year, but it will be positive and the costs did not grow faster than the budgeted.

The CB decided: to approve the report.

b) Information on IFF claims – status December 29th , 2006 Appendix 3
Mr. Kratz presented the IFF claims per 29.12.2006 and it seems that the situation is quite good at the moment. There are some issues related to the member associations who have not paid their membership fees.

Mr. Orlando pointed out that the member associations must pay the membership fees and the participations fees. Mr. Orlando proposes that we strike the membership fees for 2004 from the balance sheet for Pakistan. This association shall be contacted to clarify their financial situation.

Mr. Eriksson agreed with this proposal.

The CB decided: to approve the report and decided to strike the outstanding membership fees from 2004.

c) Budget for 2007 – Appendix 4

Based on the decision from the last IFF CB, the committees and functions sent in their proposals for the budget for 2007. The Office has collected the received information and built a proposal for the budget 2007 based on that. Mr. Liljelund gave a short presentation about the changes in the proposed budget compared to the budget approved by the General Assembly 2006.

Mr. Kauppinen asked if the foreseen fourth employee is in the budget and if it is for the whole year. It was answered that there is a fourth employee, mainly engaged for the marketing in the budget for over a half year.

Mr. Eriksson stressed that we in the future need to strengthen the administration even more. IFF will employ a fifth employee, when we have enough resources, but latest implemented 2008.

The CB decided: to approve the proposed budget for 2007.

§ 5. World Championships

a) WFC U19 Women 2006 Germany – Appendix 5
Mr. Suman reported on the 2nd Women‘s U19 WFC 2006, held in Naunhof/Leipzig and the results from the tournament. Mr. Suman was of the opinion that it was a good tournament and it proved that in an international event the maximum number of teams in a group shall be five teams and not six as experienced in Germany.

The CB decided: to approve the report.

b) WFC Women 2007 Denmark
Ms. Aagard reported that everything is going according to plans. The competition web-site is to be opened in mid of January. The organiser is confident that the WFC 2007 will be a very good tournament. The organiser would like to test the flooring in the Arena Nord during an International Tournament, since the IFF Donation court will be shipped to Denmark after the European Cup in Varberg. The Danish Association is to take care of the tape and cleaning costs.

Mr. Eriksson proposed that in accordance with earlier CB decisions all the teams registered for the WFC 2007 having not paid their membership fees yet, have to pay their participation fee until the 15th of February, the IFF ExCo be given the task to take the needed decisions.

Mr. Kratz reported on the preparations for the different qualifications for both the A-division, between Japan - Singapore and the B-division qualification tournaments, which are to be played in February.(Appendix 6)

Mr. Liljelund reported on the preparations from the marketing point of view of the WFC 2007, which is going in the right direction.

The CB decided: to approve the report and approve the proposal by Mr. Eriksson. The CB also made a principal decision that starting from the next registration to an IFF Event only the registrations including both the signed application and the paid participation fee are valid.

c) WFC U19 Men 2007 Switzerland
Mr. Liljelund informed on the work done concerning the agreement between the IFF and the Swiss Association. IFF presented a proposal for an agreement in end of November. The Swiss Floorball Federation has raised a question concerning the number of participating nations in the U19 WFC 2007 in Switzerland. The Swiss federation proposes to play with only 16 teams. At the moment there are 19 teams registered for the tournament. Meaning that tournament would have to be extended with two days. (Appendix 7)

Mr. Eriksson felt that we have a positive dilemma, with 19 teams registered to the U19 WFC 2007. There are three different angels to the issue, the Swiss concern of a too large tournament, the promise to all participating teams in Latvia 2005 that they are qualified and the issue related to the unpaid participation fees.

Mr. Orlando felt that in principle it is quite clear that we need to organise the U19 WFC with 19 teams, since all teams where invited to the U19 WFC final round. There has to be set a limit for the total number of participating teams in the U19 WFC‘s.

Mr. Jansson wanted to know if the teams have registered and paid the participation fees. He was on the feeling that if the teams have not paid the participation fee they can‘t participate in the tournament. If the teams has not registered in time and fulfiled the requirements with paying the participation fee, then they can‘t participate.

