In my introductory posting, I already introduced you to the concept of 3×3 Floorball and the first World Floorball Championships in that discipline held in Lahti last weekend. Overall, I spent much more time at the small fields than I expected. Thus, my coverage will consist of four postings, the group match coverage on Saturday and the Sunday finals, each split by men and women competition. I start with the group matches on Saturday, 11th May, on the women’s side.
On Saturday, I initially just wanted to see some matches in the morning, before concentrating on the Under 19 Women WFC matches. Finally, I ended up going back to the arena after the Sweden vs. Switzerland and Czechia vs. Finland semifinals there. While my posts aboiut the Sunday happenings will concentrate on certain matches, I rather strolled through the 3×3 hall, which was packed with players and five active rinks. Nonetheless, I hope to you give the key stories of the first day of the woman competition of the 3×3 World Floorball Championships somehow right.
This posting comes with a section of 274 major size pictures in the 2024 WFC 3×3 section of the sports galleries. The order of pictures is chronological how I took them. They may not reflect the structure of my posting.
WFC 3×3 2024 Day 1 – Women’s Competition
In contrast to my overview posting, the Indian team had been withdrawn from the tournament. They had visa issues – I rather not comment on that, they are too well-known for me on the Indian tennis side as well. Thus, there was only one group with five teams, while Group B and C had four teams each.
Sweden and Finland advance in Group A
Iceland felt a bit like the poor girls in that high quality group. I unfortunately haven’t seen them, but the finally had to face a 2-69 goal difference after four matches, i.e. an over 17 goals against average. The top match of that group was the battle between the Finland (White) team and Sweden, which ended up 3-3. Sweden, who had several SSL players, finally won the group. Finland (White) joined them to the quarterfinals of the so-called Champions Play-Offs of the best teams, while the other teams played the B-Group Play-Offs – a concept also used by the men’s competition later.
German Team Impresses in Group B
The German national team, which solely consisted of players by German (normal field) champion Dümptener Füchse, already positioned well in Group B. Together with the group’s premier team Finland (Blue), they rather easily made it to the champions play-offs. In their first match, they ran over the Ukraine by 16-4. followed by an 11-6 victory against Slovakia. They were one of the perfect illustrations of the 3×3 World Floorball Championships of a really well-prepared team with a clear strategy in the matches.
Even in the top match of the group against the Finnish team, they did show good discipline and nice attacks, even though the F-Liiga players were just too strong. The top team of the Finnish Federation closed the group with an impressing goal difference of 49-5, while Slovakia sealed the third spot in the group in a very close battle in the last match, just beating the Ukraine by 5-4.
Czechia Fails in Group C
3c3 Floorball does not feel being Czechia’s desired discipline. As Switzerland does have an existing and very competitive small field playing structure, their opening loss against the Swiss team (3-5) might not have been unexpected. Swiss Unihockey‘s selection, by the way, was pushed by an amazing supporters crowd in the 3×3 Arena. However, the Czech team, who consisted of TJ Sokol Kralovske Vinohrady players also lost against the experienced Estonian team. The Baltic team came with players like Reti Vaart or Milja Alanko, who scored the game winning goal in that 6-5 victory, which sealed Estonia the second spot in the group. Already in the group matches, the Swiss positioned themselves as one of the teams to watch out for after beating Netherlands 13-1 and Estonia 8-3 in their other matches.
Quarterfinal Upset by Switzerland
The long Saturday evening match day also hosted the quarterfinals of the Championship Play-Offs and the B play-off matches. Germany (11-4 against Estonia) and Finland (20-8 vs. Czechia) showed impressing matches. Two battles were really close. The Swedish team had a lot of struggle with Latvia, who had a three goal lead after 2:21 minutes already. Finally, Karlstad’s Alexandra Terner prevented a potential shoot-out with her goal five seconds before the end of the match. The penalty shots had to decide between Switzerland and Finland (White) after a 2-2 score in regular match time. Swiss goalie Alexandra Chassot was the match winner in this battle, making run the Swiss team against the other team of the Finnish Federation in the semifinals.
WFC 3×3 2024 Day 1 Women – Gallery
In the 2024 WFC 3×3 section of my sports gallery, there is a designated major size picture gallery with 274 pictures of this match at
Flyctory & Floorball Deutschland
Here are all postings about the German Floorball Association and their National Teams
Sports Posts related to Switzerland
Here are all my sports postings related to Switzerland: