The year 2024 has only just begun and some sports fans are already looking ahead to 2025. The 12th World Games will take place in Chengdu (China) next summer. After 2001 (Akita/Japan) and 2009 (Kaohsiung/Chinese Taipei), this will be the third time the multi-sport event has been hosted in Asia. Fistball is also part of the competition program again – with more teams than ever before.

The World Games

The World Games have been held every four years since 1981. Non-Olympic sports from six areas are represented (artistic and dance sports, ball sports, martial arts, precision sports, powersports and trend sports). The last World Games were held in Birmingham (USA) in 2022.

Fistball at the World Games

In 1985, at the second ever World Games, a fistball competition was held for the first time at the multi-sport event in London (Great Britain). Four nations took part, with the winner Germany, Brazil (silver), Austria and Switzerland (both bronze). Four years later, in 1989, there were six men’s teams among the participants – a number that was to continue until the 2017 World Games in Poland.

Participations: With Germany, Austria, Brazil and Switzerland, four nations have taken part in all ten fistball competitions of the World Games. In addition, Argentina (6 participations), Chile (5), Italy (4), Japan, Denmark, Chinese Taipei and the USA have each participated once.

Results: The most successful World Games nation is Germany with seven titles and two bronze medals. Austria (2001, 2005) and Brazil (2009) have also won the gold medal in the past. Switzerland has not yet won the title, but has always reached the final at the last four editions and won the silver medal.

From Birmingham to Chengdu

2022 in Birmingham (USA) was the last time the world’s best fistball teams competed in the World Games. The women’s competition celebrated a premiere. For the first time ever, Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Europe), Brazil, the USA (America) and New Zealand (Oceania) had women’s fistball teams competing at the World Games. Germany became the first ever winners of the title by beating Switzerland in the final. The field of participants for 2025 was increased by two more teams – to eight nations.

The World Games 2025 delegation from Chengdu also came to Birmingham to see the fistball at the World Games for themselves. They took the opportunity to complete their own short fistball training session with Gastao Englert – and get a first-hand impression of the sport.

World Games 2025

The 12th edition of the World Games will take place in Chengdu, China, from August 7 to 17, 2025. Over 5,000 athletes will travel to the city of 21 million people in the southwest of the country to compete in a total of 35 sports. The opening and closing ceremonies are planned to be held at the Dong’an Lake Sports Park Stadium, which has a capacity of 40,000 spectators. Chen Yanfu, Deputy Secretary of the Chengdu Municipal Committee, is convinced that the event will be a major highlight: “We will make the World Games in Chengdu a wonderful example of the development of new sports and the promotion of a modern sports culture.”

The fistball competitions

Eight men’s and eight women’s teams will be competing at the 2025 World Games in China – more than ever before. “This is a great signal for the development of the sport of fistball,” says Christoph Oberlehner, Secretary General of the International Fistball Association. Together with the International World Games Association (IWGA) and the local organizing committee, preparations for the fistball competitions have begun. The Chengdu University Stadium has been chosen as the venue. The stadium can accommodate 4,000 spectators. “The first teams have already qualified, and the other nations will follow in the coming months,” says Sönke Spille, IFA Competition Manager for the World Games: “We are working closely together there and will also clarify all the details on site in advance to guarantee optimal conditions for all athletes.”

The participating teams for the 2024 World Tour Finals are confirmed. In addition to the defending champions TV Jahn Schneverdingen (women) and SG Novo Hamburgo (men) and the continental title holders, the top teams from the IFA World Tour 2023 have also qualified.

23 tournaments with more than 70 teams in the ranking: the IFA World Tour 2023 has come to an end. Brazilian clubs were once again able to celebrate as winners. In the men’s competition, the 2023 World Tour Final winner SG Novo Hamburgo once again won the World Tour with 3,300 points. In the women’s competition, SOGIPA/Cargo Way scored the most points, beating the competition with strong 3,500 points.

The two Brazilian teams will also be involved when the World Tour Finals take place in July 2024. In the men’s competition, SG Novo Hamburgo will be the defending champions after winning the last finals tournament in Curitiba in October. They will be joined by the continental champions TSV Pfungstadt (Germany) from Europe, SOGIPA/Cargo Way (Brazil) for South America and South Jersey Fistball Club (USA) for North America. Three teams have also qualified for the final tournament via the World Tour. Union Tigers Vöcklabruck (Austria), Clube Mercês (Brazil) and UFG Grieskirchen/Pötting (Austria) were all already part of the 2023 World Tour Finals this October. The eighth starting place is currently still reserved for the host club.

