Wiler captain Matthias Hofbauer: “The Interest in the Tournament Underlines the Impression that Floorball is Important” — 26.09.2015

The playing legend of the sport with a perforated ball. That is the Swiss floorball superstar Matthias Hofbauer, who will come to play at the Champions Cup with his team SV Wiler-Ersigen in a few days. “This time we will do better,” Hofbauer promises not only to Czech fans, who were disappointed by the famous Wiler´s play four years ago.

Although they now concentrate on their games in the Swiss NLA league, Matthias Hofbauer and his teammates from SV Wiler-Ersigen already cast quick glances on the forthcoming Champions Cup in Mladá Boleslav. “I´m looking forward to it. You don´t play against the world´s best clubs every day,” says the thirty-four-year-old Swiss national team player and one of the most experienced players in Wiler´s squad. “We now have quite a few new players, so it´ll be interesting even for myself to see what we´re capable of so early in the season.”

With his words he may be sort of excusing Wiler´s performances in front of the spectators in Mladá Boleslav from four years ago.  Wiler-Ersigen won just one game out of three – the one against Mladá Boleslav. Four years ago Wiler finished quite surprisingly on the tied third place along with the Swedish team Storvreta. “The games were tight then and they just didn´t go our way. Apart from the defeats I have only great memories. The arena as well as our accommodation at that time were just perfect,” one of the best floorball players of his generation remembers and towards this year´s Champions Cup in Mladá Boleslav he adds: “We´re really glad we´re being given a second chance in Mladá Boleslav. This time we´ll do better!”

Matthias Hofbauer has already played many big games, including some in front of the Czech crowd, and he appreciates the unique atmosphere in Czech arenas: “I had the good fortune to play many games in the Czech Republic already, both, for example, at the Czech Open, and with the national team. Apart from the unique fans, the general interest accompanying the events is special for us players too. The TV, media... All this underlines the entire atmosphere and the impression that what we do every day is important in a way,” concludes the Swiss floorball legend Matthias Hofbauer.