Just eight days before the IFA 2019 Fistball World Tour Finals in Salzburg start, IFA published the Official Bulletin 4 of the event.
Bulletin 4 contains all final information re the official welcome reception, Anti-Doping or a draft for a press release in the attachment teams could use for their media work.
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From 13th to 15th of September, Salzburg will be the centre of the fistball world. The best women’s and men’s club teams will compete for the title at the Fistball World Tour Final in the Sportzentrum Nord.
Deputy Mayor and Sports Officer Bernhard Auinger is delighted: “I am delighted that we have succeeded in bringing another major international sports tournament to Salzburg, the IFA Fistball World Tour Final, after the Tennis Davis Cup. Salzburg has already proven several times that it is an ideal venue for large sporting events. This will also be the case this time.”
The city of Salzburg supports this fistball highlight of the season with more than 30.000 euros. Around 15.000 euros will be provided directly and the rest as value in kind (e.g. personnel for set-up and dismantling, provision of various equipment and objects, etc.). “In addition to financial support, the organiser also needs manpower and services in kind such as the provision of personnel for set-up and dismantling. Now that everyone is pulling in the same direction, this event will certainly be another sporting milestone in the city of Salzburg,” sports consultant Auinger continued. Since 2017, Sportzentrum Nord has been an attractive venue for popular sports for Salzburg, but the modern centre has also made a name for itself internationally as an event location for top sports. Several international competitions have already taken place, such as the European Company Sports Games, the Mozart Trophy (an international youth football tournament with over 80 teams from seven nations) and Austrian championships in table tennis and breakdancing.
Most important title in club fistball
A total of 16 teams – including teams from Argentina and Brazil – will compete in the World Tour Final in the state capital. “It is the most important title to be won at club level in fistball. The fans can look forward to a sports spectacle,” IFA President Jörn Verleger looks forward to the event. “The best fistball players in the world come to Salzburg and show off their top skills. At our side events, spectators and fans can also become active themselves”. As a German he of course keeps his fingers crossed for the four German teams in particular and after the World Champion title they are also striving for the next international title. With this tournament, fistball should gain an even stronger presence in the Salzburg sports scene and in school sports.
Added value for the people of Salzburg – the exciting supporting programme
Sports fans can look forward to an extensive supporting programme in addition to exciting matches and top sporting performances. Additionally to an own kids area with various sports stations, Friday is dedicated to the schools of Salzburg with free admission. On Saturday, a multi-sports tournament with fistball, football, table tennis and volleyball will take place on the sports grounds. Before the medal games begin on Sunday, it is the turn of the U10 and U12 players to take part in their own fistball tournament. The best teams are allowed to enter the Center Court with the final teams.
Added value for the sports city of Salzburg – media value of up to one million euros
On the three days of the competition, around 2,000 spectators* are expected at the centre court in the Sportzentrum Nord. The organisers are expecting around 800 overnight stays in the region by the participating teams alone. The international field of participants from Argentina, Brazil and the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) will also make the sports city of Salzburg better known. In addition, there will be national and international coverage of Salzburg as a sports city in print and online media worldwide. ORF broadcasts more than six hours live on ORF Sport+ and there are reports in ORF Kurzsport (about 600,000 viewers* & 8% MA) and in ORF Sportbild (about 50,000 – 100,000 viewers*). All reports are also available on ORF TVTHEK. Around 250 volunteers ensure that everything runs smoothly. These mainly come from Salzburg and Upper Austria. The IFA expects over 150,000 people to be reached on social media channels. The Women’s World Championship 2018 in Austria, with a media value of more than EUR 700,000, can be used as a comparative value by reporting in the national and international media. Everyone is confident that this advertising value will be exceeded.
The programme in detail:
On Friday, 13th of September, the final tournament with the quarter finals of women and men will start at 10 am. Saturday (from 11 a.m.) and Sunday (from 12 noon) will be dominated by the semi-finals and medal matches. A centre court with room for 1,000 spectators* will be created in the Sportzentrum Nord for the World Tour Finale.
Salzburg for Austria:
The two Austrian teams “Union Haidlmair Schwingenschuh Nussbach” for women and “Tigers Vöcklabruck” for men are among the favourites. As eighth and third in the world rankings, respectively, the Upper Austrians* qualified for the World Tour Final for the first time. The local heroes can be trusted to have a lot to offer, as the reigning Austrian champion, Nussbach and Vöcklabruck are among the closest favourites as vice state champions. The support of the fans is assured.
