Expansion

When the IFF was founded in 1986, the sport was played in mostly Nordic countries,Japan, and several parts of Europe. By 1990, floorball was recognized in 7 countries, and by the time of the first European Floorball Championships in 1994, that number had risen to 14. That number included the United States, who was the first country outside of Europe and Asia to recognize floorball. By the time of the the first men's world championships in 1996, 20 nations played floorball, with 12 of them participating at the tournament.

As of 2009, the sport of floorball has been played in almost 80 countries. Of those, 58 have national floorball associations that are recognized by the IFF. With the addition of Sierra Leone, Africa's first floorball nation, the IFF has at least one national association on each continent of the world, with the exception of Antarctica.

In india

Before we begin, we would like to share a good news with you all. With the efforts of the President of Indian Floorball Federation, Dr. Prabhat Kumar, IAS, India has been elected as a permanent member of International Floorball Federation.

We thank him for the effort he is making for the development of Floorball in India. It is because of is able guidance that Floorball is developing so fast in India. 

Positions in floorball

Floorball tactics are defined by basic formations, but sudden changes in formation sometimes take place to throw off opponents.

The ultimate aim is to score goals, and goals can be scored more easily when the defense is disorganized. On the other hand, the aim of the defenders is to prevent goals. This is done most effectively by keeping opponents from taking direct shots on goal.

General positions

There are normally five outfield players and one goalkeeper for each team. The basic positions are:

•  a goalkeeper
•  two defenders
•  a center 
•  two attackers

There is a left defender and a right defender. Similarly, there is a left attacker and a right attacker. The latter two  are often called left wing and right wing respectively. 

A defender is primarily responsible for his or her side. An attacker is primarily responsible for his or her own side when in attack and to cover his opposing defender when the opponents are attacking. 

The center is responsible for supporting the attack and to support the defense. This means that centers are required to run a lot and have an excellent sense of positioning. 

These areas are the primary zones of responsibility, and depending on the situation of the game, any of the players might be found elsewhere on the court. There is also a certain areas of overlap, and players may choose to swap roles during the game. This means that the left defender and the right defender may choose to swap. Another common scenario is that a defender comes into the attack, and then either the center or the attacker from the same side drops back to temporarily take on the role of defender.

Defending

Defenders typically wait for attackers to make a mistake rather than chase them off the ball. If you try to chase a ball, and make a mistake, the attacker will often be left open to shoot. Concentrate on closing down space and intercepting passes.

As a defender, you should:

●    Try to close down space (leave fewer options for the attackers).
●    Try to intercept passes.
●    Do not hit the attacker’s stick to get the ball.
●    Try to nick a ball if  it is unprotected.

Attacking
As an attacker, you are concerned with keeping the ball and opening up possibilities to shoot on goal. 

As an attacker, you should:

●    Try to open up space for more options to play.
●    Try to play safe passes (making sure that they arrive at their intended target).
●    Shoot on the goal if you can.
●    Confuse the defence by running continuously and switching sides.
●    Try to keep the ball moving.
●    Run into a position where you can receive the ball.

Goal keeper skills in floorball

Goalkeepers wear limited protection provided by padded pants, a padded chest protector, knee pads, and a helmet. The goalkeeper may also wear other protective equipment such as elbow pads and jock straps but bulky padding is not permitted. Goalkeepers do not use sticks and may use their hands to play the ball when they are within the goalkeeper's box. There, they are allowed to throw the ball out to their teammates provided that the ball touches the ground before the half court mark. When they are completely outside the box, goalkeepers are considered field players and are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands.

The goalkeeper is the last line of defence. He or she is free to defend the ball when within the goal crease. Jumping, kicking, hitting and blocking are all allowed if the action is directed at the ball.

A goalkeeper positions himself or herself in a way to maximise the area of the goal covered. No equipment is allowed to artificially increase the area covered, Depending on where the ball is, the keeper moves to the left or right of the goal. He or she may also move forward and backward. The legs are generally kept closed, so that the ball cannot be played in between. 

Rules of floorball

 

Each team can field six players at a time on the court, one player being a goalkeeper. But the coach can take the goalkeeper off for a short amount of time, and switch him with a field player. This can make advantages for the attacking side of the team, and disadvantages when it comes to their own defence. The team is also allowed to change players any time in the game, usually they change the whole team. Individual substitution happens sometimes, but it usually happens when a player is exhausted or is hurt.

