Today, March 19, IFA President Jörn Verleger celebrates his 50th birthday! Dear Jörn, the entire fistball family wishes you all the best for your anniversary and continued health and motivation and energy for our sport.

It is thanks to a happy coincidence that Jörn Verleger came to the sport of fistball. In November 2013, he met the former IFA President Karl Weiß during the World Anti-Doping Conference in South Africa, which “changed his life permanently”, as he says himself. Jörn Verleger had already built up a good reputation as a networker and sports manager, which is why Karl Weiß brought him into the IFA. During the Fistball Men’s World Championship in Argentina in 2015, Jörn Verleger was elected Secretary General. Together with the new Board of Directors, Jörn and Karl changed the structure of IFA completely, founded commissions and brought young people on board.
During the CSIT World Sport Games in Tortosa (Spain), Jörn finally also completed the first competition as a fistball player in 2018 and reached third place with his team.
During the last IFA Congress in 2019, Jörn Verleger finally stood for election as IFA President. Since then he leads the World Fistball Federation and over the years the federation has evolved into a service provider for member federations and event organizers.

Dear Jörn, thank you for everything you do for our sport of fistball and the new impulses you give. You prove every day that you are on fire for our sport and that you are not too busy to do anything. We wish you that your passion for fistball will continue for many more years and that we can celebrate many more fistball festivals together. Thank you for all your work, in the foreground as well as in the background! Congratulations on your 50th birthday!

The countdown to the fistball edition of The World Games officially started in Alabama with the presence of the athletes from Germany and the USA. Fistball was played in Birmingham for the first time ever. In the lead-up to the 2022 World Games, which will be held in the Alabama city in July, the National Teams of the USA and the International Fistball Association (IFA) paid a visit to the host city. Thanks to several exciting activities, the eyes of Birmingham were glued on fistball.

Preparation of the US national Teams

On Saturday morning the time had come for the first fistballs to fly in Birmingham. Four and a half months before the World Games, the U.S. National Teams took the opportunity to hold their dress rehearsal in Birmingham for what is probably the greatest sporting moment in American fistball history. For the first time ever, USA fistball players will compete at The World Games. More specifically, in the men’s competition and the inaugural women’s competition. “For us, this is a great honor to represent the U.S. at the World Games in our home country,” said attacker Eric Kindler. After finishing eighth and tenth at the past two World Championships, the U.S. will enter the field of eight men’s teams as underdogs. However, they’ve surprised the big-name competition time and again in the past. In order to hold their own against the best teams in the world, the training sessions will be intensified in the coming months.
The training in Birmingham was an important step in the direction of the World Games especially since the U.S. players were able to measure themselves against guest Patrick Thomas from Germany, who is currently probably the best fistball player in the world. “It was huge for us to have Patrick, along with his brother Sebastian, lead the training on Saturday and later to compete in the practice matches. While we may not see the desired result in the win loss column at The World Games, heads will turn and notice what is happening with the US Teams,” said Eric Kindler. Patrick Thomas was also thrilled, “When you think about the conditions of the national teams compared to the European nations, it’s just impressive what’s being done here. They all gave full throttle and already have The World Games in focus. I think they might be able to cause a surprise or two in July.”

Volunteer Training

There was an insight into the sport of fistball for those interested on Saturday afternoon. After a theoretical introduction, the sports enthusiasts, guided by Eric Kindler, Patrick and Sebastian Thomas, and Christoph Oberlehner, could prove themselves on the fistball field. Also, the employees from The World Games organization team Nicole Fyffe (Sports Director) and Katey Harris (Community Experience Manager) used the opportunity to gain their first personal experience with the sport of fistball. They were cheered on by several World Games colleagues such as COO Jay Kasten, Vice President Kathy Boswell, Volunteer Director Carly Woods and TV Director Hammond Reynolds.
“Young and old alike took advantage of the opportunity to learn about a sport that was completely new to them,” said Christoph Oberlehner, IFA secretary general. “They were all enthusiastic and had an incredible amount of fun. Some didn’t even want to stop playing. The majority of the participants will support us as volunteers at The World Games.”

Women’s National Team Holds Tryouts

It’s quite possible, in fact, that female athletes from Birmingham will also participate in The World Games fistball competition. At a tryout hosted by the IFA and the U.S. Fistball Association (USFA) on Sunday, several talented volleyball players from Alabama played their way into the spotlight and now have a chance to make the U.S. Women’s National Fistball Team in the coming months. They surprised with great performances during a joint training session with the current National Team hopefuls and even though this weekend was their first contact with fistball. Patrick and Sebastian Thomas, who jointly led the training, were also impressed by the quick grasp, ball feeling and understanding of the game with which the players shone. “What they learned in a very short time was great,” the brothers stated, “They have all the basic requirements to compete at international level. If they continue to train over the next few months, we trust they will make the squad for The World Games.”

