What is Floorball?
Floorball is a sport played between two teams on a hard-surface rink surrounded on all sides by boards 50 cm (~20 in) tall.
Each team has five field players and one goalkeeper in the rink at a given time, and the objective is for each team to shoot a ball into the opposing net more times than their opponent.
The gameplay and technique of floorball is similar to other stick sports like ice hockey and field hockey.
Floorball is typically played in three (3) 20-minute periods, and players may handle the ball below their knee and with both sides of the stick.
Floorball is a non-contact sport. The best players are fast and highly technical, emphasizing agility, stick handling, passing, and shooting.
To play floorball, you only need a stick and a ball, making it accessible, competitive, and safe for players of all ages and abilities!
History
Modern floorball was developed in Sweden in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It first became popular in Northern and Central European countries like Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, and Czechia.
Today, there are many elite professional and semi-professional floorball leagues and club competitions across the world.
The highest level men’s and women’s international tournaments are held every other year at the World Floorball Championships.
Governance
Floorball is played in 80 countries across the world and governed globally by the International Floorball Federation (IFF).
In the United States, floorball is governed by USA Floorball.
Although USA Floorball has most recently been headquartered in Texas and California, floorballers from North Carolina have been involved with USA Floorball since the late 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, TFC’s own Ollie Rupp served as President of USA Floorball (elected 2001).
