Isabella Lucchin, Brazilian attacker, has been nominated as one of 22 athletes competing for the prestigious title of World Games Athlete of the Year 2024. This nomination recognizes her incredible performances over the past year, including her role in securing the Women’s World Championship title in November in Monte Carlo (Argentina).

Information:
The year 2024 could hardly have gone better for Isabella Lucchin: First she won bronze with her home club SOGIPA/Cargo Way at the IFA World Tour Finals in Mannheim, then she led her club team to first place in the IFA World Tour rankings over several months with numerous top tournament results. However, the 28-year-old’s biggest coup came in Montecarlo (Argentina) in November. She won the title at the Fistball World Championship with the Brazilian women’s national team. In the final, Lucchin and Co. played a great game against defending champions Germany – and triumphed with an impressive 4:0 victory. Isabella Lucchin’s versatility was particularly impressive. The Brazilian not only played in her usual position in attack, but also in defense and set pieces, impressively demonstrating her versatility. Isabella Lucchin’s nomination for “World Games Athlete of the Year 2024” is therefore more than deserved.

Voting Details:
The voting period kicks off on Thursday, 9 January 2025, at 12:00 GMT, giving sports enthusiasts worldwide the chance to vote for their favorite athlete.

Voting will remain open until 31 January 2025 at 12:00 GMT, but there’s a twist! A halfway elimination round will take place on 22 January 2025 at 12:00 GMT, where only the top 10 ranked athletes will move forward.

Voting Rules: 

• Votes can be cast on The World Games website. Each voting session must include votes for two candidates: 2 votes for your first choice and 1 vote for your second choice. Votes cast for only one candidate will not be counted.
• Voting is limited to one session every 24 hours per person.
• On 22 January 2025 at 12:00 GMT, the 10 highest-ranked candidates will proceed to the final stage of voting. At this point, all vote counts will reset to zero, making the competition more exciting as it approaches its conclusion.
• The vote tallies will be displayed in real time throughout the campaign.

VOTING

IFA wishes to remind all Fistball players that the WADA 2025 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods entered into force on 1 January 2025.

IFA calls on athletes, entourage, and all stakeholders to note the 2025 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods, which was approved by WADA’s Executive Committee (ExCo) during its meeting on 12 September 2024 and enters into force on 1 January 2025.

We also publish:
o the 2025 Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes as compared to the 2024 List; and
o the 2025 Monitoring Program, which includes substances that are not on the List, but that WADA wishes to monitor in order to detect potential patterns of misuse in sport.

More info: WADA publishes 2025 Prohibited List | World Anti Doping Agency (wada-ama.org) and www.ifa-fistball.com/en/antidoping/

#PlayTrue

International Fistball Association (IFA) has the honour to invite all IFA members to submit nominations for the IFA 2024 AWARDS.

The awards will be presented in the following categories:
• IFA BEST FISTBALL PICTURE OF THE YEAR (public voting)
• IFA ACTIVITY AWARD
• IFA LIFETIME AWARD

The proposals should be uploaded on www.tinyurl.com/IFAawards2024 latest until 6. January 2025.

The Awards Ceremony will be held virtually on the World Fistball Day Monday 30th January 2025.

Furthermore, we would like to invite and pre-inform 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.

IFA was founded on 30 January 1960. IFA invites all member federations to develop activities on the World Fistball Day 30 January 2025.

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.

Thank you for your support and your friendship in 2024!
IFA is looking forward to all Fistball activities all around the world with many highlights, especially The World Games in China and the World Tour Finals in Vöcklabruck, Austria!

Have a good start into an active and happy new year 2025.

Our office will reopen on Monday 13 January 2025 at 9am.

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.

Today, IFA celebrates the International Volunteer Day.

“Volunteers deserve our heartfelt thanks”, said IFA President Joern Verleger. “As the President of IFA, I would like to thank all volunteers in Fistball on this UN International Volunteer Day for their tireless efforts in ensuring people across the globe have the opportunity to participate in sport and physical activity.”

The International Volunteer Day (IVD) mandated by the UN General Assembly, is held each year on 5 December. It is viewed as a unique chance for volunteers and organizations to celebrate their efforts, to share their values, and to promote their work.

The IFA is committed to the UN Charter of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and wants to promote the participation of people with disabilities in sports – as laid down in Article 30 of the UN CRPD – in the sport of Fistball as well.

“Many sports clubs are demonstrating how participation and inclusion can be lived. The sports clubs and sports associations are already making their contribution on the way to an inclusive society. However, the potential for inclusion in club sports is far from being fully exploited,” said IFA President Jörn Verleger on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

In order to break down existing barriers, the IFA supports the following demands.

Access to sports and exercise
To enable people with disabilities to participate in sports, they need an adequate supply of aids (such as sports wheelchairs, appropriate prostheses, etc.) and unbureaucratic advice, referral, and reimbursement of assistance services according to the needs of people with disabilities.

Access to sports facilities
Accessibility, access and sports facilities and rooms must be designed and converted to be barrier-free, both for people who want to actively participate in sports and for spectators and volunteers with disabilities.

Participation in voluntary work
In order to enable people with disabilities to participate in decision-making and to carry out voluntary work (e.g. through assistance, conversions, the purchase of software or technical equipment), sports associations and clubs must be supported in implementing and financing the costs incurred.

Barrier-free communication
Particularly in the area of communication, accessibility is the basis for the participation of people with disabilities. Further possibilities for the financing of speech-to-text reporting are to be developed.

“The sports associations and clubs cannot possibly achieve these goals alone; they are dependent on a wide range of differentiated support services at all levels of government action. Only together can we face up to this future task for our society,” says Verleger.