View of The World Games Venue

By Sunday morning at the latest, the anticipation for The World Games must have risen once again among all American fistball players. Christoph Oberlehner (IFA Secretary General) and Eric Kindler (member of the IFA Athletes’ Committee), gave the athletes an insight into the Birmingham Southern College campus. This is where the 2022 World Games fistball competitions will be held from July 10-14. “With the support of the organizing committee in Birmingham, we are doing everything we can to put on a great fistball festival here,” Christoph Oberlehner tells us. The World Games in Birmingham will be something very special anyway. For the first time there will be a women’s competition as well as a men’s competition. Oberlehner goes on, “We are so excited for the opportunity for the Women’s competition to be added to The World Games. Precious metal awards in two categories will be earned this July.”

Hopeful Look to the Future

In any case, Christoph Oberlehner drew a positive conclusion. “Our visit was a complete success,” reported the IFA General Secretary: “We made many new contacts and were able to present fistball in Birmingham.” He added that there is even a possibility that a new fistball venue will be added to the well-known American ones such as in Wisconsin and New Jersey. Oberlehner said, “The response has been positive throughout. We’ve gained a lot of new fistball fans here in Birmingham and we’re already looking forward to seeing the world’s best fistball teams compete for The World Games title in July.”

The International Fistball Association (IFA) aligns with the decision of the International World Games Association (IWGA) as well as of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus are banned from TWG 2022 resp. should be banned from all international sporting events.

The decision is in line with letters IFA wrote to its umbrella sport organisations last Thursday, 24th of February in view of the Russian military invasion in Ukraine to cancel sport leader meetings as the SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit, 15-20 May 2022 in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

IFA President Jörn Verleger said “We feel great compassion for the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Worldwide sanctions in all social fields are all the more effective the more social actors participate in them. The goal of ending the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible justifies this step, even though it also affects athletes who are not responsible for this war.”

IFA has currently no member federation in Russia, Belarus or Ukraine.

The new season of the IFA Fistball World Tour starts on 5 March. The first tour stop is in Brazilian Curitiba, where Clube Merces hosts an IFA 500-tournament. More than 110 teams registered already to take part in the re-start-year of the IFA Fistball World Tour.
Additional club teams being interested in their participation can still apply by 15 February 2022, 12:00 CET. And all this without financial obligations or other liabilities. Teams have just to fill out the following online form: REGISTER YOUR TEAM HERE

25 different tournaments are part of the Tour in 2022 and teams have the chance to qualify for the IFA Fistball World Tour Finals in 2023. The next World Tour Finals will take place in Brazil at Clube Duque de Caxias in Curitiba from 6-9 October 2022.

IFA Fistball World Tour Calendar 2022:

IFA Awards in 15 categories

IFA 2021 LIFETIME AWARD for Karl Charly Raymann

When it comes to setting new standards in the sport of Fistball, Karl “Charly” Raymann has always been at the forefront. As an active player and sports official, he has been passionately committed to the sport of Fistball for over 50 years – and not only in Switzerland.

His impressive career began in 1968 at the age of 14, when he started playing Fistball. At the age of 20 in 1974 came the first great success. The promotion of “KTV Jona” to the second highest division, the National League B. Charly’s greatest sporting success was promotion to the National League A in 1977.

Promotion to National League A 1977

In addition to the playing field, Charly has been involved since 1983 as head of the organising committee of one of the most famous Fistball tournaments in the world, the Raiffeisen Obersee Masters. Over 100 teams regularly take part in this tournament and in 2019, in the run-up to the World Championships in Winterthur, Charly managed to unite teams from 12 nations for peaceful competition!
Since the mid-80s, Charly has built up important international contacts on his Fistball trips. Whether in Europe, South America or southern Africa, Charly Raymann is known and appreciated in Fistball circles worldwide.

Charly on the road worldwide in matters of Fistball

In 1989, on Charly Raymann’s initiative, a Fistball team was founded within TSV Jona, which he presided over until 2008.
From 1990 to 1997, Charly Raymann was also president of the FAKO-CH, the predecessor organisation of Swiss Fistball and in this function also a member of the International Fistball Federation IFV.

It was also on his initiative that the CFFN, the Club Freunde der Faustball-Nationalmannschaften (Friends of the National Fistball Teams Club) was founded in 1991, which is now the most important financial backer and support association for the Swiss national Fistball teams.

Countless official IFV AND IFA events were organised and carried out under his leadership in the Grünfeld Fistball stadium in Jona. Charly always guaranteed a smooth organisation and unforgettable events.

Women´s World Championship 2006

For his great commitment, he was elected “Official of the Year” in Switzerland in 2007.

He also showed a lot of commitment on the Fistball court. He won no less than 6 Swiss senior championship titles and took part in many national and international tournaments. The Senior World Games, which were later renamed the “IFA Fistball Masters World Cup”, were his initiative.

