| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | |
| Venues | 3 (in 1 host city) |
| Dates | 4 December – 13 December |
| Teams | 16 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 48 |
The 2026 Men's World Floorball Championships will be the 16th edition of this competition. It will held from 4 to 13 December 2026 in Tampere, Finland. It will be the fourth time that Finland hosts the men's championship, most recently in 2020. [1]
Host nation Finland will defend the championship title won at the 2024 tournament.
Finland and Czech Republic both had expressed an interest in this event. [2] In 1 December 2022, the Finnish Floorball Federation announced a bid for 2026. The bid had support from the Finnish government and the federation had already sent preliminary letters to Denmark and Latvia about a possible co-host. [3] On 24 March 2023, Finland officially sent an application for the tournament. [4] During January and February, the Finnish Floorball Federation stated that they had a lot of interest from multiple cities, but chose Tampere due to their arenas and fans. The negotiations with Denmark and Latvia for a potential joint bid never materialized to an official bid as Finland submitted a solo bid. [5] [4] Finland was given the hosting rights on 24 May 2023 at a meeting in Malmö. [1] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
After a bid for the 2026 men's and 2027 women's was announced, the Finnish Floorball Federation announced they wanted to do a two-year project, with sponsors and organisation in mind. [3]
A total of 16 national teams will participate in the final tournament. Finland qualified automatically as the host nation. The remaining 34 registered national teams will compete for qualification through regional qualifiers. [11]
Two European qualification divisions will be held in Liepāja, Latvia, from 3 to 7 February 2026. The third European division will take place in Trenčín, Slovakia, from 5 to 8 February. In the first and third divisions, eight teams will compete, divided into two groups. The group winners, the winners of the matches between the second-placed teams, and the best losing second-placed team will qualify. The second division will consist of six teams, of which the top three teams will qualify.
The Asia–Oceania qualification was held from 13 to 19 January in Wellington, New Zealand. Ten teams in two groups competed for four qualification spots. [12] [13] Solomon Islands and Hong Kong will participate for the first time. In the Americas qualification, the national teams of the United States and Canada will face each other in Austin, Texas, from 20 to 22 March 2026. [14]
| Slots | Qualified | WR | 2024 | Appearance(s) | Previous best performance | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Streak | Last | ||||||
| Host nation | 1 | 2nd | 1st | 16 | 16 | 2024 | Champions (2008, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2024) | |
| European Qualification 1 | 3+1 | — | ||||||
| European Qualification 2 | 3 | — | ||||||
| European Qualification 3 | 3+1 | — | ||||||
| Asia-Oceania Qualification | 4 | 13th | 14th | 6 | 6 | 2024 | 13th place (2020) | |
| 17th | – | 8 | 1 | 2022 | 12th place (1996) | |||
| 23rd | – | 5 | 1 | 2018 | 13th place (1998 – Division B) | |||
| 12th | 11th | 4 | 4 | 2024 | 11th place (2024) | |||
| Americas Qualification | 1 | — | ||||||
The three arenas are situated in Tampere. The quarterfinals onwards will be in the Nokia Arena. [1] [15]
| Tampere | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nokia Arena Capacity: 13,000 | Hakametsä Ice Hall Capacity: 7,000 | Kauppi Sports hall Capacity: 1,300 | |
| | | | |
In the group stage each team plays each other once, while the second stage of the event includes play-offs and placement matches.
The two best teams of group A and B go directly to the quarter-finals. Teams placed third and fourth in group A and B and the teams placed first and second in group C and D go into the first play-off round (played before the quarter-finals).