Mr. Kratz responded that there are 15 teams who have both registered and paid the participation fees until today.

Mr. Kauppinen felt that there shall be no registration without paying the participation fees. He also felt that it has to be included into the competition regulations that you can‘t register to an IFF Event, if associations have outstanding debts.

Mr. Suman informed that the RACC is building a proposal for the new system how to play the U19 WFC after 2007. This proposal will be put forward to the CB before the actual playing U19 2007.

Mr. Orlando stated that due to the evolution of Floorball we have been too nice before, but now we need to start to be firm.

Mr. Orlando proposed, supported by Mr. Eriksson that the four teams registered (Hungary, Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia) for the U19 WFC, but have not paid the participation fee will have to take part in a qualification for the 16th place at the U19 WFC 2007. The teams can‘t participate in the qualification if they have not paid the outstanding participation fees by the 31st of January 2007. The qualification must be played before the end of April 2007. The teams will be promoted accordingly to the existing ranking after the qualifications.

The CB decided: to approve the proposal of Mr. Orlando and that the U19 WFC 2007 will be played with a maximum of 16 teams. IFF is to inform the Associations accordingly.

Mr. Suman explained that there is no need to change the system for the U19 WFC 2007 now, since it is now played with 16 teams. (Appendix 25)

The CB decided: to approve the report.

d) WFC Men 2008 Czech Republic
Mr. Liljelund reported on the progress of the negotiations, with the Czech Floorball Union, concerning the agreement and told that the contract will be signed during January.

Mr. Suman explained that the CFbU has expressed that in order to have enough time between the end of the Ice Hockey World Championships and since the IIHF has changed the dates of the Ice Hockey World Championships, the WFC should start on the 24th of May and end on the 1st of June 2008. The WFC will be played in Ostrava (group matches) and the Play off in Prague.

Mr. Kauppinen asked if we should play already in April. Mr. Suman replied that this could be problematic due to the ongoing Ice Hockey seasons.

Mr. Jansson proposed that IFF should investigate to move the senior WFC to December, taking into account the need to change the international calendar. In view of the huge consequences, when chancing the timing of the senior events it was proposed to form a working group.

Mr. Kauppinen proposed that the RACC should organise a workshop discussing the proposal. Mr. Orlando felt that this is the second stage.

The CB decided: to approve the report and formed a working group headed by Mr. Orlando, consisting by Mr. Jansson, Mr. Kauppinen and Mr. Suman and the Office representatives to investigate the possibility change of timing of the senior WFC. The meeting is to be held on Sunday the 28th of January. The working group will come forward with a proposal by the end of February.

e) Upcoming Events
Mr. Liljelund informed that the Danish Floorball Union has come with a letter of interest to host the EFC 2010 and the Men‘s WFC 2012. The Office informed the Danish federation that the bid for the Men‘s WFC 2012 had already been done earlier, but that the Danish federation can apply for the EFC 2010, which the DaFU has done (Appendix 8 and Appendix 8a)

The IFF Office was given the task to prepare a questionnaire for the bidders of the upcoming IFF events. The questionnaire was sent to the following federations that have announced their interest to organise the following IFF events, so far these are the only feedback we have received:

Latvian Floorball Union (Appendix 9)
- Men‘s 9th WFC 2012

Norwegian Floorball Association (Appendix 10)
- Either the Men U19 WFC 2011 or the Women U19 WFC 2012.

Singapore Floorball Association
- Men‘s 9th WFC 2012

Swiss Floorball Federation
- Women‘s 8th WFC 2011(Appendix 10b)
- Men‘s 9th WFC 2012(Appendix 10c)

Mr. Liljelund informed that to this date the Danish, Latvian and Swiss questionnaires have been returned and it was concluded that since there are no questionnaire from Singapore, the CB felt that they have withdrawn.

The RACC chairman Mr. Suman commented that since the Swiss questionnaire arrived so late it is impossible to give an RACC standpoint. Mr. Suman asked if the organisers are given the championships according to the questionnaire.

Mr. Jansson expressed that from the marketing point of view it is clear to organise the senior WFC in the countries with the market. Mr. Jansson also informed that IFF must take a much stronger role when it comes to the TV production.