That’s what players* say:
Sabine Süffert, Sogipa (Brazil)
“We currently train three times a week for preparation. On September 7th all players will land in Europe. On Saturday, 8.9., everyone will meet in Austria and on Sunday we will start with a test match against the Austrian national team. Furthermore there will be a test match against the Austrian champion and World Tour participant Union Nussbach. For me, the World Tour Finals will be a special event, as I have been studying in Salzburg for six months now”.
(Sabine Süffert has been preparing for the finals in Linz/Urfahr since spring and also trained with Seekirchen and Vöcklabruck).
Mathias Karafiat, Union Tigers Vöcklabruck (Austria)
“Our goal is to reach the semi-finals and win a medal at our first participation in the World Tour Finals. We want to take the momentum from the World Championship and the tournament victory at the Major tournament in Jona with us and show fistball on world class level.
For preparation we played many tournaments: Rohrbach, Widnau and Jona. After the World Championships all but 1-2 participants entered the intensive preparation for the World Tour Finals. We train together at least twice a week and apart from that we meet regularly in smaller groups for defense or service training. All players are in top-form, except Max Huemer, who has shoulder problems.”
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An IFA-leaded training, an academy congress and the advanced training seminar “Train the Trainer” – these were the actions which the Fistball Academy had organised for the teams and interested participants during the IFA Men’s World Championship 2019 in Winterthur.
Even before the start of the World Championships on Sunday, the IFA Fistball Academy had already organized a special training for some teams on Saturday as IFA-Leaded-Training in preparation for the World Championships. The teams from Namibia and Belgium had registered in advance and used the opportunity. With Roland Schubert – at the same time coach of the Danish national team – a very experienced trainer could be engaged for the training. The team from Namibia made the start. The start was in rainy weather with exercises for coordination, followed by tasks to improve defensive skills and reaction.
After two intensive hours the team from Belgium replaced the guys from Namibia. After a short warm-up, similar practices for coordination and defensive skills were on the agenda for the WC newcomer. The young team from Belgium also used the training to get the long journey to the World Championships off their hands. “Both teams were highly committed and had a lot of fun despite the bad weather”, said Uwe Schneider, chairman of the commission of youth and sports and organiser of the Fistball Academy, satisfied. And: Both teams could probably take a lot with them for the tournament. After all Namibia took eighth place and Belgium was 15th at the end of the great tournament – whether it was due to the good preparation for the tournament – who knows …
All the implemented practices and training units were recorded on film and are still made available to all as training skills by the Academy.
On Monday, following the IFA Membership Gathering, the Academy Congress took place.
After welcoming the numerous participants, Jörn Verleger, the designated new IFA President, first presented the IFA’s current strategic plan for the next four years until 2023.
He emphasized that the further development of the Fistball Academy and the introduction of the IFA Development Program are forward-looking components of the IFA’s strategic orientation.
After that Uwe Schneider as head of the commission of youth and sports informed about the current status of the measures of the introduced Fistball Academy as one of the future-oriented services of the IFA. In this context, the main structure, contents and targets of the Fistball Academy were presented. Beside the introduction and organization of a structured own information and knowledge platform in particular new formats for the range of the education and further training are to be developed. In future, training modules will be developed for the respective target groups and subject areas , which will guarantee improved and easier teaching and transfer of training and learning contents in theory and practice by means of detailed presentations and integrated training videos. Furthermore, this segment will be enhanced by the publication of training skills, which will enable easy access to training opportunities and exercises through a simple basic structure and structured division according to basic techniques and skills. In addition, the development of profound fundamentals for an international trainer education rounds off the area of education, so that a sustainable promotion and support of new and young nations is made possible. A first training module as well as the first training skills were presented in the context of the congress. Due to their content and numerous synergies, a close cooperation between the Fistball Academy and the IFA Development Programme is planned.
Roger Willen then presented the IFA Development Programme. The IFA Development Programme is intended to support and promote young and new nations in particular. With the creation of a development plan and the agreement of development goals, the sustainable promotion and dissemination of fistball in the respective nations is to be supported. A special incentive is that the respective nations can reduce their membership fees if the agreed goals are achieved. In addition, the IFA Development Director explained the possibilities of acting as a fistball ambassador for the IFA. With this instrument and program the spreading of the fistball sport is to be supported additionally world-wide. With Tommy Helber, who was the head coach of the Australian national team during the World Championships, the Fistball Academy had invited one of the ambassadors working for the IFA, who at the end of the event reported on his numerous experiences, impressions and his interesting time as a fistball ambassador in Australia.