Another highlight for Charly was to be the Women’s World Championship 2021 in Jona. As General Secretary of this event, he was on track with the planning and financing for an unforgettable event when the Corona restrictions in Switzerland in June made it impossible to hold it.

In the summer of 2021, he has finished his active career as a Fistball player together with his teammates. However, he will continue to be present at the important Fistball events and will also be available as a busy OC boss for the Obersee Masters and hopefully other events.

Charly Raymann is a tireless worker with a lot of passion and commitment who subordinates almost everything to the sport of Fistball and with his international contacts contributes to the fact that the Fistball movement is constantly growing worldwide and coming closer together.

The IFA 2021 OLYMPIC EDUCATION IN FISTBALL AWARD seeks to recognize actions that use fistball as a tool, in the field of developing the central Olympic Values of Friendship, Respect and Excellence.

The IFA 2021 OLYMPIC EDUCATION IN FISTBALL AWARD goes to: Tales Amorim – Brazil

Tales is the school principal at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology Sul-Rio-Grandense – Camaquã called IFSUL Camaquã.

IFSUL Camaquã, a public school located 125 km south of the capital Porto Alegre in Brazil. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, he and the school team organized and executed in remote teaching virtual classes to preserving people’s health as priority. In 2021 two events stood out, but the main one was: “Fistball environment in discussions with cross-sectional educational themes”, keeping the flame to use fistball as tool to work with Olympic Values alive, that should be present in the educational training of all kid and adults.

Held on 26 January 2022, the INTERACT Opening Conference was an astounding success, generating lively debates between the participants and speakers. More than 340 participants from 86 countries registered. The event highlighted the key role that International Sport Organisations can play to increase Sport for All participation and create a better world.

Watch the replay at https://interact-sport.com/interact-opening-conference-watch-the-replay/.

Moderated by Fiona Johnson, Vice-President of the International Dance Organisation, the conference featured an inspiring keynote from Wiebke Scheffler, Head of Operations at the ITTF Foundation, on the theme “Beyond the Gold Medal – Sport for All as a Key to the Future of International Sport Organisation (ISOs)”.

Starting with opening words from Catherine Forde, TAFISA Vice-President, the conference moved on to an intervention from Marisa Fernandez-Esteban, Deputy Head of the European Commission’s Sport Unit, who introduced the EU’s Perspective on mobilising ISOs for the promotion of #HealthyLifestyle4All.

Christoph Oberlehner, Intenational Fistball Association’s Secretary General and Jean-Francois Laurent, TAFISA Junior Director, finally presented INTERACT’s Study report and recommendations on ISOs opportunities, challenges, needs & expectations to promote Sport for All, as well as the INTERACT project’s aims and activities.

More information on INTERACT on our official website: www.interact-sport.com.
Contact: contact@interact-sport.com

Since last year IFA celebrates its birthday on 30 January as World Fistball Day #WFD2022 with activities and initiatives to promote the sport of Fistball. Highlights are the United by Fistball Challenge, several workshops including 45 minutes workshop “How to bring Fistball to schools – 4 steps of a new approach” by IFA Olympic Education Director Gastao Englert and the IFA 2021 Award Ceremony at 8.00 p.m. European Time on IFA social media channels. The IFA 2021 Awards are presented in 15 categories like player of the year, Fistball picture of the year, rookie of the year or the IFA Media Awards.

At 9:30 a.m. CET we start with the official Opening of the virtual United by Fistball Challenge and “Ask the President” on Facebook LIVE. The challenge is to post pictures/videos showing you/tricks/equipment/everything around Fistball with the hashtag #unitedbyfistball and/or #WorldFistballDay.

At 11:30 a.m. CET we invite the Fistball Family to an Entourage Workshop on Safe Sport / Anti-Doping via MS Teams. To register send an email to office@ifa-fistball.com to receive the link to the MS Teams session.

At 3 p.m. CET Fistball Academy member and IFA Olympic Education Director Gastao Englert from Brazil runs the 45 minutes workshop “How to bring Fistball to schools – 4 steps of a new approach”. The Brazilian is one of the most successful coaches in Fistball history and an education expert. He won the World Championship three times as Brazilian coach – 2x Men’s title (1999 and 2003), 1x Women’s title (2010). To register send an email to office@ifa-fistball.com to receive the link to the MS Teams session.

At 6 p.m. CET IFA President Joern Verleger and SG Chris Oberlehner answer the questions raised during the day in the „Ask the President“ session.

At 8 p.m. CET we celebrate the IFA 2021 Award Ceremony on different social media channels e.g. on Facebook and the IFA Youtube Channel.