A floorball game is officially played over three periods lasting 20 minutes each (15 minutes for juniors). The time is stopped in the case of penalties, goals, time-outs and any situation where the ball is not considered to be in play. The signal of a time out should be a triple sound. An intermission of 10 minutes (or maximum 15 minutes in some competitions) takes place between each period, where teams change ends and substitution areas. Each team is allowed one timeout of 30 seconds (which is often used late in matches). There are two referees to oversee the game, each with equal authority. If a game ends in a tie, teams play ten minutes extra, and the team that scores first wins.

Checking is prohibited in floorball. Controlled shoulder-to-shoulder contact is allowed, but ice hockey-like checking is forbidden. Pushing players without the ball or competing for a loose ball is also disallowed, and many of these infractions lead to two-minute penalties. The best comparison in terms of legal physical contact is football, where checking is used to improve one's positioning in relation to the ball rather than to remove an opposing player from the play. In addition to checking, players cannot lift another opponents stick or perform any stick infractions in order to get to the ball. As well, players may not raise their stick or play the ball above their knee level, and a stick cannot be placed in between a player's legs.

When a player commits a foul, or when the ball is deemed unplayable, play is resumed from a free-hit or a face-off. A free hit involves a player from one team to start play from the place where the ball was last deemed unplayable. A comparison of this is a free kick in soccer. For many fouls, such as stick infractions, a free hit is the only discipline provided. However, at the referee's discretion, a penalty may be worth either two or five minutes. At that point, the player who committed the foul sits in the penalty area, and his team is short handed for the time of the penalty. If an 'extreme' foul is committed, such as physical contact or unsportsmanlike behavior, a player may receive a 10-minute penalty or even a match misconduct.

History of Floorball

The game was developed in the 1960s and 1970s in Sweden, floorball is most popular where it has been developed the longest, such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. It is gaining popularity in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States. As of 2014, there are over 300,133 registered floorball players worldwide. Professional leagues include Finland's Salibandyliigaand Sweden's Svenska Superligan.

The sport is organized internationally by the International Floorball Federation (IFF). Events include an annual Euro Floorball Cup for club teams and the biennial World Floorball Championships with separate divisions for men and women. While the IFF contains 58 members, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland have consistently placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the World Floorball Championships.

The sport is relatively new and therefore evolving. The basic rules were established in 1979 when the first floorball club in the world, Sala IBK, was founded in Sweden. Official rules for matches were first written down in 1981.

In various forms the game has been played since the early 20th Century in Canada as a recreational sport, especially in high school gymnasiums, as a playful variant of hockey, where the sticks got their form from the hockey game bandy. Most Canadian males born in the 1950s and before could attest to this. Similarly, during the 1950s and 1960s many public school systems within Michigan incorporated floorball into their primary and secondary school gym classes. Later, Americans claimed to have invented it, and held interstate tournaments in the 1960s. The game was formally organized as an international and more organised sport in the late 1970s in Gothenburg, Sweden. The sport began as something that was played for fun as a pastime in schools. After a decade or so, floorball began showing up in Nordic countries where the former schoolyard pastime was becoming a developed sport. Formal rules soon were developed, and clubs began to form. After some time, several countries developed national associations, and the IFF was founded in 1986.

The game of floorball is also known by many other names, such as salibandy (in Finland), innebandy (in Sweden and Norway), and unihockey (in Switzerland and Germany). The names "salibandy" and "innebandy" are derived from bandy; they translate to "hall bandy" and "indoor bandy". Unihockey is derived from "universal hockey" since it is meant to be a special and simplified hockey form.

Recognition

In December 2008, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In July 2011, the IOC officially welcomed the IFF into its family of Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF). This will pave the way for floorball to enter the official sport programme. The IFF hopes that this recognition will help allow floorball to become a part of the 2020 Summer Olympics.

In January 2009, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the Special Olympics.

In addition to recognition by the International Olympic Committee and Special Olympics, the IFF is also a member of the Sport Accord - formerly known as General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), and co-operates with the International University Sports Federation (FISU). Floorball is now also member of IWGA which runs the World Games and floorball will be for the first time on programme in Wroclaw 2017.