The very well attended Academy Congress offered all participants an excellent opportunity to inform themselves about the future plans, measures and developments of the IFA. We are very excited to see who we can soon welcome as a fistball ambassador or in our team for the Development Program and the further development of the Fistball Academy.
At the end the Fistball Academy had organized the advanced training seminar “Train the Trainer”. The programme included two theoretical and two practical units. With Dirk Schachtsiek as multiple world champion and Hartmut Maus as trainer with decades of experience, excellent experts were invited for the seminar. With participants from New Zealand, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Argentina, Colombia and Austria, the event was filled to capacity.
In the theoretical part, the participants first received information about effective training structures and interesting facts about various attack- and striking techniques. After a short break, the practical training units followed, in which the participants themselves should take part. Thus, in addition to training exercises from the throwing and sprint disciplines, prevention practices as well as tips and tricks for attacking players were presented as a possible training input for fistball, for example, and the participants were then able to try out and train them themselves in groups. Here, too, all exercises were filmed and become part of the training skills of the Fistball Academy. In addition to the many theoretical and practical information, the fun was not missing, so that at the end of the seminar all participants were more than satisfied.
Conclusion:
“All measures of the Fistball Academy – like the World Championships itself – were a complete success,” said Uwe Schneider. “The encouragement and feedback from the participants was more than positive, so that the Fistball Academy will continue to organise such offers and side events in the future. At this point once again we want to thank Roland, Dirk and Hartmut for the preparation and support of the events. Another big thank you goes to the OC team on site in Winterthur, who actively supported and made all measures possible. And I would also like to thank Sönke Spille, who accompanied all three events with his camera“.
According to the first available figures, the IFA 2019 Fistball Men’s World Championship had an incrediable total reach of over 83.4 million people in print, TV and social media. In print 8.9 million were recorded yesterday, 28.7 million in TV and 32.3 million in social media, among others ARD Sportschau, ZDF Sport, ORF Sport, SRF Sport, RAI, NDR Fernsehen, n-tv, FOCUS Online, Deutschlandfunk and many more (see list below).
In the print sector, Germany accounted for the largest share with 8.96 million reach, followed by Austria with 6.16 million and Switzerland with 3.20 million. Additional articles with a total reach of 3.93 million were published in New Zealand, Brazil, Namibia, China, Italy, USA and the Netherlands.
Selection (19.08.2019) Frankenpost (GER), Stuttgarter Zeitung (GER), Stuttgarter Nachrichten (GER), Schwarzwälder Bote (GER), Südthüringer Zeitung (GER), Mannheimer Morgen (GER), Darmstädter Echo (GER), Mainpost (GER), Sindelfinger/Böblinger Zeitung (GER), Tageblatt (GER), Schwarzwälder Bote (GER), Böblinger Bote (GER), Nordwest-Zeitung (GER), Freie Presse (GER), Badener Zeitung (GER), Vaihinger Kreiszeitung (GER), Oberösterreichische Nachrichten (AUT), Wiener Zeitung (AUT), Kronenzeitung (AUT), Kleine Zeitung (AUT), Blick (SUI), Der Rheintaler (SUI), Zofinger Tagblatt (SUI), St. Galler Tagblatt (SUI), Solothurner Zeitung (SUI), Scoop (NZL), Jornal (BRA), Republikein (NAM), Allgemeine Zeitung (NAM), Xinhua News (CHN), AD (NED), NewsBeezer (USA), Die Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung (ITA), SportNews.bz (AUT), Inside The Games, Top Online (SUI), Meinbezirk (AUT), Grafelbergnoticias (CHI), Der Nordschleswiger (DEN), Focus Online (GER), Alabama News (USA), The Timaru Herald (NZL), AlAireLibre (CHE), www.en24.news, PRESS.international (GBR); Deutschlandfunk Nachrichten (GER), ZDF Sport (GER), SRF Sport (SUI), NewsBeezer Austria (AUT), n-tv (GER), ARD Sportschau (GER), ZDF Sportreportage (GER), ORF (AUT), RAI (ITA), SRF (SUI), NDR Mediathek (GER)
WINTERTHUR. The 15th Fistball Men’s World Championship held in Stadium Schützenwiese Winterthur from August 11-17th was the biggest of all time. With 18 men’s national teams participating it is the largest from a team perspective as well. Four nations had their first ever World Championship appearance. It was also huge in terms of spectators – 30,000 streamed into the stadium over the week.
Stadium View during the Gold Medal Match Austria vs Germany (17 August 2019) at the IFA 2019 Fistball Men’s World Championship in Winterthur, Photo by Valentin Weber / IFAA true fistball festival happened this week in Winterthur. For this World Championship a temporary fistball stadium was set up at the soccer stadium of FC Winterthur. More than 4000 working shifts of voluntary helpers allowed fans from all over the world to enjoy a great event.