In addition, IFA leadership uses this day to have three Presidents´ Call (one in German, two in English in different time zones) with the member federation president from Oceania, Asia, Europe and the Americas to exchange on current topics about the sport of Fistball. The initiative has started in 2021 to improve communication and exchange of ideas between IFA and its member federations.

Time and again we have outstanding photos from Fistball events. IFA has therefore decided to introduce an audience award for the first time this year at IFA Awards 2021.

Choose YOUR IFA FAUSTBALL PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2021 from the 10 photos selected by an expert jury.

Voting will take place until and including Friday, January 28 at www.instagram.com/ifafistball/ or www.facebook.com/IFA.Fistball
1 Like / 1 Heart = 1 Vote

The results of the public vote have a weighting of 50% and will be added to the results of the expert jury.

The numbering does not reflect the order of the expert jury vote, but is based on the order of the submitted proposals.

After a break of 2 years because of the COVID-19 pandemic the IFA Fistball World Tour re-starts again in 2022. The World Tour starts into a new round with a total of 25 tournaments worldwide. The tournament series kicks off at the beginning of March in Brazil, where the first teams will collect points for the annual World Tour ranking.

With Villa Ballester in Argentina, Rohrbach and Hirschbach in Austria three new tournament organizers make their debut on the tour calendar for the new season of the IFA Fistball World Tour. This year again more than 100 teams have the possibility to participate in 25 tournaments worldwide. The tournament series starts and ends in South America in 2022. The new season begins on 5 March with an IFA 250 tournament of Clube Merces in Curitiba (BRA). Clube Duque de Caxias will also host the World Tour Finals 2022 from 6-9 October. The World Tour season 2022 ends in Chile with an IFA 250 tournament on 19 November in Santiago de Chile.

“We are very glad to celebrate the re-start of the Fistball World Tour in 2022 after a two-year break. The Fistball World Tour is constantly evolving. We have integrated the feedback of the clubs and hosts and made some changes. New is that with the IFA 250, 500 and Major there are now only three tournament categories. We are very happy about the positive development of the World Tour series and are looking forward to an exciting 2022 edition. We are very glad that the World Tour will be carried out on four continents. It is particularly great to see that we have another World Tour host in India and Australia in addition to the proven World Tour events and major tournaments in South America and Europe,” says Winfried Kronsteiner, chairman of the IFA Sports Commission and co-founder of the World Tour.

Verleger: “World Tour will be stronger than before COVID-19-interruption”

“The Fistball World Tour is developing very well and will return stronger than before the COVID-19 interruption. In 2022 we will again see many exciting tournaments around the world and the best teams will fight for the World Cup title at the World Tour Finals. For the first time ever these new finals take place in South America. We agreed with the hosts of the Brazilian Major tournaments in Novo Hamburgo and Porto Alegre that they host their tournaments right before the Final event. This will be a perfect preparation for all participating teams and gives the chance to collect points for the World Tour ranking to everyone. I am excited to see which teams can place themselves at the top of the world ranking this year “, says IFA President Jörn Verleger.

IFA 2022 Fistball World Tour with 6 Major tournaments

Six tournaments achieved the quality criteria for the highest category, the major category, in which 1000 points are awarded. 13 tournaments are held in the second tour category with 500 points each, whereas the 250 category consists of 6 tournaments. When taking part in the World Tour clubs can secure a wildcard for the World Tour Finals – the former World Cup. In addition to the six continental winners from Europe, North and South America, Australia, Africa and Asia, the two teams ranked best in the World Tour qualify for the World Tour Final. The women’s team from TSV Dennach (GER) and the men’s team from TSV Pfungstadt (GER) won the last edition of the IFA World Tour Finals in 2019.

CLUB TEAM REGISTRATION (until 15 February 2022):
Club teams can register for the Fistball World Tour season 2022 until 15 February 2022 by using the following link:
– CLUB TEAM REGISTRATION

Join us on 26 January 2022 to discuss “How Can International and European Sport Organisations Activate Citizens”!

The partners of INTERACT Project, “International and European Sport Organisations Activate Citizens”, are proud to invite you to the INTERACT Opening Conference scheduled to take place online on 26th of January 2022, at 13.00 UTC + 1.

The world is changing. As levels of participation in sport and physical activity are dropping and social, economic, and health issues are on the rise, International Sport Organisations (ISOs) can play a crucial role to inspire more people to be active and contribute to sustainable development, leaving a positive legacy to the next generations.

The INTERACT Project develops a sustainable and socially responsible approach to sport, which places the human, citizens, and their needs and expectations at the centre of Sport for All and physical activity delivery. The INTERACT opening conference will showcase this approach in an open exchange with participants.

Join the INTERACT opening conference – registration is free of charge at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interact-opening-conference-tickets-226790796377.

The INTERACT project aims to support International and European Sport Organisations in developing and promoting Sport for All and physical activity. Discover our first outputs and more about the project at https://interact-sport.com.