Interim Report after 1 year of new Board

Today, 1 years ago, the International Fistball Association (IFA) Board of Directors was elected at the IFA 2019 Congress within the framework Fistball Men´s World Championships in Winterthur (SUI). Jörn Verleger from Munich, Germany was elected the sixth president in the history of IFA. The 48-year-old succeeds Karl Weiss (Austria). Karl Weiss did not run for re-election after serving eight years as president of the Association during which IFA developed from 27 member nations to 61 national associations. Together with Secretary General elected Christoph Oberlehner from Austria Verleger is giving an Interim Report as video and podcast message.

Mr. Verleger, Mr Oberlehner, which contributions were the most successful last year?

First of all we are very proud of the Fistball Academy which we established three years ago. The Fistball Academy is really one of our projects with a lot of passion, and especially with the help of Uwe Schneider, we were able to publish the first training modules to support smaller and new federations. Additionally we were able to develop from a federation to a service provider. We offer many services for our members and for our hosts. Even for this year we had very great plans, but the global Covid-19 pandemic changed a lot, and we were forced to postpone all our events to 2021. But also, that postponement gave us a big chance to rethink and improve our internal procedures, and that was also one of our big topics within the last month I would say.

What highlight did really stand out to you?

The absolute highlight for us has been the World Championships in Winterthur. Of course, World Championships are always special, but Winterthur enthused us all chiefly with its media coverage. For example, we had 260 published articles in total, a number we never had before. Furthermore, we reached a total of 382.9 million people, which is incredible in our opinion. We couldn´t really believe this number if it wasn´t analyzed by a professional agency, but yeah, it happened. In general, it was amazing to be part of such a big event with more than 30.000 spectators in the stadiums and we think it was one of the major highlights in our work for the Fistball family. And to make some promo, if you like to re-watch some of the games, you can go on www.fistball.tv and enjoy the games, or the one you liked the most for a second time.

Which changes did you affect in Fistball?

We think it`s a little bit too early to say that. We are elected for four years and we have to see what the following three years will bring. But as we mentioned before, we have already established some new projects. And not only on the Fistball pitch, we also employed us with topics like sustainability and gender equality. To go back on the Fistball pitch, we also have to mention the Fistball World Tour with it´s final in Salzburg. A very nice event we established step by step and we sadly had to cancel for this year due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Also the increasing professionalization of our small events, which are getting more media coverage is beside the number of already 65 member federations, and an increasing number of women in our sport, a point which shows us, that we are on the right way

What are you plan to accomplish over the coming year?

We can promise you the following year will be a very challenging, but also a very great year for the Fistball Family. We will have many events because we had to cancel most of our tournaments this year and postpone them to 2021. In 2021 we will start with the Women World Championship in July, which we had to remove from Chile, back to Europe. Let us cross our fingers that the Covid-19 pandemic will be under better circumstances next year, also because 10 to 14 days after the women world championships we will have the U-18 World Championships in Grieskirchen (Austria). Furthermore, the World Tour Final should take place in 2021 again. A very big challenge will be the overlapping with the many other events of all the other sports in the world.

One year ago several changes within the IFA Board and IFA Commissions were made. How satisfied are you with the collaboration within the team?

We are very satisfied. We integrated more people into the Board of Directors, and more people can represent our sport worldwide in a better way. For example, Vicky Buston in the Oceania world, and Giana Hexsel in South America. All those people are working together in friendship an supporting our work in the whole world to get more people to play Fistball.

We are very proud of our team and can say, that without the work of those people such a positive development of Fistball would not have been possible.

To continue our work successfully we are still looking for motivated people to join our team in one of our many commissions, like the youth commission. For example, next year we will appoint a Under 18 representative who supports the work of the commissions.
You can see there is plenty of work to do and we are looking for your help.

What accomplishments this year are you most proud working on most of?

Most of all it was this feeling of friendship and support while working for the Fistball Family. You can really feel that the peoples want to work together and want to implement their ideas. Even when the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to postpone all the events to next year, there was such a positive spirit in the work with our federations all over the world, and that is great to see. In conclusion, all that remains for us to say is, that we are looking forward to the next three years of positive cooperation with the members of the Fistball Family.

Furthermore, the Vice Presidents elected Giana Hexsel (Brazil), Vikki Buston (New Zealand) and Steve Schmutzler (Germany) commented on the year as following:

“It’s been an interesting year for sport and Fistball and we’ve had to adapt so many changes due to the pandemic. I look forward to the tournaments coming up and can’t wait to get together with our international Fistball family when we are able to get the chance again.”
Vikki Buston (New Zealand)

“As a Doctor, I regret about the Pandemic, but I think we must be patient. Good times will come back, for sure. One year has passed since we took office and I could say I believe we tried to keep our group motivated for better times, trying to organize all the tournaments in another dates and places. I can say from the heart: We are missing the best part: GREAT FISTBALL GAMES❤️”
Dr. Giana Hexsel (Brazil)

“Looking back on the first year of our collaboration, the focus is naturally shifting to the second half of the term, which was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Board of Directors, we had to take a number of difficult decisions and unusual measures. For all of us, the completely new situation was and is a great challenge. But I think we were able to do a good job and look back on a constructive cooperation even under difficult conditions. I think we can look positively into the future and hope that the good cooperation can be continued under “normal” conditions.”
Steve Schmutzler (Germany).

International Safeguards for Children in Sport Initiative

“All fistball players and especially the minors have the right to safe sport, which is respectful, fair, equitable, and free from all forms of harassment, discrimination and abuse” said IFA President Jörn Verleger on today´s Safer Sport Day, introduced by the International Safeguards for Children in Sport Initiative and backed by the IOC to raise awareness and encourage sports organisations to take action.

The International Fistball Association has adopted an IFA Anti-Harassment Policy and Procedures and appointed two Anti-Harassment Officers in 2016.

At a conference organized by United Through Sports last year, Verleger and Vice President Vikki Buston had the chance to present the keys of the IFA Anti-Harassment Policy:
• Every individual is treated with respect and dignity, free of harassment on any basis without exception
• Security through confidentiality for all parties
• The establishment of Anti-Harassment Officers
• Support for individuals in direction towards mediation, arbitration, or written formal complaint

Women’s Fistball World Championship 2021 in Europe – Final talks with organiser of the World Tour Finals 2021

The IFA Board of Directors decided at its latest meeting in June to postpone the Women’s World Championship until 2021. Two potential hosts, with whom IFA was already in advanced negotiations, unfortunately withdraw the hosting of the event. Further talks are currently ongoing with possible hosts of the Women’s World Championship. It is planned to run the event in Europe in July 2021.

Since Birmingham (USA) is no longer available as host in 2021, the IFA has also been looking for a venue for the World Tour Final. Final details are currently being discussed with a South American host. The World Tour Final is scheduled for October 2021.

Immediately after Chile’s withdrawal as host of the IFA Women’s World Championship in 2021, discussions with alternative locations for this major event began. “We were already negotiating the last details. Unfortunately, both replacement locations we were in talks with had to cancel in the end. In one case, the main sponsor withdrew during the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore it is no longer possible to finance a Women’s World Championship,” IFA President Jörn Verleger describes the developments. “We are currently in further talks with other locations. We are working flat out to find a solution, but it will still take a few weeks before we can announce the final organiser”.

It is certain that the World Championship will take place in Europe in the summer of 2021. The event is scheduled to take place in the middle or latest at the end of July. “The Women’s World Championship should definitely take place in 2021, after all it is also a qualifying tournament for the World Games in Birmingham 2022. At the moment we have to plan for the World Championship in several scenarios, which certainly doesn’t make the search for an organiser any easier. Scenarios with or without spectators and entry permission for teams are only two of the central topics. But for an organiser, these are elementary issues in terms of financing the World Championship,” says IFA General Secretary Christoph Oberlehner.

IFA World Tour Final to be held in South America in October

However, there is more good news regarding the IFA World Tour Final. The event should have taken place in Birmingham (USA) in 2020. The host of the World Games for 2021 is no longer available, which is why the IFA was looking for a replacement venue. The World Tour Finals should take place in South America in October 2021. At the moment the final details are discussed with the organiser. “Of course, it is still very difficult to make a forecast for the coming year, but the basic information about the World Tour Finale will be published in the next weeks. We continue to monitor the development of the Corona pandemic very closely. The health of everyone involved will always be our top priority,” says IFA President Jörn Verleger.

Fistball Academy published first training modules during Youth Congress

The IFA Youth Congress was held as virtual event the first time in IFA history. More than 50 participants from all over the world made the congress a big success for Fistball. Main part of the Congress was the presentation of the first training module published by the Fistball Academy. The aim is to support smaller federations but also schools and clubs with training material in theory and practice.

IFA President Jörn Verleger opened the stage with an update about the importance and necessity of cooperation with umbrella federations like AIMS and GAISF or multi-sport events like The World Games. He also informed the participants about the current status of IFA’s IOC recognition process. Receiving the recognition by the International Olympic Committee is important for our sport and all its member federations because then they are eligible to get subsidies from their national Olympic Committee.

One of the congress’ highlights is the presentation by Julia Govinden, CEO of United Through Sport (UTS). Julia Govinden reported on the current activities of UTS. UTS will organize an event which offers young people around the world the opportunity to get active, by uniting youth with different skills promoting unity in diversity, sport, and education.

Support of new Fistball federations

Uwe Schneider, Chairman of the IFA Youth Commission, presented not only the work and new members of his commission but also the current activities of the Fistball Academy.

The three main columns of the Academy are
• Exchange of Knowledge and Information
• Support in Training and Education
• Improvement of Communication

The Academy Webpage is structured in a new layout according to these three columns.
His presentation mentioned a part of Fistball history because during the Youth Congress the first training module was published by the Fistball Academy.

With the development of training modules IFA wants to support our smaller federations, but also schools and club teams.
Each module contains a document with a detailed description in text and pictures and a presentation with the most important contents. New is the supplement by video sequences and contributions, which ensure an easier and better communication of the described contents. Further training modules are in preparation.

Start of United by Fistball campaign

A second big topic of Uwe Schneider was the presentation of the „United by Fistball“ campaign. The “Fistball at Home” initiative started by Swiss Faustball has shown how pioneering and creative learning videos with tips and hints for Fistball training can be.
With the “United by Fistball” training platform, this initiative is being continued as part of the further development of the Fistball Academy. All videos are from experienced coaches and players. The videos are divided in different categories and levels. All videos are accessible on Fistball.tv and ifa-fistball.com. If you are intersted in supporting the campaing contact Uwe Schneider: u.schneider@ifa-fistball.com
 
Fistball Ambassadors to develop new member federations

Later IFA Development Director Roger Willen presented IFA’s development program to give sustainable support for new nations and to promote existing nations continuously. The aim is to ensure the ongoing development of the associations in coordination with the continental associations and especially with the Fistball Academy. Associations like Hong Kong, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Island, Uganda, Bolivia, Haiti or North Macedonia have become full IFA members in the recent past and IFA is in contact with different countries who applied for membership.

In order to expand existing associations and develop new ones it is necessary to have dedicated fistballers who are actively involved in the development program – the “Fistball Ambassadors“. The ambassador should be the main contact for the board members in the local association with the aim of leading the new association as soon as possible to a full member of the IFA. If you are interested to join the Fistball ambassador programme contact Roger Willen: r.willen@ifa-fistball.com

Relaunch of OTT-platform Fistball.tv

Furthermore IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner reported about the current projects and topics within IFA.
IFA applied for an ERASMUS+ project together with TAFISA – the International Sports for all Federation. Together with other international Federations the team developed an exciting project. The aim of the project is to adapt the services of International Federations to the needs and expectations of the members.

IFA has evolved from a sports federation to a service provider and is responsible to support clubs and associations. „We are offering our help particularly in organizing events. Our services are adapted to our sports and include Ticketing, TV-Production, the OTT platform, Media Work and Sports Presentation. The service providers we work together with are experts in their field and paired with our experience you get a great deal for a small price. Furthermore we created special event boxes with all necessary materials to support our hosts“, Oberlehner said.

One big task was the relaunch of Fistball.tv. The new version is very user friendly and includes new features and access to video sequences from the past years. Special Thanks to Valentin Weber for the great work within the last months. IFA’s member federations will be able to get their own video platform in their own design in the next months. All information on that topic will be published soon.

Finally the participants got a short report of the current status of U18 World Championship in Austria. The World Championship had to be postponed to 2021 and the local organizers in Grieskirchen are working to create a big Fistball festival next year. Save the date: 29 July to 1 August 2021.

Get all detailed information to the IFA Youth Congress here:

Presentation of IFA Youth Congress: http://www.ifa-fistball.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020_Prasentation_Jugendkongress_20200722.pdf

Training platform “United by Fistball” online

The “Fistball at Home” initiative started by Swiss Faustball has shown how pioneering and creative learning videos with tips and hints for fistball training can be.

With the “United by Fistball” training platform, this initiative is being continued as part of the further development of the Fistball Academy, where in the future a wide spectrum of instructional videos and training ideas from experienced coaches and players from around the world will be made available to everyone – from beginners to professionals.

This enables us to provide suggestions and support for a varied training in the core countries of fistball, but also to show the new fistball nations new possibilities for clubs and coaches. On our IFA homepage you can already find some examples.

The structuring of the videos in different categories as well as in different levels of difficulty makes it easy to find new ideas for your training.

This part of the Fistball Academy is already supported by an internationally experienced training and coaching team. Rahel Schreiber (Head of training at Swiss Faustball), Martin Weiss (Training consultant and association coach at Fistball Austria) and Christian Sondern (School sports representative of Deutsche Faustball-Liga) coordinate the various tasks related to the platform and are your contact persons.

We will continuously update the platform with training videos in all areas and for all. Therefore, videos of coaches, players or fistball fans can of course be sent to us. Are you interested? Contact Uwe Schneider, chair of the IFA youth commission by mail: u.schneider@ifa-fistball.com

Support us in the development of “United by Fistball” – because fistball unites us all !

Julia Govinden Speaker at the IFA Youth Congress

This Wednesday the IFA Youth Congress will take place virtually for the first time. Participants from all over the world will receive exciting information on current developments in fistball. IFA President Jörn Verleger and Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner will give an overview of the current activities of the IFA and fistball in general. One of the congress’ highlights is the presentation by Julia Govinden, CEO of United Through Sport (UTS). Julia Govinden will report on the current activities of UTS. UTS will organize an event which offers young people around the world the opportunity to get active, by uniting youth with different skills promoting unity in diversity, sport and education.

Uwe Schneider, Chairman of the IFA Youth Commission, and Roger Willen, IFA Development Director, will report on the current status of the Fistball Academy and the Fistball Development Programme.
The Fistball Academy will soon offer various training modules for beginners and advanced players for download. Especially the smaller or new fistball nations shall profit from the Academy as a platform where they can get tips and tricks for their own training. At the same time the modules are clearly arranged, didactically prepared and always consist of a theory script enriched with videos.

We would like to invite you to the IFA Youth Congress. The congress will take place as a virtual congress in form of a video conference
Wednesday, 22 July 2020, starting at 14:00 >/strong>.

Please register for participation in the youth congress at http://tiny.cc/YouthCongress2020
Only if registered, further information about the course of the congress can be received.

Be our guests at this exciting youth congress!
See you soon – and stay healthy!

Agenda:
TOP 1 Welcoming of the participants

TOP 2 Presentation United Through Sports by UTS CEO Julia Govinden
The necessary cooperation with superordinate sports umbrella organisations such as AIMS and GAISF
Presentation by IFA President Jörn Verleger

TOP 3 Information on current developments at the IFA
Report on the current status of IOC recognition
Activities of the IFA and its committees
Presentation by the IFA General Secretary Christoph Oberlehner

Item 4 Report of the Youth Commission
Report on the activities of the Youth Commission
Strategy and objectives of the Youth Commission 2020 – 2023
Introduction of the Youth Commissions’ new members
Designation of the responsible people in the associations
Presentation by the head of the youth commission Uwe Schneider

TOP 5 The Fistball Academy
Report on the current status of the Fistball Academy
Strategy and goals of the Fistball Academy
Collaboration in the Fistball Academy and appointment of responsible people in the associations
Presentation by the head of the youth commission Uwe Schneider

TOP 6 The IFA Development Programme
Presentation of the activities and objectives of the IFA Development Programme
Synergies between IFA Development Programme and the Fistball Academy
First successes and results of the IFA Development Programme
Presentation by the IFA Board Member Roger Willen

TOP 7 U18 athletes’ representatives
Presentation of the nominated candidates
Procedure for the election of U18 representatives
Presentation by the head of the youth commission Uwe Schneider

TOP 8 U18 World Championships 2022 and 2024
Information about the 2022 U18 World Championship in New Zealand
Applications to host the U18 World Championships in 2024
Presentation by the IFA General Secretary Christoph Oberlehner

Item 9 Motions / proposals
Proof of youth work in the association as a prerequisite for participation in world championships of women and men
Discussion

Item 10 Other

The World Games published detailed sports programme

With exactly two years to go to the opening ceremony of The World Games 2022, a detailed Sports Programme for the official sports, including disciplines and events, has been published. Fistball is part of The World Games with a men’s competition and the first time ever also a women’s competition.

