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.

Brazil versus Germany: These are the final pairings at the IFA World Tour Finals 2023 in Curitiba. With TV Jahn Schneverdingen and Duque de Caxias Curitiba in the women’s final and TSV Pfungstadt and SG Novo Hamburgo in the men’s final, one European and one South American team each made it to the final.

Men

It is a real dominance with which TSV Pfungstadt marches through the World Tour Finals in Curitiba. Without losing a set, the defending champions had already completed the preliminary round and also in the semifinals opponent Union Tigers Vöcklabruck had no chance to knock down the team from Germany. With 3:0 (11:7, 11:4, 11:8) Pfungstadt won again without losing a set and thus goes into the final as the favorite. Their opponents will be SG Novo Hamburgo, as in the previous year. The team won the Brazilian semifinal against Duque de Caxias also with 3:0 (11:4, 11:6, 15:14). Duque had lost to Pfungstadt in the final group match in the morning – but benefited from the parallel defeat of Sogipa Porto Alegre against Clube Mercês. The final will start at 4:45 p.m. local time on Sunday. Already at 1.30 p.m. Union Tigers Vöcklabruck and Duque de Caxias will play for the bronze medal.

In the Duque de Caxias Cup, held for the third and fourth placed teams of the preliminary groups, the two Austrian teams DSG UKJ Froschberg and UFG Grieskirchen/Pötting reached the final – equivalent to the match for fifth place. Froschberg beat SOGIPA Porto Alegre in three sets (11:8, 11:9, 11:5) in the match. Grieskirchen turned a 0:2 deficit into a 3:2 victory against Clube Mercês. The match will start at 9 a.m., as will the match between SOGIPA and Mercês in the seventh-place match.

Results Men

Women

They were very close to “preliminary round elimination” – but now Duque de Caxias is in the final of the women’s competition. After the strong victory on Friday against TV Jahn Schneverdingen, the Brazilians followed it up with another win against Union Nussbach (Austria). Cheered on by the home fans, Duque won the match 3:1 (11:4, 3:11, 11:6, 11:8) in the end after an intermediate 1:1 and celebrated their entry into the final. After gold (2018), bronze (2019) and silver (2022), it is already certain that the team will win another medal. Opponent in the final will be Schneverdingen again. TV Jahn prevailed in a thrilling semifinal against German rival TSV Dennach (11:9, 8:11, 13:11, 11:7). This means that the two teams will meet again at 3 p.m. in Curitiba. The bronze medal match between Nussbach and Dennach is scheduled for 12:00.

Before that, the four other teams in the competition are scheduled to play. ASKÖ Seekirchen (Austria) qualified for the fifth-place match with a 3:1 (11:9, 6:11, 11:9, 11:5) victory over SG Novo Hamburgo. Here the Austrians will meet last year’s winner, Sogipa Cargo Way, who after finishing third in the preliminary round now won against Clube Mercês (14:12, 11:5, 11:8). The matches for fifth and seventh place will kick off at 10:30 a.m. each.

Results Women

The first two days of the IFA World Tour Finals 2023 in Curitiba (Brazil) were very exciting. In the two preliminary round groups of the women the decisions about the next round were made only in the last second. In the men’s competition, the matches on Saturday also promise a lot of excitement.

Women

In the Claus J. Süffert group, TSV Dennach turned up the heat in the last two games. After a 2-3 opening defeat to SOGIPA, the European champions beat SG Novo Hamburgo (3-0) on Thursday night and also beat Union Nussbach (3-1) in the final group match. The Austrians were the second team to make it to the semifinals. Key to this were Thursday’s wins over Novo Hamburgo (3-0) and SOGIPA (3-0). Last year’s winners, SOGIPA, will not be able to defend their title. After the two defeats in the opener, the 3:1 against Novo Hamburgo was not enough to still qualify for the semifinals.

It was even more exciting in the Lothar G. Jaehnert group. Last year’s finalist Duque de Caxias managed to qualify for the semifinals at the last second. After the opening defeat against ASKÖ Seekirchen (1:3) the Brazilians celebrated a victory against Clube Mercês (3:0) and won with a strong performance also against TV Jahn Schneverdingen (3:0) and thus secured first place in the group. After winning against Mercês (3:0) and Seekirchen (3:0), Schneverdingen gave away the group victory with this defeat and became second. Seekirchen finished the group stage – despite winning the last match against Mercês – on third place.

Results Women

So there will be a German-German semi-final between TSV Dennach and TV Jahn Schneverdingen on Saturday. The second semi-final will be played by Duque de Caxias and Union Nussbach. The third and fourth placed teams will play their semi-final matches in the Duque de Caxias Cup.

