WINTERTHUR. The 12 best teams played the first round of double elimination today. The Austrian’s almost had the biggest upset of the competition when they were put on the spot by Chile. The Chileans came to centre court firing on all cylinders at 1630 today.  In the end Austria managed to lift their game and won 3:2. The top four favourites in the competition are still in front but with everything to play for, the lower placed teams will be fighting hard tomorrow to try to make it into the top ten. Belgium had their first win of the tournament beating The Netherlands 3:0 in the President’s Cup. Tomorrow: Germany are playing Brazil at 1900 and Austria will face Switzerland at 2015 with both games streaming live from centre court.

Austria fights hard to beat Chile

Chile played great fistball today and almost upset the Austrian team. The young team of coach Martin Weiß didn’t give up and managed to hold on winning the game 3:2. The Chileans were on fire and it looked as though they would beat the favourites more than once. Youth and determination won out on the day however and the Austrian’s proceed through undefeated. Austria – Chile 3-2 (10:12, 11:9, 9:11, 11:6, 11:6)

Germany, Brazil and Switzerland winUnlike Austria the other three teams in the top ten beat their opposition 3:0. Germany looked to be struggling against the USA at times but played with determination to win. Brazil looked comfortable but will need to pick up their game if they want to continue to do well in the next rounds. Switzerland were the team that looked most at home winning each set convincingly.

Argentina play Namibia and Chile play New ZealandBoth newcomers to the top 12 went down to their opposition this afternoon but can take heart from their performances. New Zealand in particular played well and even won a set against the South American side. New Zealand will play Italy and Namibia the USA tomorrow.

Belgium wins its first ever game at a Men’s World ChampionshipBelgium played the Netherlands today with both teams in this competition for the first time. The Belgium side capitalised on their striking ability and won the match 3:0.

All games are available live on www.fistball.tv
Further information and tickets: www.fistballmwc.com

Picture credit: Stefan Gusenleitner / Faustball Austria

WINTERTHUR. The third day of the 2019 Fistball Men’s World Championship has once again ended in spectacular fashion. Switzerland played Brazil in front of an adoring crowd of over 4500, lifting their game to provide the best game of the Championship so far.

Switzerland wows the crowd in a nail biting final
Switzerland had to fight hard to beat Brazil in their best game yet. Much to the delight of the home crowd, after a first set loss Switzerland began to play with passion and enthusiasm that was matched by Brazil in all but the third set. The game made for great viewing for spectators and stadium came alive with the chant of the Swiss „Hopp Schwiiz“!

Switzerland – Brazil 3:1 (7:11, 13:11, 11:6, 15:14)

New Zealand becomes a crowd favourite
New Zealand started their fight for the double elimination round well, beating Belgium 3:0 and only looking in any danger for the first half of the first set. Coming off a good win earlier in the day New Zealand dominated in their second match against Poland winning the first two sets. They lost the third due mainly to the amazing striking of Poland’s Christoph Lechthaler. New Zealand have shown the world their ability to play good Fistball and the crowd has embraced the new team.
New Zealand – Belgium 3:0 (11:8, 11:7, 12:10); New Zealand – Poland 3:1 (11:5, 11:7, 8:11, 11:8)
Austria surprises Germany
Another surprise of the day has to be the performance of the Austrian team of Head Coach Martin Weiß and Assistant Coach Michael Fels. The men played superb Fistball forcing the Germans to make unforced errors and taking the first set against Germany at this Championship. The German team of coach Olaf Neuenfeld showed real class under pressure, re-setting their game and convincingly beat-ing the younger Austrian side 3:1.

Austria – Germany 3:1 (11:9, 5:11, 11:7, 11:4)

All games are available live on www.fistball.tv
Further information and tickets: www.fistballmwc.com

Picture credit: Valentin Weber / IFA

WINTERTHUR. The second day of the 2019 Fistball Men’s World Championship has ended in spectacular fashion with Switzerland and the USA having a thrilling game to end the day. The host nation took the win as expected but the Americans should be very proud of their perfor-mance. The top South American teams played a great game to adoring fans and Germany was dominant against Italy. In Groups C and D the clear top ranked teams are currently the Czech Republic and Namibia respectively. Japan has endeared themselves to the fans with their pas-sion and enthusiasm for the game. The top four are still just that, rounding off a great competition so far.

Brazil had a close win against Chile
The Chileans made Brazil work really hard for the win against them and the crowd was shown some spectacular offensive shots from both sides. Everyone except Brazil was hoping for a fifth set but Chile wasn’t able to make it happen.

Switzerland shows why they are in the top four
Team USA couldn’t pull a win out of the bag today even though they played fantastic Fistball. To a resounding chant of “Hopp Schwiiz” the Host Nation lifted their game and beat the visitors in straight sets. The whole stadium enjoyed seeing real passion from both sides and the team of couch Ronald A Jesswein can hold their heads up high.

