Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. It is played indoors with 96–115.5 cm-long (37.8–45.5 in) sticks and a 70–72 mm-diameter (2.76–2.83 in) plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role in the game's development.
Toni Kukoč is a Croatian former professional basketball player who serves as Special Advisor to Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls. After a highly successful period in European basketball, he was one of the first established European stars to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Waiter", Kukoč played for four NBA teams between 1993 and 2006, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1996. He is a three-time NBA champion, having won championships with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in 1996, 1997, and 1998.
Jari Olavi Litmanen is a Finnish former footballer. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010.
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi, commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history in the top tier of Finnish football. The club's home ground is the 10,770-seat Bolt Arena, where they have played since 2000.
The Russian men's national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Russia, overseen by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. As of 2021, they were rated third in the IIHF World Ranking. The team has competed internationally from 1992 until a 2022 ban, and is recognized by the IIHF as the successor to the Soviet Union team and CIS team. Russia has been one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six," the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The European nations of the Big Six participate in the Euro Hockey Tour, which Russia won nine times since 2005. Since September 2021, the head coach is Alexei Zhamnov, who took over from Valeri Bragin.
Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges.
Želimir Obradović is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for Partizan of the Basketball League of Serbia (KLS), the ABA League and the EuroLeague.
Georgios Donis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and currently a manager. He is the current manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Fateh. He was the first ever Greek to play in the English Premier League. In England, he was also known as George Donis.
Sport is considered a national pastime in Finland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly. Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage are ice hockey and Formula One. In spectator attendance, harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.
The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total of 22 regular season games. The top six teams advances continues to upper stage and the bottom six teams plays lower stage after 22 games, 5 games at home and 5 games at away versus all other teams in stage. The best two teams from lower group joins to playoffs with upper group teams. Playoffs are played best of seven format, except the quarter-finals which are played best of 5 format. Pantterit holds the record for the most league titles won, with 14. The top level Finnish league for women is the Naisten Korisliiga.
Sport Lisboa e Benfica, commonly known as Benfica, is a professional basketball team based in Lisbon, Portugal, who play in the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (LPB), where they are the current champions. Created in 1927, it is the senior representative side of the basketball section of multi-sports club S.L. Benfica.
Sports play a significant part in the life of many Czechs who are generally loyal supporters of their favourite teams or individuals.
Mika Kohonen is a retired Finnish floorball player and nowadays a floorball coach. He currently coaches Storvreta IBK, a club in the Swedish Super League. He has also played for Balrog IK in SSL and Happee in Salibandyliiga. He also used be a part of Finland's national floorball team for many years both as a player and assistant coach.
The F-liiga is the top men’s floorball league in Finland. The league was founded as Salibandyn SM-sarja in 1986 by the Finnish Floorball Federation (SSBL). It was renamed to Salibandyliiga for the 1994–95 season. The Salibandyliiga was operated by the company SSBL Salibandy Oy, a subsidiary of the Finnish Floorball Federation. The current name F-liiga is used since season 2020–21.
Founded in 1985, the Finnish Floorball Federation (SSBL) (Finnish: Suomen Salibandyliitto, Swedish: Finlands Innebandyförbund) is the governing body for floorball in the country of Finland. The SSBL's number of professional licensed players is 39,104 (in May 2006), making it the nation's third most popular sport, after association football and ice hockey.
The Champions Cup is floorball tournament organized by the International Floorball Federation for the best clubs from the top four countries according to IFF World Ranking. As of 2023, those are Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, both for men and women. The tournament takes place every year in January both for men's and women's teams, that won in the previous season in their national leagues. Those are Finnish F-liiga, Swedish Svenska Superligan, Czech men's Superliga florbalu and women's Extraliga žen ve florbale and Swiss Unihockey Prime League. That means, there are eight teams in the tournament in total. Since 2024, winners of national cups will also attend. The competing countries alternate in hosting the tournament. The event lasts two days.
Tapanilan Erä is a Finnish sports club that was founded in 1933, with various teams in different disciplines. It is one of Finland's largest sporting clubs.
Finland Men's National Floorball Team is the national floorball team of Finland. The national team was founded in 1985 and they played their first official game against Sweden in 1985. Finland has won four World Championships and 1 European Championships (1995). Finland has appeared in every World and European Championships tournament organised by the IFF and is the only team with Sweden to have won such a tournament.
Basketballin Greece erupted with the win of the Greece men's national basketball team at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, which caused a general basketball euphoria in the country. Since then, the Greece men's national teams have achieved consistent international success, leading Greece to join Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, France, and Lithuania in the circle of European basketball powers. In addition to the Greece national team's triumph in 1987, they won the gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket, silver medals at the 1989 EuroBasket, and the 2006 FIBA World Cup, and the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket.
F-liiga is the highest-tier of floorball for women in Finland. The league was founded as Salibandyn naisten SM-sarja in 1988 by the Finnish Floorball Federation (SSBL). The former name, Naisten Salibandyliiga, was introduced for the 2000–01 season and its current name for the 2020–21 season. The F-liiga is operated by SSBL Salibandy Oy, a limited corporation owned entirely by the Finnish Floorball Federation.
Mika Ahonen 