Germany won the title in an impressive manner
The old and new world champion is Germany. The biggest fistball nation became World Champion for the 12th time and won third consecutive championships in a row at the 15th IFA Fistball Men’s World Championship. The match was dominated by the German side and Austria wasn’t allowed into the game. Fabian Sagstetter Captain of the German team was understandably pleased with his performance: „We worked very hard for this title all year long. Now we are very happy that we achieved this goal. The atmosphere in the stadium was crazy.”
Austria’s amazing win in the Semi-Final
Of note in this Championship was Austria’s exquisite play at their game against Brazil in particular. The match was a real thriller and Austria won the game in the deciding fifth set. In front of a crowd of 5300 fans the team of coach Martin Weiß had a great match and won against the top team from Brazil. The host team from Switzerland could not meet expectations and finished fourth.
Gabriel Heck, Striker of Team Brazil in the Semifinal Match against Austria (16 August 2019) at the IFA 2019 Fistball Men’s World Championship in Winterthur, Photo by Ingo Stöldt / IFASerbia wins the President’s Cup
Serbia’s win over Poland gives them the title of President’s Cup winners. They are now also the 13th ranked team in the world. The President’s Cup consisted of the six lowest teams of the competition and gives the smaller and newer federations a chance to have their own competition within the framework of a World Championship and still be a part of the final rankings. The best ranked newcomer nation was New Zealand who became a darling of the audience performing their traditional haka. They exceeded all expectations and ended up being 11th.
Final ranking: 1. Germany, 2. Austria, 3. Brazil, 4. Switzerland, 5. Italy, 6. Chile, 7. Argentina, 8. Namibia, 9. Czech Republic, 10. USA, 11. New Zealand, 12. Denmark, 13. Serbia, 14. Poland, 15. Belgium, 16. Australia, 17. Netherlands, 18. Japan
WINTERTHUR. The seventh and final day of the 2019 Fistball Men’s World Championship has ended. Austria would have hoped to stop the winning streak of Germany and take Gold but it wasn’t to be. With 5819 fans in the stadium for the match the atmosphere was electric.
World Champions
The Germans are World Champions for the 12th time at the 15th IFA Men’s World Champions-hip! In front of a crowd of 6.000, Germany and Austri-a came together for the first time since 2011. Today Germany was just too dominant and Austri-a wasn’t allowed into the game. The Ger-mans shut down the Austrian attackers and hammered their defence, sho-wing that they really are the best team in the world.
Bronze medal match
Even the massive home crowd wasn’t enough to lift Switzerland to the win. The hosts looked flat, never really firing in the game. In fairness Brazil was on fire today and obvious-ly charged up. Although the win was in four straight sets, the game wasn’t as decisive as the scoreline suggests. Switzerland were outplayed on the day by another world class team. Joy and sadness stood side by side in stadium Schützenwiese after the match this afternoon.
Placement Games
Italy won 3-1 against Chile today. Italy are now the fifth ranked team in the world and Chile the sixth.
In the next game. Namibia met Argentina at 1315. The match went all Argentina’s way winning 3:0. Argentina are the seventh ranked team and Namibia are eighth. The USA faced The Czech Republic in what proved to be a close match, ending with a win to the Czech Republic 3:2. The Czech Republic finish in ninth place and the USA tenth.
Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony was full of emotion. There was an honour guard for the teams coming into the stadium and each team added numbers to it. By the time Germany came in, 17 nations were clapping them and it was a unforgettable moment. The closing ceremony is particualrly memorable for players who get to spend time together at the end of this fantastic event.
For highlights from the 2019 Men’s World Championship: www.fistball.tv
Further information: www.fistballmwc.com
Photo Credit: Valentin Weber / IFA
WINTERTHUR. Switzerland and Brazil have been knocked out of the finals and will have to play for the Bronze medal tomorrow at 1600. The match of the day has to go to Austria against the Brazilian side who played spectacular fistball. Germany beat Switzerland in a relatively easy match and Serbia won the President’ Cup. New Zealand beat Denmark for 11th placing in the world and Australia played Belgium in what was perhaps the longest game in Fistball history. Japan lost to the Netherlands but won the hearts of us all.
