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My Preview to the Under 19 Girls World Floorball Championships in Lahti

Florian Buechting Sports Blogging No Comments

I’m back! After having skipped quite a few ones, due to physical and mental reasons, I am about to fly to Finland and do a full coverage of a World Floorball Championships (WFC) event. From 8th to 12th May 2024 I will be in Lahti for the U19 Girls WFC. I might also have a look at the 3×3 WFC, which is held in parallel for the first time.

 

WFC U19 Girls 2024 – The Venue

A lovely feature about the 2024 Under 19 Girls World Floorball Championships is that they are held under one roof. The Lahti Sports and Trade Fair Center is located West of the city center. The venues are close to the famous Lahti ski jumping complex, which also hosts the Finnish Skiing Museum.

 

 

I don’t know how the five trade fair halls, which are connected to each other, are finally used. I guess that they use the two major ones, named Suurhalli Areena and Suurhalli Treeni. The arenas are also used for other sports events. There is also the major Lahti Halli.

 

 

WFC U19 Girls 2024 – The Teams

In contrast to senior team tournaments, the Under 19 Girls WFC playing system is featuring two “divisions”: There are two groups, A and B, with the “better teams”, while groups C and D feature the potentially “worse” teams. The best teams of these groups run into a placement play-off round against the last placed teams of groups A and B. Even in case of a streak of one of these potential underdog, the best placement possible is seventh place. Vice versa, a group A or B team losing all matches, including placement rounds, will not place worse than tenth in the final table.

Group A Group B
1 Czechia Sweden (team)
2 Switzerland (team) Finland (team)
3 Slovakia Poland
4 Latvia Norway

The potential play-off challengers for these teams are below:

Group C Group D
1 Germany (team) Hungary (team)
2 New Zealand Denmark
3 Australia Italy
4 Singapore Canada

 

WFC U19 Girls 2024 – The Schedule

The matches are held in two arenas. Apart from Finland, all teams play group matches in both arenas. The schedule is slightly staggered, with Arena A matches kick off at 10:00, 13:00, 16:00 and 19:00, which Arena B matches start half an hour later. The German National Team is kicking off the tournament against Australia on Wednesday, 8th May 2024. As I am traveling in from Helsinki in the morning, I likely miss the first match in each arena on Wednesday, though.

After three days of one match each, Saturday features the semifinals (at 13:00 and 16:00 in Arena A) and most of the placement matches. Only the teams which have to play the placement play-offs, i.e. the teams competing for places 7 to 10, will have matches on Sunday 12th March in the morning, before the 3rd pace match (13:00) and final (16:00) is about to start.

 

Matches To Look Out For (Group Phase)

As always, I am a bit of biased and keep my fingers crossed for the Hungarian Under 19 Girls. However, I feel that the schedule comes with some interesting match ups in the group phase:

 

Wednesday, 8th March 2024

On Wednesday, I feel I will have a certain focus on the A division:

  • 13:30, Arena B: Latvia will challenge Switzerland in their first match. The Swiss team felt to be a bit of weaker at the ladies in recent years. However, I would not expect an upset here and rather feel, Switzerland will have a good feeling on the first day of the tournament. Still, the match will give a hint about both teams and could be quite interesting.
  • 16:00, Arena A: Slovakia’s first opponent is their neighbor country Czechia. Also due to players crossing the border for their floorball career, Slovakia always had some amazing young talents in the past. On the one hand, Czechia feels a bit too strong. Still, it is a local battle – and in general, Group A does feel having a much higher potential for a surprising semifinalist than Group B. Maybe Czechia proofs me wrong and has an easy group match cruise, alongside Switzerland..
Thursday, 9th March 2024

Arena A will be in focus with four stunning match-ups in the “A Division”:

  • 10:00, Arena A: Slovakia vs. Latvia – the first match of two on this days in which at least the spot for the Place 5 match on Saturday evening can be sealed. Slovakia felt being stronger in recent years – but Latvia is still a Top 8 team and could be a surprise in Lahti.
  • 13:00, Arena A: now, the Big 4 step into the rink, starting with Czechia vs. Switzerland. If the tournament is taking its most probable route, the winner might run into the weaker Scandinavian team and thus has a better chance in the semifinals. Two years ago, Czechia won this battle – but it was a semifinal and they clinched their spot in the final, where they very closely lost to Sweden. Rather new squads on both sides now – can they repeat that story or is it up to Switzerland this time=
  • 16:00, Arena A: I don’t need to say too much about this match-up, Sweden vs. Finland. That’s the battle both teams are waiting for – and they expect it to happen again on Sunday, 16:00. Do the teams play their best already? Is there maybe an upset? At least, this should be the best crowd in the whole group phase.
  • 19:00, Arena A: Similar to the first match of the day, Norway and Poland battle to at least avoid the Place 7 to 10 placement playoffs. This is especially cruel for the Group B teams – the losing team will play their playoff on Saturday 19:00, followed by a placement match on Sunday morning, 10:00 or 10:30. Not the most energy-friendly way to say farewell to Lahti after an intense tournament. Place 5 match (or better) feels like the more comfortable route.
Friday, 10th March 2024

After the thrilling Thursday, I feel Friday also will give some opportunity to have a look on the teams, which finally will not battle for the medals. Thus my selection are the following match-ups:

  • 10:30, Arena B: New Zealand is facing Australia in the first match of Arena B. While the distance between the countries is a couple of flight hours, it still feels like a regional battle. Germany and Singapore are likely the favorites in this group, but maybe one of these two teams can finalize an upset of Friday morning.
  • 13:00, Arena A: Group D is a quite interesting one. Denmark is likely in the favorite role, but the North American teams, here: Canada, are always difficult to judge on. Hosting the next Under 19 Girls WFC in 2026, Italy may need to take the first step towards a successful tournament on their home soil. In their last group match, they face the Hungarian national team, who is likely technically and athletically skilled. Could be an interesting one.
  • 16:00, Arena A: The group D teams are playing one after another. The second match of the group on the final preliminary group match day features the match between Canada and Denmark. Will Denmark make it to the place 5 to 9 playoffs or will that group write a different story?

 

WFC U19 Girls 2024 – My Thoughts

Especially the draw in Group C feels to be very unfortunate to me. Germany is facing three teams from Asia-Oceania, who might have a certain routine playing against each other. I would wish them to have some other match experience. In the “A Division”, it will be interesting if one of the minor teams can challenge the “Big 4”, i.e. Sweden, Finland, Czechia and Switzerland. However, the task will be close to impossible for Poland and Norway, likely, facing both Scandinavian “big guns” in their group. Thus, it might be worth having a certain focus on the minor teams on the first three days.

Thereafter, it will be interesting if the WFC 3×3 will be attractive and – in worst case for the girls – pulls spectators out of Arena A and B. Anything but a Scandinavian final would be a surprise. Finally, Sweden is the huge favorite, even though this tournament is played in their rival country.

 

WFC U19 Girls 2024 – Watch It Live

Also as one of the major Lahti hotels is closed due to renovation during the event, it may be rather difficult to spontaneously travel over to Finland for a U19 WFC trip. Live TV coverage will be rather sparse and – if any – limited to a few countries like Finland, Sweden or Czechia. Alternatively, the IFF Event Pass allows you to watch any game as live stream and recording. The price for the whole event is 19.99 EUR. Individual matches are 6.99 EUR roughly.

 

WFC U19 Girls 2024 – My (Intended) Coverage

Apart from the Hungarian U19 Girls Floorball Team, I am not intending to have a certain focus on any teams. My preferences are well known anyway. It is the first time since quite some years I am attending a WFC again. The recent coverage of the Swiss Superfinals (match reports of the men’s final and the women’s final) and the SM Finalen in Solna (men’s match / women’s match) were already rather demanding, so that I need to adjust my work to a reasonable level.

I will likely not post any splitters of the tournament – maybe I do one at the end of the whole days in Lahti – U19 Girls and 3×3 (see below). At a WFC, I am typically not attending whole matches, but typically see 20 to 30 minutes each – the quality of the match report might reflect that. I am very keen on seeing how 3×3 will work out, but I will treat the event likely as a subordinate one. Reports might be published the week after the event (even though I will be very busy then…). Nonetheless, I am aiming to give you a good overview of the tournament here and on my social media channels, especially on my Instagram account.

 

 

WFC 3×3

I already introduced you to the debut WFC event, which is held in parallel in the same complex. I will have a separate preview with some thoughts on it.

 

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