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The participants and the schedule of the Fistball competitions at The World Games 2025 from August 9 to 13, 2025 in China have now been determined. Changes to IFA regulations, including minor changes to the Rules of the Game (valid from April 1, 2025), were approved and the 2023 financial statements and 2025 budget were adopted. The World Tour will be suspended in 2025. The IFA 2025 World Tour Final with the qualified teams from the 2024 tour will take place in Vöcklabruck from July 24 to 27, 2025. The format of the future club competition starting in 2026 will be discussed in the first board meeting in 2025. In addition, agreements with FICS and for the 2027 World Championships were initiated and the planning for World Fistball Day on January 30, 2025 was confirmed.
On Saturday, December 14, the IFA Board of Directors will meet for the sixth time in the current term of office from 2023 to 2027 under the leadership of IFA President Jörn Verleger. The meeting was attended by eleven members from seven countries and three continents. Here is the chronological report on the decisions of the meeting.
Competition Manager Sönke Spille reported on the preparations for The World Games in Chengdu, China. The following countries will be invited to participate in the women’s events at The World Games in China: Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Namibia. The Italian team has qualified in the men’s competition instead of Namibia. The World Games will take place from August 7 to 17, 2025, with the Fistball event scheduled for August 9 to 13, 2025.
The IFA Board of Directors approved the IFA 2023 Annual Financial Statement with a net profit of €40,477.21. It took note of the report prepared by the auditors on November 21, 2024 and the IFA Ethics Commission on December 9, 2024 due to the resignation of former Treasurer Franz Peter Iten and, without any dissenting votes, set up an evaluation commission with the aim of revising the IFA Financial Regulations and the IFA Conflicts of Interest Policy to January 29, 2025, in response to the audit report, so that they can be discussed at the IFA Membership Gathering / IFA Policy Forum and decided at the next board meeting. In addition, short-term changes to the IFA Financial Regulations were decided.
The board unanimously approved an amendment to the IFA Standing Orders, the 2025 annual budget and a MoU with FICS. The successful partnership with the International Federation for Chiropractic Sports (FICS) is to be continued in the next few years.
After further reports on the IFA 2024 World Tour Final in Mannheim, the U18 World Championships in Chile and the Women’s World Championships in Argentina, the IFA Sport Commission proposed minor changes to the Fistball Rules of the Game, which will come into force on April 1, 2025 and will be published in detail in the coming days.
The following teams have qualified for the women’s tournament at the IFA 2025 World Tour Final in Vöcklabruck from July 24 to 27, 2025: Dennach, Schneverdingen, Morgenau, SOGIPA, Kreuzlingen, Calw, Diepoldsau-Schmitter and Duque de Caixias. The men’s teams from Vöcklabruck, Linz-Urfahr, Novo Hamburgo, South Jersey, Merces, Vaihingen/Enz, Wigoltingen and Froschberg will be competing.
The IFA World Tour Series will take a break in 2025. We want to use the first half of 2025 to restructure the tour and set it up for the future. The IFA World Tour Final, as the world’s highest club competition, will remain in place despite the break in the World Tour. The event is to be renamed the Club World Cup or World Cup.
To evaluate the IFA Strategic Plan, the Board of Directors unanimously approved the establishment of a four-member evaluation commission in accordance with point IV, sentence 6 of the IFA statutes. The working group will in particular use the IFA Membership Gathering / IFA Policy Forum on World Fistball Day on January 30, 2025 and make a proposal for the next Board of Directors meeting.
World Fistball Day on January 30, 2025
IFA invites all member federations to develop activities for World Fistball Day on January 30, 2025 and the days from Thursday, January 30 to Sunday, February 2, 2025 with various activities. All continental federations and members are invited to introduce themselves and their activities.
The 65th birthday on January 30, 2025, includes:
– a virtual World Games 2025 workshop for athletes with information about the host country China,
– a virtual IFA members’ meeting / IFA guidelines forum,
– the virtual IFA Award 2024 awards ceremony
The nomination deadline for the IFA 2024 Awards is December 31, 2024. The awards will be in the categories “IFA Best Picture of the Year”, “IFA Activity Award” and “IFA Lifetime Award”.
The discussion about the hosting contract for the IFA 2027 Men´s World Championships, as well as further reports from the new IFA Youth Commission, the IFA President and the IFA Secretary General rounded off the three-hour meeting.
The 2025 Board meetings were scheduled for February 8, August 30 and November 8.
