Today is the day all is decided. The winner of the World Floorball Championship 2014 will be crowned. But for some people, the future is already on their minds. Riga 2016. 

One of them is Ilvis Pêtersons, president of Latvia’s Floorball Federation, the next nation to host the WFC. He has about two years of preparations ahead of him, before it is time. Time for victories. Time for dissapointments. Floorball is emotional, something we have seen during this amazing Championship week. And Ilvis Pêtersons has no intetions to lower the bar for the WFC2016.

− We hope to collect the best part of all the championships we have visited and make something big out of it all, Pêtersons explains. He arrived in Gothenburg last Wednesday.  

One thing they are really impressed of, and something they want to accomplish themselves, is Fun Zone, the large activity area in Svenska Mässan.

− There have been similar areas before, but never as big as this. Our hope is to accomplish something similar to the one here, Pêtersons says and reveals they will outdo the small distance between courts here in Gothenburg.

−There may be only 300 metres between Scandinavium and Lisebergshallen, but there will only be 100 metres between our courts! He says and laughs. 

Floorball is played throughout Latvia today, there are approximately 3 200 licensed players and it increases with just over ten percent yearly. In other words, it is a growing sport.

How important is it to you that the Latvian team does well in your championship?

− It’s extremely important. Mostly for the fans, but also for sponsors, Pêtersons says.

Do you have any concrete goals for the championship?

−We actually do. One of them is to attract at least 1000 Swedes to Riga and 500 of them should be from Gothenburg, Pêtersons says and makes, at the same time, a promise, something Gothenburg, unfortunately, could not offer this year.

− We can promise you, there will be snow! Pêtersons says and laughs.

Anna Andersson