The International Fistball Association (IFA) will conduct the 11th meeting of its Board of Directors today.

Main topic next to reports about upcoming IFA events is the approval of an updated version of the IFA World Games Selection and Qualification Criteria.

The initial version was approved by the board on 4th of November 2018 and has to be updated due to the postponement of TWG Birmingham to 2022 and some travel restrictions concerning the next IFA Women´s World Championship in Grieskirchen.

It had already become clear that it would be difficult to conduct the IFA 2021 Fistball Women’s World Championship in Switzerland in mid-July. As yesterday’s decisions by the Swiss authorities did not bring any significant changes, the organizers in Jona have declared that they are not available to host the World Championship under the current conditions. The International Fistball Association (IFA) has been working on a replacement solution and location for the last few days and can now award the World Championship to Austria at short notice.

“Our Fistball friends in Jona, whom we would like to thank very much for their commitment, have tried in close exchange with the responsible authorities to find a viable solution for the Women’s World Championship. It is with great regret that we have to acknowledge that hosting the Women’s World Championship in Switzerland is not possible,” said IFA President Jörn Verleger.

The direction was already clear since Saturday, May 15, after a coordination between IFA, Swiss Faustball (SF) and the local organizing team (OC). Due to the epidemiological pandemic and the associated regulatory requirements a successful realization of the Fistball Women’s World Championship in July 2021 in Jona became unrealistic.

Further decisions from the Swiss authorities announced for May 26 also did not bring any improvements. After a renewed consultation IFA, SF and OC have therefore come to the joint final decision not to hold the 2021 World Championships in Jona

“Our hearts are bleeding,” said OC head Martin Grögli. Numerous sponsors and partners had wanted to support the project after the World Championship already had to be moved from Chile to Europe at the end of 2020 due to the pandemic.

Grieskirchen steps in

“We are very grateful to the organizing team of the U18 World Championships and the club of our IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner for considering an additional takeover of the Women’s World Champs at very short notice. This is very special,” said Verleger.

“We have complied with the request in order to offer the women’s teams the chance of an international competition – under the safety concepts that have stood the test in Austria -,” said IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner, who is also the head of the Fistball section at UFG Sparkasse Grieskirchen/Pötting.

New date: July 28 to August 1

Grieskirchen will now host the Women’s and Men’s U18 World Championships, the U21 European Championship and the Women’s World Championship simultaneously from Wednesday, July 28 to Sunday August 1. The U18 World Championship and U21 European Championship will remain unchanged on the previous date from July 29.

“Of course, the date shift may mean that there may still be changes to the field of participants,” said IFA Sports Commission Chairman Winnie Kronsteiner. “We understand that the situation for the teams is difficult, but on the other hand we hope that the joy of being able to play the World Championship at all will prevail with the teams. We also consider the hosting of the World Championship as a necessary offer for the national teams to focus on a highlight and get back into international play.”

The next Women’s World Championship is not expected to take place until 2024 due to the 2022 World Games, and the 2023 Men’s World Cup.

“Six years between the last Women’s World Championship in Linz in 2018 and the World Championship in 2024 was not an option for us,” Kronsteiner said. Previously, Switzerland had also analyzed moving the event to the fall of 2021, as well as holding a category B World Championship in 2022.

“We will publish more details in the upcoming days and would like to encourage all teams to prepare for the 2021 Fistball World Championships in Austria,” said IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner, who is glad that they can offer a stage for women’s Fistball as well.

The SportAccord virtual International Federation (IF) Forum on 25 May 2021 focused on ‘Lessons We Are Learning from a Global Crisis and How Sport and Society Can Emerge Stronger’. An IFA delegation under the leadership of President Jörn Verleger and SG Christoph Oberlehner participated in the event. IFA got the chance to participate at the panel session ‘Moving Foreward, Pivoting And The Lessons We Are Learning’ and presented the updating of the IFA Strategic Plan as a case study.

The 15th edition of the IF Forum started with a Welcome Address by IOC President Thomas Bach and an Opening Address by Dr. Raffaele Chiulli, President of SportAccord and GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations), followed by an Address by Dr. Richard Budgett, Medical and Scientific Director, IOC.

Presentations, updates, case studies and panel sessions provided on several vital topics, including ‘Moving Forward, Pivoting and the Lessons We Are Learning’, ‘A Return to Competition and Lessons from the Bubble’, ‘Athlete Mental Health’, ‘Commercial Approaches for IFs in the New Normal’ and ‘The Virtual Experience and its Home within IFs’. Full program: https://www.sportaccord.sport/iff-2021/official-programme/

The IF Forum takes place annually and targets the specific needs of Olympic and International Sport Federations with a focus on sharing best practices and knowledge. The event is open to International Sports Federation members from ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), AIOWF (Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations), ARISF (Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations), AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport) and GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations) and its Associate Members.

The IF Forum will be an outstanding opportunity for our community to come together to discuss best practice ideas as sport explores strategies to accelerate on the road to recovery.

The IF Forum 2021 brings together more than 300 leaders from over 125 IFs, plus other virtual delegates and speakers.

TUESDAY, 25 MAY 2021 (Central European Summer Time – CEST)

10:30-11:00
PANEL SESSION: Moving Forward, Pivoting and the Lessons We Are Learning
Moderated by: David Eades, Anchor and Journalist, BBC World
Panellists:
• Dr. Maurizio Barbeschi, Senior Adviser to the Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies
• Heike Groesswang, Secretary General, IBSF (International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation)
• Jörn Verleger, President, IFA (International Fistball Association)
• Athlete representative

11:00-11:10
CASE STUDY: Moving Forward, Pivoting and the Lessons We Are Learning
Jörn Verleger, President, IFA (International Fistball Association)

Yesterday, Saturday, May 15th, IFA, SF and the OC conducted a meeting. SF and OC have pointed out that due to the epidemiological pandemic and the associated regulatory requirements, the Women’s World Championship will most likely not be able to take place in July 2021.

“With great regret we have to take note that the Swiss authorities do not (yet) allow the Fistball national teams, especially the teams from South America, to enter Switzerland without quarantine at this point. A mandatory quarantine for teams would not be reasonable,” said IFA President Jörn Verleger.

Further decisions by the Swiss authorities have been announced for May 26. Therefore, on May 26th, there will also be a final decision by the organizers IFA, SF and OC whether to conduct the World Championships in 2021 or not.

“We would like to continue to encourage all teams to prepare for a 2021 World Championships in Switzerland, even if the chances for the World Championships in July do not currently look particularly good,” said IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner.

From July 23 to 29, 2023, the best Fistball players in the world will come to Mannheim. 800 days before the start of the Men’s World Championship, the City of Mannheim, the hosts International Fistball Association, the DFBL and TV 1880 Käfertal presented the official logo of the 2023 World Championship on the large video cube in Mannheim’s SAP Arena.

“Mannheim is a sports city and ball sports plays a major role in this. Mannheim is represented by teams in six of the 15 national ball sports leagues. That’s why I’m very pleased that the fourth Men’s Fistball World Championship to be held in Germany will take place in Mannheim and that we can expect 16 teams from different continents and more than 30,000 fans in our city. With the Fistball World Championships and the German national garden show (“BUGA”*= short for “Bundesgartenschau”), two major events will take place in Mannheim in 2023 at which we can present ourselves to our guests as a cosmopolitan, livable and sustainable city,” says Mannheim’s sports mayor Ralf Eisenhauer.

Verleger: “The World Championship will be different from what we have been used to”.

The unveiling of the event logo took place on the large video cube at Mannheim’s SAP Arena. “We are very pleased to present the official event logo 800 days before the start of the World Championship. Our logo is different than what people have been used to because the World Championship is also different than before. The final phase in the SAP Arena on natural lawn is extraordinary for Fistball as an outdoor sport. The different shapes and widths of the letters represent a Fistball playing field as well as the City of Mannheim and the teams that bring the field to life. The colors symbolize the organizers: red for Mannheim and the DFBL, blue for the IFA and both together are also present at TV Käfertal,” explains IFA President Jörn Verleger.

The striking shape of the letters is very impressive, but stimulates interest. For the first time, an own font was created for a Fistball world championship. “This font will run through the World Championships and has a high recognition value,” says Jörn Verleger.

In 2007, Lower Saxony hosted the Men’s Fistball World Championship in Germany for the last time. “16 years later – 2023 – seemed to us at TV Käfertal a good occasion to bring the IFA Men’s Fistball World Championships to Mannheim and thus once again to Germany. Hosting the Fistball World Championship will be an enrichment for the city of Mannheim. With the Fistball World Championship we can contribute to the fact that the BUGA in Mannheim will become a great event, when the City of Mannheim and the TV 1880 Käfertal may welcome guests from all over the world and far more than 30,000 spectators on the occasion of the world championship for 10 days in July 2023,” OC President Jörg Trinemeier is already looking forward to the major sporting event.

At the same time, the 2023 World Fistball Championships will feature a highlight that has never been seen before in the sport of Fistball. “After the preliminary round in the Rhine-Neckar Stadium, the games up to the final will be played in the SAP Arena. In a unique setting, the new Fistball world champion will then be determined – hopefully in front of a sold-out crowd – in front of more than 11,000 fans,” said Trinemeier.

Löwe: “The Fistball family is expecting a special week”

This special atmosphere also fuels a certain expectation, as the co-coach of the German national team Chris Löwe knows: “As the world’s largest Fistball federation, we certainly have a great expectation from our own ranks, especially since we now certainly have a different role in the ranking compared to 2007. Our own expectations of the organization, fans and media are also not exactly low. We have to take the impulses we give each other and turn them into positive energy. The team, the organizers, the federation and of course the Fistball family is expecting a special week.”

The national team players in attendance fully agreed with their coach. “The anticipation for the 2023 home World Championship in Mannheim is huge. For me, it’s especially special that the World Championship is only a few kilometers away from my home in Pfungstadt and that family and friends can be there live. It will certainly be a real witch’s cauldron that everyone involved will not forget in a hurry. We’ve won a lot with the national team in recent years, so you always have to set yourself new goals. The World Championship in your country makes it very easy to motivate yourself week after week in training,” knows Germany’s main attacker Patrick Thomas.

“A World Championship in your own country is a dream in itself for every athlete. The different venues as well as the BUGA 2023 in Mannheim, which will take place in parallel, will be a spectacular visitor magnet. I am looking forward to great World Championship days in the cosmopolitan city of Mannheim,” added defender Felix Klassen of TV 1880 Käfertal. With Klassen, Nick Trinemeier and Marcel Stoklasa, three Mannheim players have the chance to qualify for the World Championship squad.

Today in 800 days we celebrate the IFA 2023 Fistball Men’s World Championship in Mannheim (Germany). Learn more abour yesterday´s logo presentation in #mannheim on our MWC-website: https://t.co/1vUvN6Ir2q @fistballMWC #wearefistball #fistballmwc #800days #RoadToMannheim pic.twitter.com/mCj7RjtB8u

— News (@IFA_Fistball) May 13, 2021

The International Fistball Association (IFA) is pleased to announce the foundation of the Asia Fistball Association (AFA). Currently IFA has 13 member federations in Asia. Elected as President was Cheng Tsz-man (Ewing) from Hongkong, China. The further board members are representing Chinese Taipeh, India and Japan.

AFA was founded as a non-profit making and non-political organization to which membership is open to Asian countries and territories without regards to race, religion, color or creed.

The objectives of AFA are:
1. To promote, develop and raise the standard of Fistball in Asia;
2. To encourage and assist in the formation and development of governing Fistball bodies in the Asian countries and territories;
3. To establish and promote friendly relations among members of the Association;
4. To assist and support the development of programs in all aspects of Fistball in
member countries and territories;
5. To co-ordinate tournaments in Asia and to appoint committees and court officials in official tournaments;
6. To do all such other lawful things as may be incidental or may be deemed to be conducive to the attainment of these objectives, or any of them;
7. To employ the funds of the Association in such a manner as shall be deemed
expedient
8. To safeguard the interest of Members and of AFA as a regional body;
9. To execute all functions, which the IFA may delegate to the regional Association;
10. To work at all times within the Rules and Regulations of the IFA and accept as final the ruling of the Association in any matter.

The Board of Directors serve for a 2-year period.

The meeting was prepaired by IFA Development Dirctor Roger Willen together with Ewing Cheng and Heiz Chan from Hongkong, China.

IFA President Jörn Verleger chaired the meeting and the elections.

Currently IFA has 13 member federations in Asia. Some of them are very active like Japan, that participated in the latest World Championships in Switzerland or the 2019 founded member federation in Hongkong, China or the Fistball Federation Of India, which participated in the U18 World Championships 2017 in Germany.

Referring to the IFA Statues Secretary General Chris Oberlehner informed that member federations can establish regional associations under geographical aspects. To be recognised a regional association they should be composed of at least 5 member federations. After approval of the regional association the President is member of the IFA board.

Before the formal founding IFA Development Director Willen reported in the meeting about the IFA Development Program to support new nations and to promote existing nations continuously. The aim is to ensure the ongoing development of the new and existing associations in coordination with the regional associations and the Fistball Academy.

Furthermore, he promoted a regional “Fistball Ambassadors” concept to be established to expand existing associations and develop new ones in the region.

The new AFA Board of Directors is composed by a President, several Vice Presidents, a Honorary Treasurer and a Secretary General with a 2-year period of service.

Each (Vice) President can appoint an executive assistant to help themselves.

Each official member and provisional member can appoint a rightful person to attend the committee meetings.

After a brief introduction of each candidate the meeting elected the following representatives unanimously.

President: Cheng Tsz-man (Ewing), Hongkong, China
Deputy: Wong Kwun-fung (Brian)

Vice President: S.Kevin Anandaraj, India

Board Member from Hongkong, China: Chan Tik-hei (Heiz)
Deputy: Wu Chun-chung (Jojo)

Board Member from Chinese Taipeh: Lee,Po-Yi
Deputy : Lee Yung-Chang

Board Member from Japan: Waichiro Horiuchi

On behave of IFA President Verleger congratulated each and every one.

“IFA is happy to work together with the new established leadership. IFA has now three well established regional associations. After the founding of the European Fistball Association (EFA) and the Panamerican Fistball Association (PAFA) in 2015 this is a great development for Fistball. I would specially like to thank our friends in Hongkong, China, who have overtaken the lead to establish the association. This is remarkable as the federation in Hongkong, China was only established in 2019 and shows the dynamics of our Fistballer players,” said IFA President Joern Verleger. “Furthermore, I expect that we will have another regional association founded already in this year in Oceania with five member federations already present in that region.”

Finally the meeting agree the following AFA milestones:
• 2022: Continental Championship as a qualifying tournament for the 2023 World Championship in Germany
• 2023: U18 Continental Championship as a qualifying tournament for the 2024 U18 World Championship in Oceania
• 2025: The World Games Chengdu, China

The AFA Statues can be found here.

IFA Integrity Officers Theresa Eidenhammer and President Joern Verleger participated in today´s IOC – GAISF Safeguarding Workshop.

The objective of the workshop was to introduce the concept of environmental risk as a key component to the manifestation of abuse in the sports community and to stimulate IFs to consider the opportunity to take meaningful actions towards creating safe sporting environments through organisation risk assessments, mitigation strategies, education and awareness.

Athletes’ safety and wellbeing is a priority and a core value for IFA, in line with its IFA SAFE SPORT POLICY SAFEGUARDING ATHLETES AND PARTICIPANTS FROM DISCRIMINATION, HARASSMENT AND ABUSE. Within IFA, there is zero tolerance for discrimination, harassment, or abuse to safeguard the sport of Fistball against all forms of violence and discrimination as IFA cares for the security of the athletes and the spectators.

GAISF Vice President and AIMS President, Stephan Fox stated, “We must continue to take concrete actions, implement safe sport initiatives and create awareness. The Olympic movement must stand together promoting safe sport and protecting all our athletes and youth from any kind of harassment and abuse.”

The International Fistball Association (IFA) is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has approved in its today´s meeting an updated version of its Strategic Plan for the period 2019-2023. This will be IFA´s roadmap for the upcoming two years and reflects the COVID-19 crises as recently approved IOC Agenda 2020+5. This was preceded by extensive consultation as well as the IFA Policy Forum on March 30, 2021 and a resolution by the IFA Athletes Forum on April 17, 2021. The IFA 2019-2023 Strategic Plan can be found here.

“The IFA board and officials will be using this strategic plan to guide our decisions over the next years,” said IFA President Joern Verleger. “We see it as a working document that will help us make explicit decisions about our activities and priorities based on strategic considerations.”

“Our updated plan for the period 2019-2023 spells out our vision and values, our core strategies, and the steps for achieving them,” added Verleger.

IFA has also updated partially its Mission Statement, which says now “We encourage gender equity and diversity in all aspects.”

IFA has outlined strategic goals:
• High quality IFA events;
• Governance structures according to good governance principles;
• IFA serves as service-oriented organisation for its member federations providing real stakeholder value;
• Use of international platforms and participation in international multisport events serves as showcase for Fistball;
• Increase youth appeal of Fistball.

For each of the strategies, from 10 to 25 concrete steps are outlined.

This document is the “fourth” totally reviewed strategic plan and the first major update of the current strategic plan reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic and the IOC Agenda 2020+5. The first IFA Strategic Plan was adopted for the period 2011 – 2015 and resulted in strong growth of the membership of IFA to 54 member federations. The second Strategic Plan was for the period of 2016-2019 and resulted in a significant expansion of the organization’s visibility. Starting with 61 member federations the third Strategic Plan was initially approved for the period of 2019-2023. The IFA now has 67 member associations.