Finland was the host of the 10. World Championship in floorball for women.

Since the first time it was arranged back in 1997, with Finland being the host, the format of the tournament have changed and so have the number of teams participating.

In floorball we speaks of the Big 4, and Finland, Sweden, Czech and Switzerland have taken their responsibillities, and have hosted 7 of 10 World Championships.

The last 3 have been held in Denmark, Singapore and Latvia.

What is interessting, is to have a closer look at the total number of spectators of each tournament, and the average number of spectators pr. game.

How is the development, is floorball actually getting more popular, and how about floorball compared to other teamsports.

Lets first have a quick overview

Year	Avg	Total	Host	Length	No of teams
1997	209	5.433	Finland	8 days	10
1999	300	7.210	Sweden	7 days	12
2001	213	7.671	Latvia	8 days	16
2003	431	19.404	Switzerland	9 days	18
2005	552	21.554	Singapore	8 days	17
2007	181	9.788	Denmark	8 days	20
2009	352	19.040	Sweden	8 days	20
2011	697	30.700	Switzerland	8 days	16
2013	913	43.806	Czech	9 days	16
2015	753	36.147	Finland	9 days	16

 

The Graph below show the most interesting development, how many spectators is the average per game. From the start back in 1997 the development has been very positive, though with the games in Denmark being the exception.

The first magic number to break, is 1.000 spectators in average per game.

You also have to look at the total number of spectators, this is depending on the number of games being played in total.

As you can see below, in the begining, there werent that many spectators, but remember there wasnt the same number of games as today.
But in 2003, Singapore was the host and the made some kind of a World championship with almost the same numbers as in previous 3 world championships.
Well done Singapore.

Switzerland followed up upon the succes, and again in 2007 with Denmark being the host, the number was not good.

Since then its only been one way, and thats up

The Future
Next World Championship will be with Slovakia as the host, and its a country who is progressing a lot in floorball, but are they ready to match the number of spectators fromthe last 3 world championships?

The games could boost the interest for the sport in Slovakia, and why shouldnt they have the same development as their neighbours from Czech.

The next barrier for the sport to break is the 50.000 in total, but can these only be achieved in one of the big 4 floorballnations, if one of the smaller floorballnations were to host the games, would the be able to match the same figures as the big 4?

Also the level of the World Floorball Championship is quite high, who can match the demands?

When Denmark was the host back in 2007, the had a financial loss between euro 50-75.000.

Floorball compered to other teamsports

WOMEN	# of teams	# of days	#spectators	#matches	#spectators final	#avg spectators	# European teams
Floorball	16	9	36.147	48	6.517	753	12
Icehockey	8	8	15.522	20	1.523	776	5
Basketball	16	9	88.515	40	5.600	2.213	6
Handball	24	16	304.436	88	12.000	3.460	13
Volleyball	24	20	328.000	102	12.600	3.216	10

Stats are taking from the last world championship, and two sports are doing quite good.

Both handball and volleyball have very high numbers of spectators in total, but they also have more teams and more games in total, though there average number of spectators are quite high as well.

Volleyball have also been succesfull globally with topteams from around the world, where in other sports, it is still european teams who is dominating the game.

If we look at floorball, the sport is still some way behind the other teamsports, but though the gap could seem big, my guess is that floorball will reduce the gap and get closer.

But for floorball, its important to break through on other continents than Europe.

Photos: IFF