On Tuesday night the Swedish Floorball Federation and the organisation of World Floorball Championships arranged a successful ambassadors meeting for the countries who have qualified for the World Championships Final Round played in Gothenburg in December.

The Minister of Culture and Sport in Sweden, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, attended the meeting at Casino Cosmopol, Stockholm, and gave a speech:

- As the Minister of Sport I am very pleased to welcome all participants to Sweden in December. Floorball is a very popular sport here and many people are looking forward to the Championships. Today, nearly 850 000 women and men, girls and boys of all ages play floorball after school, after work or at the elite level. This means that floorball is Sweden’s largest indoor sport. I have also noticed that floorball has grown so much internationally and it makes me very happy.

- I’m looking forward to ten days of drama, intensity and nerves in Gothenburg in December. There will be a great atmosphere and I hope for a medal.

This was the first time that an organising country invited the embassies to a meeting before a World Floorball Championship. Something that made the President of the International Floorball Federation, Tomas Eriksson, very happy. Especially since many of the embassies decided to participate.

- Floorball has developed a lot internationally and has close to 60 member countries. For instance, Korea became a member less than ten years ago and the interest for floorball in Korea is booming, not only in Seoul and Pyongyang. They also organised the Special Olympics World Winter Games where floorball was presented in a good way, Tomas Eriksson says and continues:

- The latest success is that Poland, a country where floorball is growing a lot, will be the host for the World Games 2017. It is vital that we create and maintain good relations between the countries and that more people can help to spread the word about how our sport is growing. I hope that many embassies will send representatives to the World Floorball Championships in Gothenburg in December.

Photos: Per Wiklund