The official Sports Programme includes 30 sports, 54 disciplines and 207 medal events. Most of the sports were on the programme of the previous edition of The World Games in 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland, but Softball and Racquetball are returning to the Games after a longer break. Completely new disciplines in The World Games official programme are Drone Racing (Air Sports), Canoe Marathon (Canoe), Breaking (DanceSport), Women’s Fistball, Parkour (Gymnastics) and Men’s Lacrosse. Women’s Lacrosse was in the official programme for the first time in 2017.

“The official sports had already been ratified and announced during SportAccord 2018, but following the Covid-related postponement, we had to be sure that all venues, accommodation and service partners secured for the events in 2021 were available in 2022 as well”, Head of Games Services Sebastian Garvens says. “Two years ahead of The World Games 2022 Birmingham opening ceremony, I’m excited that we can announce the overall gender-balanced events programme for our member federations, featuring new disciplines, extended mixed-gender competitions and innovative formats such as Six-a-side Lacrosse, Drone Racing, mixed-gender Tug of War, Breaking and Parkour.”

“It has been a pleasure to see the positive spirit of collaboration between our member federations and the Birmingham Organising Committee, everybody committed to delivering enhanced competitions for both athletes and spectators”, Garvens concludes.

Invitation to IFA Youth Congress on 22 July 2020

Dear friends of Fistball,

We would like to invite you to the IFA 2020 Youth Congress. The Congress will take place as a virtual congress in the form of a video conference on
Wednesday, den 22nd July 2020, from 2:00 p.m.

The invitation and agenda are enclosed once again.

Especially we would like to point out again the upcoming election of U18 representatives as members of the IFA Youth Commission.
We would be pleased if we could present further candidates.

You can send us additional proposals until 10th July.2020 by mail to u.schneider@ifa-fistball.com

Please also register for participation in the Youth Congress until 10th July 2020 at: http://tiny.cc/YouthCongress2020
Only registered persons can receive further information about the organisation of the congress.

Be our guests of this exciting youth congress!
See you soon – and stay healthy!

Agenda:
TOP 1 Welcome of the participants

TOP 2 Presentation United Through Sportsby UTS CEO Julia Govinden
The necessary cooperation with the sports umbrella organisations such as AIMS and GAISF
Presentation by the IFA President Jörn Verleger

TOP 3 Informationen about the current developments of the IFA
Report on the current status of IOC recognition
Activities of the IFA and its committees
Presentation by the IFA General Secretary Christoph Oberlehner

TOP 4 Report of the Youth Commission
Report on the activities of the Youth Commission
Strategy and targets of the Youth Commission 2020 – 2023
Introduction of the new members of the Youth Commission
Appointment of responsible persons in the associations
Presentation by the head of the youth commission Uwe Schneider

TOP 5 The Fistball Academy
Report on the current status of the Faustball Academy
Strategy and targets of the Faustball Academy
Working in the Faustball Academy and appointment of responsible persons of the associations
Presentation by the head of the youth commission Uwe Schneider

TOP 6 The IFA Development Programme
Presentation of the activities and targets of the IFA Development Programme
Synergies between IFA Development Programme and Fistball Academy
First successes and results of the IFA Development Programme
Introduction by the IFA Board Member Roger Willen

TOP 7 U 18 representative of the athletes
Presentation of the nominated candidates
Procedure for the election of U 18 representatives
Presentation by the head of the youth commission Uwe Schneider

TOP 8 U 18 World Championships 2022 and 2024
Information about the 2022 U 18 World Championship in New Zealand
Applications to host the U 18 World Championships in 2024
Presentation by the IFA General Secretary Christoph Oberlehner

TOP 9 Applications / Proposals
Confirmation of youth work in the association as a prerequisite for participation in World Championships
for women and men
Discussion

TOP 10 Miscellaneous

IFA postpones Fistball Women’s World Championship to 2021

In its video-conference the Board of the International Fistball Association (IFA) decided in an unanimous decision to postpone the Women’s Fistball World Championship in Chile, scheduled for November 2020, to 2021. IFA is currently negotiating with substitute organizers.

 Chile is currently confronted with a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and a second lock-down. At the moment it is not predictable whether a carefree World Championship can be guaranteed for all participants in November and when or if intercontinental travel will be possible again. “Fistball has always been a sport that lives for and with our fans. Therefore it is beyond all questions for us to only let the athletes travel. With a heavy heart, we decided to postpone this year’s World Championship because we have to assume that it must be carried out without spectators, additional officials, fans and family members,” said IFA General Secretary Christoph Oberlehner. This postponement also entails that the World Championship will not take place in Chile. The current situation in Chile is not only a health crisis, but also an economic one. These negative conditions made it impossible for the Chilean Fistball Federation to organize the World Championship next year.

