The 2024 Men’s and Women’s World Tour Finals will take place in Mannheim: From July 18 to 21, 2024, the fistball scene will thus return to the venue of the 2023 Fistball World Championship. A total of 16 teams from four countries will take part over the four days of the event.
When the best fistball club teams in the world meet in July 2024, fistball fans are likely to be reminded of the summer of 2023. The Rhine-Neckar Stadium, the venue for the men’s Fistball World Championship, will host the top eight men’s and top eight women’s teams. The 2024 World Tour Final will be organized by the Förderverein Faustball² and VfR Mannheim.
“The discussions about hosting the event in Mannheim have been consistently positive with everyone involved,” says Sönke Spille, Head of Events at the International Fistball Association (IFA): “Everyone in Mannheim still has great memories of the World Championship. We are all the more pleased that the best club teams can now benefit from the optimal conditions around the Rhein-Neckar Stadium.” All matches will be played in the Rhein-Neckar Stadium, which has a capacity of up to 5,000 spectators for the fistball event. There are no plans for an additional grandstand like at the Fistball World Championships; instead, the covered seating grandstand will provide the ideal setting for the center court. “Floodlit matches are also possible in the stadium, which can once again provide a very special flair for the top matches,” says Spille.
“We enjoyed the warm and great atmosphere at the Fistball World Championships over the days in the Rhein-Neckar Stadium,” says Boris Scheuermann, President of VfR Mannheim. The traditional club is known for its success in soccer and its intensive youth work. The men’s team currently plays in the Baden Oberliga. Although the club does not have a fistball department, the VfR managers were inspired by a certain enthusiasm for fistball during the World Championships. “During the World Championship, we had the idea of once again hosting a fistball event in our stadium,” says Scheuermann: “We are delighted that it worked out so quickly and that we will be able to welcome the best club teams from all over the world to Mannheim in July 2024.”
The city of Mannheim is also very much looking forward to welcoming another international fistball event to the city of squares. “I am delighted that the hosting of the finals will further strengthen Mannheim’s reputation as the capital of fistball after last year’s successful World Championships,” said Mannheim’s sports mayor Ralf Eisenhauer.
“It’s great that we are back in Germany after the premiere event in Vaihingen/Enz in 2018,” says Christoph Oberlehner, IFA General Secretary. The first edition of the new World Cup format took place in Vaihingen/Enz five years ago. In 2019, the best club teams in the world were then hosted in Salzburg (Austria) before the final event fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic twice in a row. The IFA relaunched the event in October 2022 in Curitiba, where also the fourth edition was held last October.
The field of participants for the 2024 World Tour Finals has now also been finalized. In addition to defending champion and the winner of the 2023 World Tour, SG Novo Hamburgo (Brazil), TSV Pfungstadt (Germany), SOGIPA/Cargo Way (Brazil), Union Tigers Vöcklabruck, UFG Sparkasse Grieskirchen/Pötting, DSG UKJ Froschberg, AWN TV Enns (all Austria) and the Mannheim club TV Käfertal will also be competing in the men’s competition.
The women’s field will be led by defending champions TV Jahn Schneverdingen (Germany). They will be joined by TSV Dennach (Germany), SOGIPA/Cargo Way, Clube Duque de Caxias (both Brazil), FG Elgg-Ettenhausen (Switzerland), Faustball Kreuzlingen, SVD Diepoldsau-Schmitter (all Switzerland) and FBC Linz-Urfahr (Austria).