From qualification to World Championships: Europe – 21.11.2017

National teams from all over the world had to compete through qualifications apart from host-country Slovakia. In the second part, we focus on Europe.

In Europe, there were four qualification groups with two event locations – EUR 1 and EUR 4 in Madrid, EUR 2 and EUR 3 in Celano. A total of ten teams could qualify to the World Championships in Bratislava. The two best teams from each qualification group qualified and also the two best 3rd placed teams qualified. (Source: floorball.org)

WFC – Europe, Madrid, Spain (EUR 1 and EUR 4)

Easy qualification for Sweden. Victories with high-goal difference are as an evidence. Swedish floorball players won against Slovenia (25:0), Denmark (22:1), Norway (13:0) and France (36:0). They finished at the top with impressive score 96:1.

The second qualified team was Norway. Players around head coach Vidar Bjerkelund won two matches in a row – against France (12:0) and Slovenia (4:0). After these results, Norway was defeated by Sweden (0:13). Norwegian last game was draw 2:2 against Denmark.

System of the qualification provided to progress from the third place. All in all, Denmark with Estonia were the best countries on these positions and both teams had better score than their opponents. So, Denmark qualified to the WC in Bratislava thanks to two triumphs, one draw and one loss.

Final standings – EUR 1:
1.Sweden – qualified
2.Norway – qualified
3.Denmark – qualified
4.Slovenia
5.France


Czech Republic dominated in group EUR 4. Czech players won all qualification matches with score 86:5. Especially, the match against Ukraine was for the leader of this group very successful. Czech Republic won it 45:2.

The national team of Latvia also qualified to the WC. Floorball players around head coach Jurijs Fedulovs won every match except one – against Czech Republic (0:7).

Final standings – EUR 4:
1.Czech Republic – qualified
2.Latvia – qualified
3.Hungary
4.Spain
5.Ukraine


WFC – Europe, Celano, Italy (EUR 2 and EUR 3)

In group EUR 2, there were two leaders. Finland and Poland won every match, but their confrontation was successful for Finland, the team that progressed from the top place. The biggest victory was against Great Britain 32:0 during the qualification. Finland scored 75 goals and conceded only 3 goals.

Poland qualified to the WC thanks to victories against Great Britain (15:0), Italy (11:2) and Russia (7:2). Polish success was stopped only by Finland (0:4).

Final standings – EUR 2:
1.Finland – qualified
2.Poland – qualified
3.Russia
4.Italy
5.Great Britain

Clear leader of the group EUR 3 was Switzerland. This country confirmed predictions and Swiss floorball players qualified to the WC without a loss. Their final score reflected the dominance (58:1).

The second national team which qualified to Bratislava was Germany. Three victories against Austria (13:0), Estonia (2:1) and Netherlands (9:1) ensured participation in Bratislava.

Estonia became the second team with Denmark which progressed to the WC from the third place thanks to good final score. Estonia started the qualification by two losses. Despite this fact, players around head coach Pavel Semenov won over Netherlands (7:2) and Austria (13:0). This country will be debutant in Bratislava.

Final standings – EUR 3:
1.Switzerland – qualified
2.Germany – qualified
3.Estonia – qualified
4.Netherlands
5.Austria