In the women’s competition, several teams have qualified for the World Tour Finals for the first time. Defending champion TV Jahn Schneverdingen (Germany) is seeded, as are the continental winners of SOGIPA/Cargo Way (Brazil) from South America and TSV Dennach (Germany) from Europe. The starting field will be completed by the best-placed teams on the World Tour. For FG Elgg-Ettenhausen, Faustball Kreuzlingen, SVD Diepoldsau-Schmitter (all Switzerland) and FBC Linz-Urfahr (Austria), this will be their first participation.

This means that seven places have been firmly booked in both the men’s and women’s competitions. The eighth starting place is reserved for a potential organizer. This is one starting place – either for the men’s or women’s competition. The remaining place would be taken by DSG UKJ Froschberg (Austria/men) or Clube Duque de Caxias (Brazil/women).

The following teams have qualified for the 2024 World Tour Finals:

Men’s category

• SG Novo Hamburgo (BRA): defending champion & 1st World Tour 2023
• TSV Pfungstadt (GER): Winner Champions Cup Europe 2023
• SOGIPA/Cargo Way (BRA): Winner South America Cup 2023 & 5th World Tour 2023
• South Jersey Fistball Club (USA): Winner North America Cup 2023
• Union Tigers Vöcklabruck (AUT): 2nd World Tour 2023
• Clube Mercês (BRA): 3rd World Tour 2023
• UFG Grieskirchen/Pötting (AUT): 4th World Tour 2023

Women’s category

• TV Jahn Schneverdingen (GER): Defending champion
• TSV Dennach (GER): Winner Champions Cup Europe 2023 & 5th World Tour 2023
• SOGIPA/Cargo Way (BRA): Winner South America Cup 2023 & 1st World Tour 2023
• FG Elgg-Ettenhausen (SUI): 2nd World Tour 2023
• FBC Linz-Urfahr (AUT): 3rd World Tour 2023
• Faustball Kreuzlingen (SUI): 4th World Tour 2023
• SVD Diepoldsau-Schmitter (SUI): 6th World Tour 2023

The 2024 World Tour Final will take place in Germany from July 18 to 21. This means that the most important competition in club fistball will return to Europe after being held twice in Brazil. The first final series was held in Vaihingen/Enz in April 2018. The exact venue for the 2024 World Tour Finals will be announced as soon as possible.

Ranking World Tour 2023

Women

Men

The International Fistball Association has launched the bidding process for upcoming international fistball events. Interested candidates can register now.

Offering the best men’s teams in the world a big stage, promoting young talent with the U18 World Championships at their first major international event or welcoming the best club teams in the world to the World Tour Finals – the Club World Cup: The International Fistball Association (IFA) has launched the bidding process for the organization of five events. Interested clubs, associations and cooperations can now submit their interest in organizing the Men’s World Championship, the U18 World Championships 2026 and the World Tour Finals 2025 to 2027.

Transparent bidding process

“We want to enable a fair and transparent awarding of major fistball events,” explains IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner. This is one of the reasons why the association has set up a six-stage bidding process. During the bidding process, all applicants must answer a questionnaire with various key topics. A jury then decides on the award based on a points system. “We want to take the time to get in touch with all potential organizers during this process and talk to them about ideas and plans,” says Oberlehner. The first step is only the basic interest in hosting an event.

After two events took place this year with the Men’s Fistball World Championships in Mannheim (Germany) and the Men’s and Women’s World Tour Finals in Curitiba (Brazil) in October, three IFA events are firmly planned for 2024 – and have now also been scheduled. These include the U18 World Championships in Chile (October 31 to November 2) and the Women’s World Championships in Argentina (November 7 to 10). “Our aim is to fix the events at an early stage and thus give everyone planning security,” says Sönke Spille, who has been Head of Events at IFA since September: “We want to act as a point of contact for interested organizers, eliminate uncertainties and support them on the way to bidding for and hosting the event.”

=> https://www.ifa-fistball.com/events

Six-stage application process with timetable

The following events have been announced for the period from 2025 to 2027

• IFA Fistball World Tour Finals 2025
• IFA Fistball World Championships U18 Men & U18 Women 2026
• IFA Fistball World Tour Finals 2026
• IFA Fistball Men’s World Championship 2027
• IFA Fistball World Tour Finals 2027

The bidding process for the five international Fistball events is divided into a total of six stages:

1. expression of interest in bidding for one of the events (by 15 January 2024)
2. contact by IFA with all interested parties to discuss the event concept (as soon as interest is submitted)
3. presentation of the event concept in a questionnaire (by 20 March 2024)
4. evaluation of the application documents by the IFA jury (25 to 31 March 2024)
5. awarding of the event by the IFA Presidium (6 April 2024)
6. signing of the event contract (2 weeks after board meeting)

If you have any questions, please contact Sönke Spille, IFA Head of Events, by e-mail (marketing@ifa-fistball.com) at any time.