Men

Decisions in the men’s preliminary groups will not be made until Saturday morning. Defending champion TSV Pfungstadt (Germany) won both matches against SOGIPA and Clube Mercês 3:0 each in the Jorge “Baica” Schör group and is in first place. The team will face Duque de Caxias on Saturday for the final match. The host won the opener against Mercês (3:1), but lost on Friday in the Brazilian duel against SOGIPA (2:3), who thus celebrated their first victory and still have the chance to pass Duque with a win in the last match against Mercês (1 point).

The situation is similarly exciting ahead of the last two games in the Victor Hugo Körbes group. The current leader with six points is SG Novo Hamburgo, who won against DSG UKJ Froschberg (3:1) and Union Tigers Vöcklabruck (3:0). Froschberg is in second place thanks to the set win, as they won their match against UFG Grieskirchen/Pötting the same way (3:2) as Vöcklabruck (3:0). They will now meet in a direct battle on Saturday and will decide the second semi-finalist of the group among themselves.

Results Men

Within the framework of the World Tour Finals, the International Fistball Association is testing a new scoring system in the preliminary round groups. Whereas in previous matches the winner received two points, now every set won will be counted as a point. The aim is to increase the importance of each individual set.

The Men’s and Women’s World Tour Finals will be held in Brazil for the second time in a row. From October 19 to 22, the best club teams in the world will meet in Curitiba.

It was a sporting spectacle that the men’s and women’s fistballers celebrated in Curitiba, Brazil, last autumn after the Corona pandemic. After two cancelled events, the best club teams in the world met again – and delivered top sports performances. In 2023, the top eight men’s and women’s clubs will return to Curitiba from October 19-22 for the fourth World Tour Finals in history.

The two defending champions Sogipa/Cargo Way (women) and TSV Pfungstadt (men) will also be taking part in the four days of competition. They will first have to compete in one of the two preliminary groups, from which only the two best teams will remain in the title race and make it to the semifinals. The World Tour Finals will be the last event of the International Fistball Association’s in 2023.

The women of Sogipa from Porto Alegre, just Brazilian champions, not only won the title at the 2022 World Tour Finals, but also claimed first place in last year’s World Tour. Not surprisingly, they are among the top favorites for the title this year as well. In the preliminary round, the team will face SG Novo Hamburgo (Brazil/5th World Tour), TSV Dennach (Germany/2nd World Tour) and Union Nussbach (Austria/7th World Tour). All four teams have also qualified for the three previous World Tour Finals. Group B is different: Here last year’s finalist Clube Duque de Caxias (Brazil/6th World Tour) would like to win a medal as they did in the previous three events. Opponents are TV Jahn Schneverdingen (winner Champions Cup Europe 2022), bronze medal winner 2022, as well as the two newcomers Askö Seekirchen (Austria/3rd World Tour) and Clube Mercês (Brazil/9th World Tour).

In the men’s competition, TSV Pfungstadt from Germany is not only the winner of the last two events, but also one of the favorites in 2023. In the preliminary round, the team will face a Brazilian trio of Clube Mercês (6th World Tour), Sogipa Porto Alegre (2nd World Tour) and Duque de Caxias (5th World Tour). Last year’s finalist SG Novo Hamburgo completes the four Brazilian teams. In its preliminary group, the team will face the three Austrian representatives Union Tigers Vöcklabruck (Champions Cup Europe winner), DSG UKJ Froschberg (3rd World Tour) and UFG Grieskirchen/Pötting (4th World Tour).

For the men’s and women’s competition, the preliminary round matches are scheduled first on Thursday and Friday, October 19 and 20. The third and fourth-placed teams in each group will compete in the Duque de Caxias Cup on the other two days of competition, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the semifinals. The finals are set for Sunday, Oct. 21.

“We will see the best fistballers in Curitiba over the four days,” says Gastão Englert, Chairman of the Sports Commission of the International Fistball Association: “This promises top sporting performance in all matches.” A new feature is that all participating teams will play five matches in the course of the tournament. All 40 matches of the 2023 World Tour Finals will be broadcast live on www.fistball.TV.

The World Tour Finals will open with a Welcome Dinner on the venue of the organizing club, Clube Duque de Caxias. “The organizers proved last year that we can experience fistball events at the highest level here,” Christoph Oberlehner, IFA Secretary General, looks forward to the event: “Duque de Caxias will do everything to create optimal conditions for the fistballers, the staff members and the fans. Everyone involved can look forward to great days in Curitiba.”

All information: finals.fistball-worldtour.com