Austria beats Brazil in an amazing match
Austria took out Brazil in a stonker of a game that was by far the best of the tournament. The crowd went wild with fantastic play from both teams and mind blowing play. The Austrians outclassed the South American team in the most thrilling of sporting experiences. Austria will face Germany tomorrow at 1800
German precision
Germany had to play to a resounding chorus of „Hopp Schwiiz“ ringing in their ears. It wasn’t enough however to put them off their game and they managed to beat the home side 3-0. In the end Germany were just more decisive in their attacking shots and won the game.
Serbia wins the President’s Cup
Serbia’s win today sees them hold the President’ Cup and they are now the 13th ranked team in the world. Poland are now the 14th and will be disappointed that they couldn’t snatch the title from Serbia in their close match today. They can hold their heads up high knowing that they played a great tournament here in Winterthur 2019.
All games are available live on www.fistball.tv
Further information and tickets: www.fistballmwc.com
Photo: Valentin Weber / IFA
WINTERTHUR. Day five was a day of surprises with Switzerland losing to Austria, Serbia losing to Australia and Chile beating the USA. Germany and Austria both had great wins in their matches and both will proceed to the semi-fianls. They will have to wait until tomorrow at 1200 and 1315 respectively to find out who they will play. Switzerland will face Italy at 1200 and Brazil will have to play Chile at 1315 so we will have to wait until then to see which teams will go through to the semi-finals tomorrow night.
Will it be Switzerland, Brazil, Italy or Chile who go through to the semi-finals?
Brazil and Switzerland are the favourites to play Germany and Austria in the semi-finals. However particularly Chile have played fantastic fistball so far and cannot be discounted.
Germany still undefeated
Germany have still only lost one set in this competition so far and that was to Austria on day three. The German team were dominant today playing sensational fistball against Brazil. Germany played like the champions they are predicted to be, beating the Brazilians in straight sets.
Germany – Brazil 3-0 (11:7, 11:9, 11:6)
Austria play fantastic fistball
Austria also played like champions coming out firing on all cylinders to smash the host team. Switzerland were overwhlmed by the form of the Austrians and, in turn made unforced errors costing them more points.
Austria – Switzerland 3-0 (11:9, 11:6 13:11)
President’s Cup
With a shock loss in their first game of the day Serbia still manage to face off against Poland for the President’s Cup. The rankings are based on all games to date and so Serbia manage to get the opportunity still. Japan will face The Netherlands at 1430 for 17th place, Belgium will play against Australia for 15th and Serbia will fight Poland at 1700 for 13th place and the President’s Cup.
For further scheduling information: www.fistballmwc.com
All games are available live on www.fistball.tv
Picture credit: Markus Aeschimann
Jörn Verleger elected as the new IFA President – IFA 2023 Fistball Men’s World Championship takes place in Mannheim.
Jörn Verleger from Munich, Germany was elected the sixth president in the history of the International Fistball Association (IFA). The 47-year-old sports manager succeeds Karl Weiss (Austria). The Men’s WC 2023 was awarded to Mannheim (Germany). The congress was part of the IFA Fistball World Championship 2019, which is currently taking place in Winterthur.
Vice Presidents elected Giana Hexsel (Brazil), Vikki Buston (New Zealand) and Steve Schmutzler (Germany). Karl Weiss did not run for re-election after serving eight years as president of the Association. Weiss, who has led the IFA from 27 member nations to 61 national associations in the last eight years, has been elected Honorary President by the Congress.
At today’s IFA Congress in Winterthur (SUI), the next Men’s Fistball World Championship 2023 was awarded. The choice fell on a joint application of the German Fistball League, the Rhine-Neckar Metropol-Region with the city of Mannheim and the fistball club TV Käfertal. The Preliminary Round takes place at the Rhein-Neckar Campus Mannheim and offers a stadium with 5,000 seats. As a highlight the final round will be played in the modern SAP Arena, the home of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen (handball) and the Adler Mannheim (ice hockey). „The SAP arena has space for 12,000 spectators and will be a great venue for this fistball highlight”, says Uwe Kaliske, Head of Sport Department for the city of Mannheim. It will be the first international fistball event to be played on natural grass indoors. “The arena fulfills all technical regulations”, says Jörg Trinemeier from TV Käfertal. “We expect a sold out venue and a big step up in terms of presentation of the sport and the media production for fistball”, explains Jörn Verleger, new President of the International Fistball Federation.
During the 2019 World Championship we offer exclusive ticket pre-sales for the final weekend on 28/29 July 2023 in the SAP Arena. Weekend tickets for upper seats are available here: www.ifa-fistball.com/en/tickets-mwc23/ for a one-off price of 39 euros.
(The ticket special ends on Sat 17 Aug 2019)
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