“Health is the first priority in our decisions. We were in regular contact with the organisers and the national Fistball association in Chile and discussed the situation in detail. Thanks to our friends in South America for their intensive efforts to find a solution in Chile. Unfortunately the efforts were not rewarded”, says IFA President Jörn Verleger. “The new situation poses a huge challenge and we are forced to look for a new organizer. But we are currently in very good negotiations with possible substitute hosts.”

IFA plans to announce the exact dates and venues of the 2021 Women’s World Championship and the 2021 World Tour Finals in July.

All 2020 international Fistball events postponed or cancelled

The corona virus has caused a major upheaval in the international Fistball calendar. This year all international Fistball events had to be postponed or cancelled due to the worldwide pandemic. In addition, The World Games in Birmingham were also rescheduled to 2022, which has an impact on the Fistball calendar. IFA postponed the U18 World Championship to July 2021, and the World Tour Final will not take place this year. The World Tour season 2020 had to be cancelled and will not be counted.

The European Fistball Association EFA postponed the Men’s European Championship in Kaltern to 24-26 June 2021. The EFA U21 Men’s European Championship planned for Grieskirchen will be cancelled in 2020, the next U21 European Championship will be held together with the U18 World Championship in Grieskirchen. EFA’s club competitions – the Champions Cup for men and women – also had to be cancelled for this year.

The Pan-American Continental Association PAFA also postponed the Pan-American Championship which was planned for October 2020 in Novo Hamburgo (BRA). The Championship will take place in 2021. The U16 South American Championships also had to be postponed to 2021.

EFA 2021 U21 European Fistball Championship takes place together with U18 World Championships in Austria

The IFA Fistball U18 World Championship, which was planned in Grieskirchen (Austria) for this summer, was postponed to July 2021 due to the Corona Pandemic already at the beginning of April. The European Fistball Federation EFA awarded the Under-21 Men’s European Fistball Championship to Grieskirchen, Austria in its board meeting. Originally, the U21EC should have taken place in Switzerland. This means that next year’s major event in Grieskirchen will be the planned fistball festival of all the world’s best young players.

“We are very pleased to be hosting the U21 European Championship together with the U18 World Championship. We would like to take this opportunity to thank EFA, the Swiss Faustball and TSV Jona – who were originally supposed to organise the U21EC 2021 – for their understanding and support. The 300 world’s best young fistball players are now coming to us to Upper Austria and will fight for the U18 World Championship title and for the European Championship title of the U21s next year,” says Peter Oberlehner, President of the organising team and Vice-President of Faustball Austria.

Originally, the U21EM should have taken place in Switzerland. The Swiss club TSV Jona, as the organizer actually planned for 2021, is foregoing the implementation in favor of merging the U18WC and the U21EC.
It is a decision in the interest of fistball to use the chance to have the best youth players in the world play in one place.

Save the date: U18WM and U21EM from July 29 to August 1, 2021

The IFA U18 Men’s and Women’s World Championship will take place from 29 July to 1 August 2021, the EFA U21 Men’s European Championship will be held in Grieskirchen on 30 and 31 July 2021.

The deadline for the qualified U18 players will not be changed. Players who would be eligible to play in 2020 will also have the opportunity to participate in the World Championship in 2021. For the U21 European Championships, the 2021 regular cut-off date for birth cohort 2000 and younger will apply.

“The combined event U18WC and U21EC will provide excitement and action on all four days of the event. On Thursday, 29 July, a big opening ceremony is planned in the city center of Grieskirchen, on Friday, 30 July, the U21 semi-finals will take place, Saturday is filled with the U18 semi-finals and the U21 final before the U18 men’s and women’s finals take place on Sunday,” said Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner, describing the event’s schedule.

22 national teams from 11 nations

Austria is among the medal candidates in all three categories (U18 male, U18 female and U21). A total of 22 national teams from 11 nations and 4 continents had registered for the U18 World Cup and U21 European Championship for July 2020. The registration procedure is now starting again.

The major fistball event is organized by the UFG Sparkasse Grieskirchen/Pötting and the Sportunion Grieskirchen. The 16-strong organisation team of the Grieskirchen sports association will once again cause a stir with a few special features, such as an opening ceremony in Grieskirchen’s city centre. The fistball centre is already being made fit for the World Cup, which will have a capacity of 1,500 people with the help of an additional grandstand.