“In view of the cancellation of the Men’s Fistball European Championships in June in Italy, we would like to emphasize once again that the Women’s World Championships in July in Switzerland and the U18 World Champs in Austria will be held regardless of whether spectators are allowed on site or not,” emphasized IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner. “Regarding a possible quarantine for the athletes, we are already assuming entry facilitations for all participating teams for the U18 World Championships due to the special commitment of Faustball Austria,” said Oberlehner. Thus, the entry will be possible upon presentation of a negative COVID-19 test due to the top sport status of Fistball in Austria. “We are currently working on an analogous confirmation for Switzerland.”

“From the beginning we have planned for the World Championship in several scenarios and will make it an optimal experience for our fans even without spectators through an improved TV offer,” said IFA President Jörn Verleger. It is not up to the world federation to criticize a decision of the Local Organizing Committee in Kaltern and/or the European association, in view of numerous inquiries after the publication of the decision IFA is not really enthusiastic about the communication strategy, since a final decision for the European championship, which are also a qualifying competition for the World Games Birmingham 2022, was not made so far. In the run-up, IFA had suggested a joint communication of the final decision for early/mid-April, as it would then also be clear whether or not the last September weekend on which the annual World Tour Finals for club teams had previously been scheduled would be fixed as an alternative date for the EURO.

“The winner of the European Championships qualifies directly for the World Games, provided the European Championships are held in 2021,” said Oberlehner, who is on duty at the World Games as competition manager for Fistball. “This should be taken into consideration in case of a possible postponement of the European Championship to 2022,” Oberlehner added.

“We have deliberately chosen this publication of a statement to send a positive signal together with our friends in Jona in Grieskirchen, who are preparing the World Championships with great optimism and commitment,” emphasized IFA President Verleger. Currently, the local organizing committees in Jona and Grieskirchen hope and assume that they will be able to hold events with at least a reduced number of spectators and appropriate protective measures.