Namibia and The Czech Republic top of Group C and D
Namibia had their third win of the Championship and will go through to the double elimination round. The next placed teams in this group are Denmark and The Netherlands with Denmark the like-ly contender for second place.
The Czech Republic was dominant against a flat New Zealand side. The Kiwi’s showed little of the fighting spirit that we saw and loved yesterday. Serbia had a thrilling win over Poland to take them into contention with New Zealand for second placing in the group. If New Zealand want to progress into double elimination they will need to win both their games tomorrow.

All games are available live on www.fistball.tv
Further information and tickets: www.fistballmwc.com
Picture credit: Fabio Baranzini / Swiss Faustball

WINTERTHUR. Two days before the start of the Fistball World Championship on the Schützenwiese in Winterthur, Swiss Coach Oliver Lang announces that top performer Ueli Rebsamen has become fit in time for the World Championship. Switzerland wants to move into the finals and reach the title for the first time in history.

Large Voluntary contingent at Stadium Schützenwiese

The 15th Fistball World Cup is already the biggest of all time. 18 nations from 5 continents will be playing from 11-17 August in Switzerland to fight for the world title. 11.000 tickets have already been sold in advance. Over 4,000 operational actions of volunteers are announced by OC President Toni Meier. “Around 17,000 working hours are provided during the seven World Championship days, not included the construction work of the countless civil service helpers. We are fully on schedule and ahead of schedule with building the infrastructure. Even the heavy rain during the last days could not stop the helpers from their work”, Meier is enthusiastic about how the planning of the past four years is now executed in practice.

Swiss team on fire for the event

From a sporting point of view, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Brazil are the top seeds for the Gold Medal. Swiss national coach Oliver Lang also expects outsider chances for Chile, Argentina and Italy. With Belgium, New Zealand, Poland and the Netherlands are 4 World Cup newcomers. “I think the title is awarded between Germany, Brazil, Austria and our team,” said the Nati coach, “anything can happen and with the home crowd behind us we can achieve a lot.” Behind the deployment of Switzerland captain Ueli Rebsamen stood for a long time a big question mark. The fans can now breathe a sigh of relief, as Lang announces: “I can confirm that he is fit enough to take part in the World Cup, it may not be in action with every game but it will hold its knee!”

Mascot as ambassador of the Fistball World Championship

The mascot “Üle” (Swiss for owl) has a strong connection to the Swiss national team. Not only has the daughter of the Swiss national coach Oliver Lang delivered the idea. Adela refers the mascot’s name to the nickname of Ueli Rebsamen. The life-size owl figure will be recognized by the fans as a sympathetic face of the World Championship on all days of the event.

SRF is broadcasting the matches of the Swiss national team live from Winterthur on 16 and 17 August. Further information and tickets: www.fistballmwc.com

Photos from the press conference (Valentin Weber / IFA) –LINK

The International Fistball Association (IFA) wins a new teamwear outfitter with the Italian manufacturer Erreà Sport. Both agreed on a duration until the end of 2024. In the future, the IFA Board of Directors, the employees and the referees will wear Erreà clothing. In addition, the Italian company will equip the organizing teams and volunteers at future IFA events at particularly favorable conditions. The cooperation begins with the IFA Men’s World Championship 2019, which will take place from 11 to 17 August in Winterthur, Switzerland.

“The decisive factor for the cooperation was the many matches between the values of Erreà Sport and Fistball. In addition to quality, passion and cooperation, sustainability is a key value for both of us. Erreà produces sportswear in an ecological way that has been awarded the Öko-tex standard 100 certificate,” says IFA Secretary General and designated President Jörn Verleger. During a visit to the company in Parma, he was could see first hand the quality, working methods and delivery capability of the new partner. “Erreà is a partner who can react quickly and flexibly to special requests. Due to the worldwide availability of their articles, the cooperation is also of great interest to many of our member associations.”

IFA expands its service function with new partner Erreà Sport

“Many thanks to our previous teamwear partner Erima for the longstanding and excellent cooperation. With Erreà, Fistball takes the next step in the worldwide distribution of our sport”, says IFA Administrative Director Christoph Oberlehner. From the Men’s World Championships in Winterthur onwards, the IFA Board of Directors, staff and referees will wear Erreà sportswear. The new cooperation will also enable IFA to further expand its service function for its members and organizers. The teamwear partner will provide equipment for organizing teams and volunteers at particularly favorable conditions and will also be advertising at the IFA events.

“We are very pleased about the conclusion of the contract with IFA. We deliberately decided to cooperate with the IFA and the sport fistball in general. With our locations in 80 countries worldwide, we are very interested in making contact with national associations and clubs from all continents,” says Erreà founder and CEO Angelo Gandolfi.
Euroteamsport Zitzlsperger in Vilshofen (GER) is responsible for handling Erreà’s fistball activities and plans to launch its own fistball online shop (www.fistball-shop.com) for teams and clubs in autumn 2019.

Today in 3 weeks on the 16th August 2019 in Winterthur at the Berufsbildungsschule, Zürcherstrasse 28, the International Fistball Association will host the inaugural IFA Awarding Ceremony and United by Sports Conference to provide an overview of and honor special initiatives within the Fistball family. Furthermore, it is to improve the knowledge, skills and understanding across a number of core topics of IFA.