Club Gimnasia Guatambú in Montecarlo, Argentina (Misiones province), will host the tenth Women’s Fistball World Championship. The world title matches will take place from 7 to 10 November 2024.

It is October 7, 1994 when a new era in international fistball begins in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For the first time in history, a match was played at a Women’s World Championship. Eight nations, four from Europe and four from South America, took part in the three-day world championships. 30 years later, the circle is now complete. From November 7 to 10, the women’s fistball team will return to Argentina for the tenth edition of the World Championships. The International Fistball Association (IFA) has awarded the event to Club Gimnasia Guatambú from Montecarlo in the province of Misiones.

Guatambú host a Women’s World Championship for the first time

This is not the first top international event to be held at the Club Gimnasia Guatambú. In the past, the club hosted the IFA 2009 Fistball Masters World Cup and the Men’s & Women’s South American Championship 2017. As recently as September, the Argentinian championship was held at the venue in the north-east of the country with 18 participating teams. However, this is the first time that Guatambú is hosting a world championship. “We would like to thank Club Guatambú for taking on the organization of the event. The World Championship is the biggest event in women’s fistball. After two recent World Championships in Europe, we are looking forward to returning to South America,” says IFA President Jörn Verleger. The last two World Championships were held in Linz (2018) and Grieskirchen (2021), with Germany winning the title on both championships. Verleger: “We are convinced that many nations will take part, continuing the positive development of women’s fistball and showing the diversity of our sport.”

Preparations for the Women’s World Championship have already started in Montecarlo. “It is a great honor for us that the best female fistball players in the world will be our guests in Guatambú in November 2024,” says Laura Laumann, secretary of the fistball subcommittee of Club Guatambú: “For our club, it will be the biggest event in history so far. We are proud and motivated to host a great World Championship.”

“Just a few weeks ago in Guatambú, we saw the passion with which the people in the club are doing everything to organize a great event,” says IFA Head of Events Sönke Spille: “All participating players, staff members and fans can look forward to an incredibly friendly atmosphere and great conditions.”

Qualifying event for the World Games

The 2024 Women’s Fistball World Championship will also serve as a qualifying event for the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China. “In addition to the continental champions, the best-placed teams at this World Championship will get their ticket to Chengdu,” explains Spille. After the premiere in 2022 in Birmingham (USA) with six teams, a total of eight nations will qualify for Chengdu in 2025.

It will be the second international fistball event to take place in South America in the autumn of 2024. From 31 October to 3 November, the best youth teams will compete in Llanquihue (Chile) for the Fistball Men’s and Women’s U18 World Championships. One week later, the best women’s teams will be guests in Argentina. “We see great advantages in the two consecutive events,” says Spille: “South America will be the hub of international fistball for two weeks.”

A new format was a complete success: the referee commission of the International Fistball Association held its second International Referee Congress. All international referees in the sport of fistball were invited. The main topics were the evaluation of the events in 2023, experience reports, votes on the interpretation of the rules and the exchange of ideas. 

“We see the congress as the most important management and educational measure for the best fistball referees worldwide,” said Gastão Englert, Chairman of the IFA Referees Commission, who presented the strategic plan at the congress. “We see this as an interaction between referees, rules, competitions, training and the regulations.” With this in mind, objectives and indicators were defined to ensure that these were achieved. For 2023, these included the established congress, which takes place every six months and is expected to attract over 90% of referees in future. Changes to the rules and regulations are also to be discussed by the end of October each year and then published at the turn of the year. Improvements in the nomination of referees and the infrastructure provided are also part of this strategy.

In the evaluation of 2023, Englert also discussed the use of two referees at the Men’s World Championship in Mannheim and the World Tour Final in Curitiba, as well as the rule adjustments tested at the World Tour Final. In addition, a new game report was used for the first time in Curitiba. Englert: “In Curitiba we tested the “captain on the court” all the time. The result was excellent, cause it was easier to identify independently of the place/position the captain was and make it clear the team representative by the refereeing all the time.”

The two German referees Nicole Heldmaier and Markus Löwe presented the participating referees with experience reports from matches in their careers at national and international events.

“We see the many positive aspects of the exchange at the congress,” said Gastão Englert. Two referee congresses are planned for 2024. “We also see participation as an obligation to meet the requirements as an international referee. The further development of referees is one of the most important topics for us.”

