Editing Floorball (section)

== History ==
{{unreliable sources|section||date=February 2022}}
In various forms the game of [[floor hockey]] has been played since the early 20th Century in Canada as a recreational sport, especially in high school gymnasiums, as a playful variant of [[hockey]]. The basic design of floorball sticks is believed to have come from the ice skating team sport of [[bandy]].

By the 1950s and 1960s{{citation needed|reason=Need source because there is some crossover between the history of floor hockey and floorball||date=September 2015}} many public school systems within [[Michigan, United States|Michigan in the United States]] incorporated floorball into their primary and secondary school gym classes. Americans have since claimed to have invented floorball. America held interstate tournaments in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://floorballcoach.org/development-of-floorball/ |title=DEVELOPMENT OF FLOORBALL : Floorball Coach – everything about floorball training |website=Floorballcoach.org |access-date=7 September 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231133641/http://floorballcoach.org/development-of-floorball/|archive-date=31 December 2019}}</ref>

Floorball was formally organized as an international and more organized sport in the late 1970s in [[Gothenburg]], [[Sweden]].<ref name="floorballnation1">{{cite web|title=The History of Floorball|url=http://floorballnation.com.au/history-floorball.html|website=floorballnation.com.au|access-date=7 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424172015/http://floorballnation.com.au/history-floorball.html|archive-date=24 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Malm|first1=William|last2=Olsson|first2=Rebecca|title=Floorball – The Future Sport|url=http://www.freeway.org/issue4/sports/floorball.htm|website=www.freeway.org|access-date=7 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316062621/http://www.freeway.org/issue4/sports/floorball.htm|archive-date=16 March 2013|date=1998|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.floorballcentral.org/2010/01/true-history-of-floorball.html |title=The True History of Floorball |website=www.floorballcentral.org |date=16 January 2010 |access-date=7 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910115136/http://www.floorballcentral.org/2010/01/true-history-of-floorball.html |archive-date=10 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The sport began as something that was played for fun as a pastime in schools.<ref name="floorballnation1"/> After a decade or so, floorball began showing up in [[Nordic countries]] where the former schoolyard pastime was becoming a developed sport. Formal rules were soon developed, and clubs began to form. After some time, several countries developed national associations, and the IFF was founded in 1986.

=== Expansion ===
[[File:SCD - SSV.jpg|thumb|Floorball match in 1990]]
{{Main|List of IFF member nations}}

When the IFF was founded in 1986, the sport was played mostly in the Nordic countries, several parts of the rest of Europe and Japan. By 1990, floorball was recognized in 7 countries, and by the time of the first European Floorball Championships in 1994, the number had risen to 14. That number included the [[United States Floorball Association|United States]], who was the first country outside Europe and Asia to recognize floorball.<ref name=ifftoday>{{cite web |url=https://floorball.sport/this-is-floorball/history-in-short/ |title=History in short – IFF |website=floorball.sport |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-date=4 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404050531/https://floorball.sport/this-is-floorball/history-in-short/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By the time of the [[1996 Men's World Floorball Championships|first men's world championships]] in 1996, 20 nations played floorball, with 12 of them participating at the tournament.

Currently the IFF has 80 members, in addition to recognizing 11 other countries with ongoing floorball development.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Member Associations |url=https://floorball.sport/theiff/member-associations/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=IFF Main Site |language=en-GB}}</ref> Of its members, 58 have national floorball associations that are recognized by the IFF. With the addition of Sierra Leone, Africa's first floorball nation, the IFF has at least one national association on each continent of the world, with the exception of Antarctica.

=== Development ===
10 years after the IFF was founded, the first world championships were played, with a sold out final of 15,106 people at the [[Avicii Arena|Globen]] in [[Stockholm]], Sweden. In addition to that, the world's two largest floorball leagues, Finland's [[F-liiga|Salibandyliiga]] and Sweden's [[Swedish Super League (men's floorball)|Svenska Superligan]] were formed, in 1986 and 1995 respectively.

==== Recognition ====
In December 2008, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the [[International Olympic Committee]] (IOC). In July 2011, the IOC officially welcomed the IFF into its family of Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF). This will pave the way for floorball to enter the official sport programme.  The IFF hoped that this recognition would help allow floorball to become a part of the [[2020 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.floorball.org/news.asp?tyyppi=vanhat&offset=20&kieli=826&id_tiedote=832&alue=171&yhteinen= |title=Floorball moves towards becoming an Olympic Sport |website=Floorball.org |date=12 December 2008 |access-date=7 September 2016|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305183240/http://www.floorball.org/news.asp?tyyppi=vanhat&offset=20&kieli=826&id_tiedote=832&alue=171&yhteinen= |archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref> As of 2024, the IOC has not announced any plans to add floorball to future Olympic games.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Correspondent |first=Kimberly KwekSports |date=2023-12-05 |title=Floorball’s Olympic inclusion still a dream, but enhancements needed, says senior official |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/olympic-inclusion-still-a-dream-but-floorball-needs-more-enhancements-first-says-senior-official |access-date=2024-10-25 |work=The Straits Times |language=en |issn=0585-3923}}</ref>

In January 2009, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the [[Special Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.floorball.org/news.asp?kieli=826&id_tiedote=882&alue=171 |title=Floorball receives recognition by the Special Olympics |website=Floorball.org |date=23 January 2009 |access-date=7 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304235259/http://www.floorball.org/news.asp?kieli=826&id_tiedote=882&alue=171|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In addition to recognition by the IOC and Special Olympics, the IFF is also a member of the [[Global Association of International Sports Federations]] (GAISF, formerly SportAccord), and co-operates with the [[International University Sports Federation]] (FISU).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://floorball.sport/theiff/ |title=The IFF |website=floorball.sport |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-date=4 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404060649/https://floorball.sport/theiff/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Floorball is now also member of IWGA, which runs the [[World Games]], and floorball was on the programme for the first time in [[2017 World Games|Wrocław 2017]].