The event is supported by the United Through Sports (UTS) initiative. The key note will be presented by Ass. Prof. Robert Kaspar (Seeburg Castell University) with welcome addresses from AIMS President Stephan Fox and IWGA CEO Achim Gossow. The presentations will be from Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, India and IFA.

The inaugural IFA Award Ceremony will take place from 9:30 to 10:30. The IFA United by Sports Conference is held right after the Award Ceremony from 10:30 to 12:30. Welcome coffee is served from 9:00.

Within the ceremony IFA will award the:
– IFA SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AWARD
– IFA WOMEN IN SPORTS AWARD
– IFA ACTIVITY AWARD
– IFA LIVETIME AWARD

The event is open to the public and will be presented with consecutive translation to German and English.

Please confirm your participation latest until 5th August by email to office@ifa-fistball.com.

Dresscode: casual

Invitation

The International Fistball Association (IFA) awarded the next Fistball highlight event: The 2020 Women’s World Championship takes place in Chile. The women’s event will be carried out in Llanquihue from
2 to 7 November 2020.

The International Fistball Association (IFA) is pleased to announce the host of one of its major events. Club Gimnástico Alemán de Llanquihue in Chile hosts the next Women’s World Championship in 2020. The Opening matches take place on 2 November and the Final is dated on 7 November. The Club is a highly experienced host and get strong support from the local government and region, respectively. After Santiago in 2010, it is the second time the Women’s World Championship will be taking place in Chile. Besides various South American Championships in the last years, Llanquihue hosted the Men’s World Championship in 1992, the U18 World Championships in 2006, and the Masters World Cup in 2015. “Llanquihue is one of the most beautiful places in the world and the venue offers a unique flair with an impressive panorama next to the lake and the volcanos. At a first pre-event visit, we got a very good impression of their plans and of the strong support of the city of Llanquihue. Also the local press supported the application very much. The organizing team is very motivated and you could feel how important it is for them to host the World Championships. Up to 16 women’s national teams from all continents will join a great fistball competition next year which will be also a qualifier for The World Games 2021 in Birmingham, USA”, says IFA President Karl Weiß.

“We are very proud to be host city of the next Women’s World Championship and that we could convince IFA to award this event to Chile. After a lot of negotiations with the city and the government in Santiago, we get a strong support which helps us to run such a big event here in Chile. We are very glad to welcome the best female fistball teams of the world here in Llanquihue to celebrate a wonderful fistball event in 2020”, says Hernán Mödinger, head of the organizing committee. All matches will be carried out at one venue, so there will be short ways for both players and spectators. The host club sees the World Championship as a present for the citizens of the region Los Lagos and offers tickets for very low prices.

German striker Steve Schmutzler runs for IFA Vice President. ”We are very happy that Steve, who is still an active world class player at the upcoming IFA 2019 Fistball Men´s World Championship, will support the new IFA Board of Directors as Vice President” said Jörn Verleger, designated IFA President. Jörn will follow Karl Weiss, who will retire after 20 successful years in leadership of IFA. the federation.

Today, exact 3 weeks before the IFA 2019 Congress on 14 August in Winterhur the IFA Board of Directors sent out updated congress files. The new documents include the final reports of the auditors and approval of the recently provisionally approved member federations from Fiji and Cook Island. This increases IFA’s membership to 61 national member associations. Furthermore, a proposal for the future membership fee was included to reflect the financial possibilities of smaller and larger federations.

Candidates for the IFA Board of Directors

Motions of the IFA Statues will be on the agenda before the new elections, which will also further optimize the composition of the Board of Directors and creates opportunities for more representatives from Oceania, Asia and Africa, as well as more female board members.

The elections should be without surprises, as there are no opposing candidates. As Vice-Presidents have already in February been nominated Dr. med. Giana Hexsel (Brazil) and Vikki Buston (New Zealand). With Steve Schmutzler there is an additionally still active player.

Steve, born in 1984, made his international debut in the German national team in 2007. His career began as a youth player at a the Saxon club SG Waldkirchen. Due to professional changes, he moved to Bavaria in 2003, where he still lives and works as a sales representative and software engineer. For over 10 years he was the main striker of MTV Rosenheim. In 2011 and 2015 he became world champion as well as in 2013 and 2017 World Games winner.

In a new position IFA will see Christoph Oberlehner. Currently IFA Administrative Director Chris will run as successor of Jörn as IFA Secretary General. For re-election are running Treasurer Franz Peter Iten, the Chairman of the IFA Sports Commission Winfried Kronsteiner as well as board members Alwin Oberkersch and Roger Willen who also serves as IFA Development Director.
New candidates as IFA board members are Rodrigo Böttger from Chile and Kim Kruse from USA. Rodrigo participated in three World Championships (2007, 2011 and 2015) as well as in two World Games (2013 and 2017) and is currently the President of the member federation Chile. Kim played Fistball for 30 plus years for the Swim & Sport Club (SSC) in Flanders, New Jersey, USA. She was Sports Director for the Swim & Sport Club in the 1990’s running several tournaments. Currently she is treasurer for the United States Fistball Association.

Congress files

Congress translation