Mr. Orlando feels that it a bit unfair for the Latvian federation that they were not present during the discussion. He feels that it is important in the future to have an inspection trip to the candidates.; in particular if there is more than one candidate.

Mr. Jansson stated that we need to discuss the process of the appointing of new organisers.

Mr. Eriksson proposed that the Danish federation will organise the EuroFloorball Cup Final round 2010, Swiss federation will organise the Women‘s WFC 2011, the Norwegian federation will organise U19 Men 2011, the Swiss will organise the Men‘s WFC 2012 and the Czech federation will organise the EuroFloorball Cup 2012. The Norwegian Federation will be asked to consider whether they could also organise the Women‘s U19 WFC 2012.

Mr. Eriksson wanted to thank the Office for a job well done, when it comes to preparing the issue for the Central Board.

The CB decided: to appoint the following organisers:
The Danish federation will organise the EuroFloorball Cup Final round 2010,
The Swiss federation will organise the Women‘s WFC 2011,
The Norwegian federation will organise U19 Men 2011,
The Swiss federation will organise the Men‘s WFC 2012 and
The Czech federation will organise the EuroFloorball Cup 2012.

§ 6. European/EuroFloorball Cup

a) EC 2007
Mr. Jansson reported on the ongoing European Cup 2007 in Varberg, Sweden, telling that he is really pleased with the organisation of the tournament. Mr. Jansson stressed that there has only been some minor problems.

Mr. Eriksson stressed that the procedure with the Daily Report, is to be followed to the full extent.

Mr. Suman agrees that the European Cup is really well organised, with a very good number of spectators attending already in the group matches.

Mr. Liljelund informed about the broadcasting situation of the European Cup, with SVT showing four matches, EuroSport also showing four matches and the Finnish Sports channel will show the Men‘s Final live.

The CB decided: to approve the report.

b) EuroFloorball Cup Qualifications 2008
Mr. Suman gave a short overview on the qualifications for the EuroFloorball Cup 2008. There will be one qualification for the second best teams of the four best seeded countries. These teams are either Cup winner or the runners up to the Champion. Then there are two regional qualification groups, where the winner will be qualified for the EuroFloorball Cup.

The major question now is how to divide the countries into regional qualifications. The RACC proposes that for the future after 2008, the countries will be divided into two groups – East and West. The organiser has to be chosen no later than the 30th of April in the same year.
(Appendix 22 and Appendix 22b)

Mr. Orlando felt that it is good to have a trial and to see how it works and if it functions they have to come up with another proposal.

The CB decided: to approve the report and approved the new qualification systems for the EuroFloorball Cup after the EuroFloorball Cup 2008.

Mr. Kratz informed about the federations that have showed interest for the upcoming EFCQ in August/September 2007. Italy, Georgia have applied for the EFCQ for 2007 now and Norway already earlier. (Appendix 11 and Appendix 12)

It was positively noted that Italy has applied for the EuroFloorball Cup.

The CB decided: to approve the report and approve Italy and Norway as the organisers for the EuroFloorball Cup Qualification in 2007.

§ 7. Committees and Function reports

a) ExCo reports
Mr. Eriksson reported on the IFF ExCo meeting held in October and November. (Appendix 13 and Appendix 14) The main focus of the ExCo now lies on the planning and the work done concerning the IOC 50 Road map, in order to achieve the needed 50 member federations by the autumn of 2007.

Mr. Eriksson reported on the upcoming meeting, with the IOC Sports Director Mr. Kelly Fairweather in Lausanne, on the 22nd of January, 2007. The meeting is organised to discuss the issues related to the upcoming IOC recognition process and the actions IFF needs to take here. The aim is to have all the details for IFF. On the IOC Road Map there is a working living list of 22 countries where Floorball is played on some level.

Mr. Eriksson also elaborates on the GAISF new statues where it is demanded that an IF member needs to have 40 members. In conjunction with the GAISF General Assembly, there will be meetings with the Chinese Sport Authorities to achieve the founding of a Chinese Floorball Federation.

Mr. Orlando felt that it is very important that we invest resources into the political work.

Mr. Eriksson reported on the signing of the Collaboration Agreement with FISU, during the 2nd WUC in Bern, and stressed out the importance of the co-operation with FISU.