The International Fistball Association currently has 65 referees from 9 countries. The Referee Commission is chaired by Gastão Englert (Brazil) and includes Marcel Meier (Switzerland) and Eric Kindler (USA).

TV Jahn Schneverdingen (Germany) and SG Novo Hamburgo (Brazil) won the title at the Women’s and Men’s World Tour Finals. The world’s best club teams competed in Curitiba, Brazil, from October 19 to 22.

TV Jahn Schneverdingen and SG Novo Hamburgo are the winners of the World Tour Finals 2023. In Curitiba (Brazil), the women from Schneverdingen won the final against host Duque de Caxias with 4:1. SG Novo Hamburgo defeated defending champion TSV Pfungstadt in a rematch of last year’s men’s final. Austrian teams Union Nussbach (women) and Union Tigers Vöcklabruck (men) completed the podium. Eight teams took part in each of the two competitions at the Club World Cup.

SG Novo Hamburgo defeats defending champion Pfungstadt

Not many had expected this clear final. Even though TSV Pfungstadt, winner of the past two hosts in 2019 and 2022, won the first set – SG Novo Hamburgo played stronger and stronger afterwards. With a secure defense, they forced Pfungstadt to make mistakes again and again and thus celebrated three clear set wins to take the lead. In set five, the German team managed to win one more set, but shortly after Novo Hamburgo celebrated with 4:2 (6:11, 11:3, 11:6, 11:2, 10:12, 11:8) its first World Tour victory since the 2018 premiere in Vaihingen/Enz (Germany).

Bronze went to Union Tigers Vöcklabruck. As in the previous year, the Austrians managed to recover from their semi-final defeat the day before. Against host Duque de Caxias, the team showed a concentrated performance and thus celebrated a clear 3:0 (11:5, 11:6, 11:8) victory.

Fifth place went to DSG UKJ Froschberg. In the Austrian duel with UFG Grieskirchen/Pötting, the team played an exciting match in its second participation in the World Tour Finals and was already clearly in the lead in the deciding set. Grieskirchen fought back again – but in the end Froschberg made the victory perfect (9:11, 11:3, 11:5, 9:11, 11:5) and confirmed the fifth place from the previous year. Seventh place went to Clube Mercês. In the Brazilian duel, the team from Curitiba beat SOGIPA Cargo Way 3:0 (11:5, 11:9, 11:7) and thus repeated its success from the preliminary round one day earlier.

TV Jahn Schneverdingen celebrates first victory at World Tour Finals

The new winner of the Women’s World Tour Finals is TV Jahn Schneverdingen. The team from Germany secured the title in an exciting final match against host Duque de Caxias (Brazil) with 4:1 (11:7, 11:9, 9:11, 13:11, 11:6). In front of an atmospheric crowd, both teams played a duel on equal terms with strong rallies. In the end Schneverdingen celebrated the triumph as the best club team in the world – for the first time since 2002. Meanwhile, Duque continued its successful series at the World Tour Finals: The team from Curitiba also won a medal at the fourth event.

Union Nussbach had previously celebrated the bronze medal. In the match for third place, the Austrians won in an exciting duel against TSV Dennach with 3:2 (9:11, 11:8, 6:11, 11:5, 11:5). After finishing fourth last year, the team will thus make the return trip to Europe with a medal. TSV Dennach remains with place four, as in the previous year, without a medal.

Behind them placed last year’s winners SOGIPA Cargo Way. After finishing third in the preliminary round, the Brazilians won their match against ASKÖ Seekirchen (Austria). With the reunion Sabine Süffert, who started her career in Porto Alegre and now plays in Austria, SOGIPA won smoothly in three sets (11:6, 11:3, 11:9). The match for the seventh place, on the other hand, offered suspense. The two Brazilian teams Clube Mercês and SG Novo Hamburgo went the full distance. Mercês prevailed in the deciding set – a small success at the first participation ever (12:10, 8:11, 12:10, 8:11, 14:12).

World Tour Finals 2024 will take place in Europe

For the second year in a row, the World Tour Finals took place in Curitiba, Brazil. In cooperation with the three other participating teams from Brazil, Clube de Caxias organized an impressive event. ” What a thrilling fourth edition of the World Tour Final in Curitiba,” said Jörn Verleger, President of the International Fistball Association, ” What started in 2019 with a short preparation time, had to sit out during the pandemic and celebrated a convincing comeback in Brazil last year, has turned into a great event. My special thanks to the hosts for this excellent work.”

After being held twice in Brazil, the World Tour Finals will return to Europe in 2024. The event is planned for July 18-22. The venue will be announced shortly.