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4th World University Floorball Championship

Umea, Sweden - May 12th to 16th, 2010

Hosts Keep Floorball Gold in Sweden

After a successful 4th edition of the World University Floorball Championship in Umea (May 12th to 16th, 2010), the hosts kept the university floorball gold in Sweden as the Swedish men’s and women’s team dominated the international competition in front of a full house crowd.

In the Men’s Tournament, host Sweden completely overpowered opponents Japan (33-0), Austria (26-1) and Norway (15-1) in the preliminary round, where they faced strong resistance from neighbour Finland (6-3) but found a serious contender in Team Czech Republic (6-6). In the final round there was no doubt which was the better team in the bronze medal game as Czech Republic beat Norway 9-1. Sweden vs. Finland in the final was nothing but a thriller. Especially the last period was packed with chances to score and spectators shouting. Finland was up by two goals after the first 20 minutes, but the Swedes came back and evened out the score to 2-2 in the middle of the last period. Local player Mattias Mattsson took on the role as hero of the game by finding the net behind the well playing Finnish goalkeeper with five minutes left to play. With 3-2 as the final score, the host nation became the student world champion.

Women's FIN vs. SWEIn the Women’s Tournament, the Swedish girls also dominated the preliminary round keeping their opponents on a safe distance (11-2 vs. FIN, 5-2 vs. SUI, 6-1 vs. CZE & 10-1 vs. POL). In the final round the spectators traveling to the IKSU Arena on Sunday morning could watch a tight bronze match between Finland and Switzerland, that the Finnish team won by 4-3. In the final against Czech Republic, Sweden was expected by many to be the stronger team, but after the first period the Czechs were up by two goals against one. The yellow-dressed Swedes succeeded what their male counterparts did previously in their final and came back into the game, managing a 4-2 on the scoreboard. With only two minutes left to play, Eliska Krizova scored for the Czechs but in vain. The game ended 4-3 and Sweden’s double was a fact.