The CB decided: to approve the reports.

b) Contacts to International Sports Organisations
Mr. Orlando reported on the 2nd World University Floorball Championships played in Bern, Switzerland, November 9th to 12th, 2006. It was concluded that the event was very well organised. The only problem was the issue with the number of spectators. The chairman of the Competition Committee of FISU Mr. Sinisa Janic flew in for the signing the collaboration agreement.

Mr. Jansson felt that it was very good and also important that there were so many officials present at the WUC.

Mr. Kauppinen informed on the preparations made by the Finnish University Sport Association.

Mr. Liljelund informed that IFF has been approached by the GAISF council, where they ask about the actual number of IFF members, due to the fact that according to the new GAISF Statutes an International Federation needs 40 members to be an ordinary member of GAISF. IFF has answered this and stated that until the GAISF General Assembly in April IFF will have 40 members (actual situation is 38).

Mr. Liljelund informed that IFF has been granted membership in the European Master Sport Association and that Floorball will be on the program of the European Master Games in Malmö Sweden 2008.(Appendix 15)

The CB decided: to approve the report and the signing of the FISU convention.

c) RACC
Mr. Suman gave a report, in the form of a RACC summary, describing the RACC work for the future. (Appendix 26)

Mr. Suman presented the RACC proposal for the World Floorball Championships Qualification systems for the WFC starting from 2010. (Appendix 23). The RACC proposed to organise the WFC with 4 groups with 4 teams, with quarter finals, semi-finals and finals. The ranking of the participants will be divided into baskets and the groups will be allotted by ballot.

The CB decided: to approve the report.

The RACC proposes that the quota could be with 11 places for Europe, 2 for Asia and 1 place for America, in addition to this the organiser is directly qualified and one extra place for the continent reaching up to the quota level. The qualification is to be played with continental tournaments. The qualification should be played between April and October in the year before the Final round.

Mr. Orlando asked are we playing single matches based on home and away basis, single matches home and away matches in a group or in a tournament. One solution could be that the 8 best of the A-division in 2008 would be directly qualified for the 2010 and the other teams need to qualify for the additional 8 places. Then the real implementation would be conducted for 2012.

Mr. Kauppinen presented the proposal of the Finnish Federation, to be ready to organise the 2010 WFC with only 16 teams (Appendix 23b). He felt that we need quite soon to think of the continuation system after the 2010.

Mr. Eriksson felt that it would be good to start slowly to transform to the new system.

Mr. Jansson was very worried with the number of qualification already in 2010. So going step by step and starting the qualifications in the B- and C-division, but leave the A-division teams outside.

The CB decided: to play the Men‘s WFC 2010 with 16 teams in four groups of four, where the best 7 A-division teams and the winner of the B-division 2008 are directly qualified for the WFC 2010 Final round. All other teams will have to separately qualify for the WFC 2010 Final round. The RACC will come with a proposal of how the qualification shall be conducted. This system will be valid for 2010 and 2011 after which the qualification system will be reviewed.

Mr. Suman gave a short report on the discussions held by the RACC about the tasks of the committee and the deviation of these between the committee and the office. (Appendix 24).

Mr. Suman wanted to have the document approved.

Mr. Orlando as the former chairman of the RACC offered to give a hand in order to support the RACC in this field.

The CB decided: to approve the report.

d) RC
Mr. Gilardi reported on the work of the RC and the plans and informed that the RC will be ready to meet the challenges with the new competition systems. (Appendix 27)

Based on the earlier discussions, the RC chairman reported that there has been some problem with the nominations for the European Cup qualification in Denmark. The U19 WFC was used to give some new referees and observers an introduction to the International level of refereeing. The RC also nominated some referees to the WUC. There have been no issues related with the refereeing in the European Cup.

The RC has introduced a new three stage quality level system for the International referees. This is a running plan, which the RC will work with in the future. The qualification will be given by the RC and all referees will be ranked in June 2007.

The CB decided to have a small committee, which Mr. Gilardi is very pleased about. The Referee Management persons list is an open document, which is used as a networking platform.

Mr. Jansson felt that the RC is on the right track and that they are working very well.

