House of Switzerland in Riga - Meeting place for floorball fans – 17.11.2016

The 11th Men´s World Floorball Championships (WFC) is held in Riga, Latvia in early December. Swiss Floorball Association will be there for the first time with the House of Switzerland. One of the main goals is to raise the profile of floorball in the Latvian capital.

The best floorball players in the world are coming together from 3rd to 11th of December 2016 to battle for the WFC title. Floorball fans and locals will also have the chance to visit an attraction away from the rinks at the 11th Men´s World Floorball Championships. For the first time, Swiss Floorball Association will be in Riga for the final weekend from Wednesday 7th of December to Sunday 11th of December with a House of Switzerland. The Kalku Varti building, including the restaurant and nightclub, which is right by the entrance to the Latvian capital´s pedestrian zone, will be converted into a meeting place for the floorball community.

The House of Switzerland will be the first national house in floorball:
- First and foremost we want to offer the Swiss fans a shared meeting place at the House of Switzerland, making the World Championships experience even more exclusive, explains Jörg Beer, initiator and central board member of Swiss Floorball Association. He also hopes that fans from other countries will meet up in the House of Switzerland:
- We are proud to be the first country to be able to present this kind of a national house at the World Floorball Championships and to prove again that we have the courage to innovate. Who knows, perhaps it will inspire more floorball nations so that fans at future World Championships will be able to visit even more national houses.

Accorging to Jörg Beer, another aim is to make floorball visible in Riga´s city centre:
- If we want to reach our goal of making floorball an Olympic sport, we must show floorball as a sport to a wide audience. A WFC in a country which is not yet one of the best in the world is perfect for this: there´s no better advertisement than the world-class floorball which we will see at the WFC in Riga!

What visitors can expect?
Swiss Floorball Association is keen to provide visitors with good entertainment at the House of Switzerland. Visitors will also be offered a taste of Switzerland, with Swiss specialities on the menu alongside local dishes at the Kalku Varti restaurant from 7th to 11th of December. There will also be a bar in the club in the basement below, that opens 7 pm every evening. This will be converted into a studio for a short time at 8 pm each night, where members of the Swiss national team will offer an insight into the life in the team in the Players-talk session. The House of Switzerland also turns into a night club, so those who want can dance late into the night.

More information: www.swissunihockey.ch/HouseofSwitzerland (in German)