On March 31, 2017, the “IFA Fistball World Tour“ is taking off in Porto Alegre, Brazil – a brand new global tournament series for fistball club teams, which will replace the current World Cup from 2018. In total, 101 teams will compete in 21 venues on five continents for points at the World Tour. The two best female and male teams, respectively, will win wild cards for the World Tour Finals, the former World Cup. This new, global series also enhances the value of the big club tournaments. With the long-term partner and fistball supplier Sportastic a first sponsor of the World Tour has been acquired.
“The World Tour is a worldwide series of fistball tournaments in various categories through which teams can secure wild cards for the World Tour Finals, the former World Cup. In future, the two best ranked teams from the World Tour will compete at the World Tour Finals, along with the six continental champions from Europe, North and South America, Australia, Africa and Asia“, said Winfried Kronsteiner, chair of the International Fistball Association (IFA) sports commission and initiator of the World Tour. The IFA will regularly publish the current World Tour rankings.
More than 100 teams and 21 venues are participating in the IFA Fistball World Tour
Overall, more than 100 female and male teams from 13 nations and five continents will participate in the IFA Fistball World Tour, and compete for points in four tournament categories globally. In total, there will be 21 venues on five continents – of these eight will be major events where the winners will win 1,000 points, respectively. “The fistball family and all fans can look forward to an exciting and attractive World Tour which will feature all big clubs such as TSV Pfungstadt, Sogipa Porto Alegre, Widnau, TSV Dennach or ASKÖ Urfahr“, stated IFA President Karl Weiß. “A lot of work has been invested in the new World Tour with its own logo and internet presence. I am glad to see how the tournament organizers and teams are supporting this enthusiastically, and looking forward to the launch of the IFA Fistball World Tour“, said Karl Weiß.
Sportastic secures naming right on World Tour ranking
“I am particularly pleased that we were able to secure our long-term partner Sportastic as first sponsor of the World Tour”, said Jörn Verleger, IFA Secretary General. Sportastic, supplier of fistballs for many years, secured a comprehensive sponsoring package, including the naming rights of the regularly published IFA Fistball World Tour Rankings as highlight. “We are very pleased to be the first partner of the new IFA Fistball World Tour and convinced that the new series will be a success. Together with the sponsoring rights, we have also secured the ball rights for the World Tour Final 2018 which allows us to present our brand perfectly. The price-performance ratio of our sponsoring package is very attractive, thus we as Sportastic are happy and proud to be engaged in the new World Tour”, said Sportastic general manager Thomas Stadler. In future, the IFA Fistball World Tour Ranking presented by Sportastic will be published.
Sportastic: short description of the company
For more than two decades, Sportastic is a specialist in the field of sporting goods and equipment. Be it in the areas of ball sports, team sports, fitness or gymnastics – the company’s range of goods includes more than 2,500 articles for sports at all levels, from recreational to elite and professional sports. Sportastic primarily works with educational institutions, teams, recreational facilities, as well as rehabilitation and therapy centers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Vision and ideas in sports are part of Sportastic’s business every day, in particular through its ongoing product development program. This is supported by a big portion of practical know-how and many years of experience in development and optimization, as well as – of course – customers’ wishes. The team comprises 23 sports enthusiastic, responsible and optimistic employees.
Information on the International Fistball Association – IFA
The International Fistball Association (IFA) is the global sports association for fistball. It comprises the national federations which are overseeing the sport of fistball, both indoors and outdoors, in the respective member states. IFA, formerly known as Internationaler Faustball-Verband (IFV) was founded on January 30, 1960 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
IFA is composed of a 13-member steering committee, chaired by Austrian Karl Weiß as President. Jörn Verleger from Germany serves as Secretary General. The executive presidium comprises five members.
The International Fistball Association organizes the Fistball World Champonships for both women and men as well as for the under 18 categories. Furthermore, IFA organizes the IFA Fistball World Tour for teams including the World Tour Finals, as well as Masters for women and men over 35 years of age. In addition, fistball is included in the World Games, an international competition for non-olympic, yet globally played, popular sports. The next World Games are taking place in July 2017, in Wroclaw, Poland.
Deutsch
The World Games 2017 Fistball Tournament in Wroclaw, Poland, will be played with a new ball design in pink – the limited ball edition is now available. The Fistball Tournament will start on Sunday 22 July. The Final will be played on Tuesday 25 July. With defending champion Germany, the European teams from Austria and Switzerland, as well as the South American teams from Argentina, Brazil and Chile the currently best six teams worldwide are quallified.
