The World Floorball Championships, which is being held in Helsinki at the beginning of December, will participate in the fair play challenge campaign of the Finnish Center for Integrity in Sports FINCIS with a message that has been promoted by more than 30 international sports events in Finland.
The World Floorball Championships will begin in Helsinki on 3 December, and the new winner of men’s World Championship will be decided in the final on 11 December. 16 countries are participating in the World Championships, which is being held for the 13th time, and the championships have been divided into four groups.
The Finnish host team will start its series of games in the main game of the opening day against Denmark. In addition to Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Latvia will play in group A.
At its opening ceremony, the World Floorball Championships event will receive a fair play challenge from aesthetic group gymnasts whose world championships were recently held in Helsinki. Gymnasts from the Gloria team Hertta Martikainen and Noora Luoto will hand over the Golden Baton of the challenge campaign to the captain of the Finnish team Nico Salo.
“With the Golden Baton, we want to spread the message of fair play and clean sports to all the teams in the World Championships!” Martikainen and Luoto explain.
The International Floorball Federation (IFF) is also involved in the campaign of FINCIS. According to IFF Sales Coordinator Tero Kalsta, the campaign fits in with the sport’s own responsibility campaign.
“The message of clean sports has once again been passed on. The International Floorball Federation will continue to promote the message by means of the FairFloorball responsibility campaign. I hope everyone will enjoy the games and the spirit of fair play,” Kalsta says.
The World Floorball Championships are normally held every two years. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the championships event starting on Friday had to be postponed by one year. Finland is among the hottest favourites at their home championships, as the team has won the World Championship gold in the previous two World Championships (in 2018 and 2016). This is the third time that the Adult World Floorball Championships accept the fair play challenge by receiving the FINCIS’ Golden Baton.
As part of the challenge campaign, FINCIS will share information on clean sports practices at the World Championships at its own information stand for both the audience and the players. The FINCIS information stand can be found at Helsinki Ice Hall on Saturday 4 December from 2 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. and at Hartwall Arena on the day of the finals, 11 December, from 1 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.
At the FINCIS stand, people can vote for the best athlete of the World Championships and test their knowledge of anti-doping matters by answering the WADA Play True Quiz questionnaire. Voters will be awarded with reflectors, and drinking bottles will be awarded to those who take part in the quiz. An official Finnish team jersey with the autographs of each team member will also be raffled among all the voters.
Additional information:
Susanna Sokka
FINCIS Communication Manager
tel.: +358 (0)40 740 7477