History: WFC 1996 - The Birth of Swedish Domination – 16.11.2018

The very first World Floorball Championships was held in Sweden in 1996 (May 11 – May 16). It took place in Skellefteå (Group A), Uppsala (Group B and placement games) and Stockholm with the legendary Globen arena (semifinals and medal games). The host country, Sweden, conquered the floorball world and won the gold medals. It was the beginning of 12 years long lasting hegemony.

Group A consisted of Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Latvia and Estonia. It was no surprise that the Swedes dominated this group without any hesitation. Norway finished 2nd in the group stage and qualified for the semifinals.

The Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Germany, Hungary and Singapore competed in Group B.The Finns ceased the pressure, have met the expectations and fininshed 1st in the final standings right above the Czechs who lost only one match. Before the loss against Finland, the Czech Republic had beaten Hungary (6-2), Germany (4-1), Russia (9-2) and Singapore (20-1).

We could use the term „Big 4“ for the first time. It consisted of Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and… not Switzerland, but Norway. The Swiss finished 5th in the final standings after beating Russia 8:3.

The Czechs faced Sweden, the winner of Group A, in the semifinals. The home team was a pure favourite and got its job done without any issue. ‚Tre Kronor‘ defeated the Czech Republic 13:0 and found its path leading all the way to the gold medal game.

In the other semifinal game, it was a tough Scandinavian rivals‘ match but Finland was a better side and outscored Norway 4:1.

But the Norwegians weren’t sad in the end because they won the bronze medals after overcoming the Czech Republic 6:2.

The Swedes kept the final match under their control. They kept the doors shut and scored five goals. The general tournament performance of Team Sweden was pretty impressive. 83 goals scored, only 3 conceded.

Martin Olofsson (Sweden) finished as the scoring leader of the tournament.