The CB decided: to approve the report

e) Development function
Mr. Orlando reported on the three held Development Programme Seminars in 2006, in Holland (14.-17.9.), Poland (5.-8.10.) and Singapore (14.-17.12.). (Appendix 16a, Appendix 16b,Appendix 16c)

It was stressed that the seminars have been successful with the lecturers concerned, it was also a good networking opportunity for the federations. We have asked the federations to prepare a two year plan in the different fields. Thank to the lecturers and the good preparations of the Office it has been a real success.

Mr. Eriksson feels that now we are giving back to our member associations, even though this takes some of our resources, which has been received well by all participating countries.

Mr. Liljelund reported about the ongoing negotiations with the Canadian federation and Mr. Paul Charbonneau to organise the Development Seminar in North America in Toronto, Canada (2.-5.4.2007).

The CB decided: to approve the report

Mr. Liljelund made a short report on the ISPO Summer 2007 project, which is being conducted by the Development Board, in order to market Floorball in Central-Europe. (Appendix 17 and Appendix 18).

By the 21st of December the following companies have decided to participate:
Stick/Ball: Blast, Canadian, Exel, Fat Pipe, Karhu, Salming, Unihoc and Zone
Rink: Uher

The CB decided: to approve the report

f) Marketing function
Mr. Jansson informed about the prolonging of the marketing agreement made with Puma for 2007. The agreement is made for the season 2006 – 2007. The agreement makes Puma the Official Apparel Provider for IFF. After this we need to start new negotiations.

Mr. Jansson also informed that Infront are working hard to acquire to find potential sponsors for IFF. So far there have not been any contracts signed. It is most probably that some agreements will be solved before the WFC 2007.

Mr. Liljelund informed about the cooperation meeting with Exel Sports and the Floorball Material IFF will receive yearly (500 sticks, 4000 balls, 10 goalie equipments, 2 rinks and 4 goal cages). (Appendix 20)

The CB decided: to approve the report

g) Medical committee
Ms. Bruun reported on the work of the Medical committee and the planned meeting on the 8th of February, 2007. (Appendix 21) Ms. Bruun informed that the work has now taken the right route. There is a need for additional members in the IFF Medical Committee.

The CB decided: to approve the report and the CB confirmed the decision of the ExCo to appoint Dr. Tiina Nylander as a member of the Medical Committee.

h) Material function
Mr. Liljelund reported on the meeting held with SP concerning the IFF material regulations and the start to use the test method for the protective eyewear for Floorball. (Appendix 19) Mr. Liljelund proposed that IFF should recommend the use of protective eyeware for Floorball for players under the age of 15 years, in order to avoid unnecessary eye-injuries.

The CB decided: to approve the report and to recommend the use of protective eyeware for players under the age of 15 years.

§ 8. IFF Office
Nothing to report.

§ 9. Member Federations

a) Members under suspension
There are no members under suspension.

Proposal: To approve the report.

b) New Member Applications
There are no membership applications presently, but we have the information from three countries that there are activities going on.

Moldavia:
They are waiting for the official documents from Moldavian Sport Ministery. They said that it will take about 3 months to register a new Federation. They expect it will be ready at the end of February, beginning of March 2007. They have two teams, and on this basis, the official documents will be issued.

Ireland:
Have asked for the materials needed to apply, but have not yet returned the applications.

Lithuania:
The Lithuanian representatives have promised to apply for membership in the beginning of 2007, but so far we have not heard anything despite of questions asked.

Mr. Eriksson proposed when it comes to the approval of new members, the decision will be taken per capsulam after the review by the IFF ExCo.

The CB decided: to approve the proposal of Mr. Eriksson.

§ 10. Next CB meeting

The next CB meeting, due to a very tight schedule in April, will be held during the WFC in Frederikshavn, Denmark on Thursday the 17th of May, 2007.

The Presidents meeting is to be held on Friday the 18th of May at 9.00 and the General Secretaries meeting at 11.00 ending at 13.00. The meetings will be held in the Arena Nord.

§ 11. Closing of the meeting

Mr. Eriksson thanked all the Central Board members for a good meeting.

John Liljelund Tomas Eriksson
Secretary General President