Floorball Origin

Although the history of floorball’s origins is unknown, it is believed that North Americans who immigrated to Scandinavia developed the game from ball hockey in the 1970s. The game is believed to have originated in Gothenburg, Sweden. The sport began as something that was played for fun as a pastime at schools, and pre-season training for bandy clubs. After a decade or so, floorball began showing up in Scandinavian countries such as Finland, Norway and Sweden, where the once school pastime was becoming a developed sport. Formal rules soon were developed, and clubs began to form. After some time, several countries developed national associations, and the IFF was founded in 1986.

While floorball is the international name of the sport, the game is also known by many other names, such as salibandy (in Finland), innebandy (in Sweden and Norway), and unihockey (in Switzerland).

Floorball is still a very young sport. In 1990, floorball was only recognized in 7 countries, but due an incredible global growth the game is now played in almost 80 countries. Of those, 51 have national floorball associations that are recognized by the IFF. In December, 2008, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IFF hopes that this provisional recognition will help allow floorball to become a part of the 2020 Summer Olympics .