History: WFC 1998 - A Shock by Switzerland – 19.11.2018

The second World Championship was hosted by the Czech Republic in 1998. The tournament took place from 25th to 31st May in Brno, where group A matches were played, and in Prague, which hosted group B matches and the play-offs. Sweden added their second world title, while Switzerland were a big surprise of the event. The Czech Republic didn’t live up to expectations.

The Czechs played in a very difficult group A, which also included Sweden, Switzerland and Germany. The Czech team defeated Germany easily 9-0, but failed to score in the other two games, losing 0-5 to Switzerland and 0-12 to Sweden. The Czech players, therefore, didn’t reach the semifinals. The Swedes won the group ahead of Switzerland, who accompanied them to the play-off stage. Their head-to-head encounter ended in a 9-0 victory by the Tre Kronor.

Group B was not that strong on the paper, with Finland being clear favorites in the group, which also included Norway, Denmark and Russia. The reigning bronze medalists from Norway didn’t live up to expectations, which Denmark took advantage of, seized the second place and qualified for the play-offs along with Finland.

The Czechs, in the end, didn’t even manage to win the consolation fifth-place game, losing 4-5 against Norway. The Czech team’s scoring leader was Martin Očkay, with an average of one point per match.

In the first semifinal, the favorites from Sweden faced Denmark. The blue-and-yellow players didn’t leave anything to chance and reached the final after winning clearly 11-2.

The second semifinal ended in a huge surprise as the match between Finland and Switzerland went into overtime and a penalty shoot-out after ending 4-4 in regulation. The Swiss players emerged victorious from the shoot-out and unexpectedly stole Finland’s tickets to the final.

The Finns then at least won the consolation bronze medals after beating Denmark 4-1.

Switzerland went into the final against Sweden with a vivid memory of a recent 0-9 loss from the group stage. And the Scandinavians again gave them no chance and won 10-3, dominating the historically second World Championship as well.

The scoring leader from the 1996 World Championship, Martin Olofsson, ended third this time. The individual stats were dominated by his teammate Magnus Augustsson, closely followed by the rising star and later one of the most prominent personalities in the history of floorball, Niklas Jihde.