The third World Championship took place in Norway from 14th to 21st May 2000. The towns of Drammen and Sarpsborg hosted the group stage, whereas the play-off matches were played in Oslo. The Swedes recorded their first golden hat-trick at this tournament, winning all their matches along the way. The Czechs failed to reach the play-offs for the second straight time.
Group A was dominated by the defending champions from Sweden. The battle for the second qualifying spot into the semifinals followed the exact same scenario like two years before. Norway again drew with Denmark and ended third due to their worse score.
In Group B, the Czechs sensationally drew with Finland 2-2. Before, they defeated Russia 5-1 and lost to Switzerland 2-3 in a very close match. Not even these good results and performances helped them reach the semifinals. Finland advanced from the first position, accompanied by Switzerland from the second.
The Czech Republic, therefore, again faced Norway in a 5th place game. Unfortunately, no vendetta took place and the Czechs didn’t succeed. The Norwegians won clearly 5-2 and consigned the Czechs to the 6th place.
The semifinals featured the same teams as two years ago, only swapped in the pairings. Sweden faced Switzerland, but didn’t let anyone thwart their plans to defend the World Championship title. They didn’t leave anything to chance in the match, thrashing their opponents 8-2.
The other semifinal featured Finland and Denmark. There were no doubts about the match favorite and no surprise happened here either. The Danes scored only once while conceding six times themselves and so Finland joined Sweden in the final pairing, which later became a rather traditional one.
Switzerland beat Denmark 4-2 in the 3rd place game. Following the silver medals from the previous championship they took bronze this time. They indeed started their journey through the World Championships in high style. To compare, the Czech team ended once on the 4th position and twice on the 6th position during the same period.
The final match between the defending champions from Sweden and their challengers from Finland was extremely tight with interesting score progress. Finland went into the lead, but their rivals later turned the score around to make it 4-1. The blue-and-whites managed to close the gap to one goal but the Swedes confirmed their 5-3 victory with a last-minute goal, recording their first golden hat-trick.
The Czechs could see a
small comfort for their disappointment in Radim Cepek’s very good final
standing in the individual statistics – he fought his way up to the 9th place
in the huge competition of Scandinavian floorball stars, just two points short
of the winning trio – Karppanen (Finland), Olofsson, and Hellgard (both
Sweden).
Sweden Pays Finland Back for Final Loss, Czechs Overcome Germany – 1.12.2018
Poland Gets First Two Points after Tough Battle against Thailand – 1.12.2018
Czech Republic Overcomes Initial Nervousness and Comfortably Beats Germany – 1.12.2018
New Men´s WFC opening day spectator records! – 1.12.2018
Estonia Downs Australia to Get First Tournament Win – 1.12.2018
Sweden Celebrates Nordic Derby Triumph after Nerve-Racking Third Period – 1.12.2018
Slovakia Outplays Canada in First Game of Group D – 1.12.2018
Switzerland Defeats Latvia in the Opening Game Thanks to Quick Turn in Score – 1.12.2018
DAY 1: The Floorball Feast is Here. Czechs to Start against Germany – 1.12.2018
Team Thailand Spent Three Weeks In Czechia – 30.11.2018
History: WFC 2016 - Scandiavian Drama for Finland – 29.11.2018
History: WFC 2014 - New Attendance Record – 28.11.2018
History: WFC 2012 - The Swedes Back on Top – 28.11.2018
Press Conference: Main Goals, Media Coverage and Fanzones – 28.11.2018
History: WFC 2010 - Back-To-Back Titles for Finland – 27.11.2018
History: WFC 2008 - Finland, The New Champion – 27.11.2018
WFC 2018 TV matches & Streaming – 27.11.2018
WFC 2018 Team Presentations - Group D – 27.11.2018
History: WFC 2006 - Double Golden Hattrick for Team Sweden – 26.11.2018
History: WFC 2004 - Hofbauer Exceeds The Rest – 26.11.2018