IFF celebrates 30th Anniversary – 10.12.2016

During the Men’s WFC 2016, the IFF held a celebration to honour its 30th anniversary and also gave out service awards.

The International Floorball Federation was founded in Huskvarna, Sweden 12th of April in 1986. In order to celebrate 30 years of international floorball, the IFF announced in the Spring that from this year forward 12th of April will be known as the international floorball day. During the Men’s World Floorball Championships (WFC) in Riga, Latvia, the IFF organised a celebration to honour the 30 years.

The IFF had invited the General Assembly participants to the 30th anniversary celebration. The IFF President Mr. Tomas Eriksson held an opening speech and the ARISF President Dr. Raffaele Chiulli was also present and honoured the IFF by giving a speech. The event had a slide show that had photos from different eras and from several different floorball countries. The IFF would like to thank the following nations who provided the photos: Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Korea, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

The IFF granted the first service awards in its 25th anniversary in conjunction with the Women’s WFC 2011 in St.Gallen in Switzerland. Today, more service awards were given:
Risto Kauppinen (Silver)
- Mr. Kauppinen was elected as a CB member of IFF in 1996 and kept that position until 2014 when he resigned. During his time, he has worked with questions related to competition, marketing and development.
Petr Cerny & Jiri Janousek (Silver)
- IFF Referees from Czech Republic, 1995-2016. WFC Finals 2012, 2014
Thomas Kläsi & Thomas Baumgartner (Silver)
- IFF Referees from Switzerland, 2001-2016. WFC Final 2006
Hans Botman (Bronze)
- Has served both in IFF CB and IFF RACC. In IFF CB 2008-2012 and as IFF CB member also the chairman of the IFF Referee Committee. As an IFF RACC member from 2005.
Rune Ali Zouhar (Bronze)
- IFF Referee from Norway, 1999-2009. WFC Final 2008
Andris Dzenis (Bronze)
- Mr. Dzenis has been in different positions within the IFF competitions since 1996 and was the organiser of the Women’s WFC 2001 and the U19 WFC 2005, in the later years mostly seen in various IFF events as a jury member.

Photos from the IFF 30th Anniversary can be found here.