IFF
 
     
One World — One Ball

IFF Central Board meeting 1/2008 12th of January 2008

Place: Cumulus Airport Hotel, Vantaa, Finland

Participants:
Tomas Eriksson President
Mona Aagaard
Tomas Jonsson
Per Jansson
Risto Kauppinen
Renato Orlando Vice President
Filip Suman

Stefan Kratz Competition Manager
Merita Bruun Information Manager
John Liljelund Secretary General

Invited: Thomas Gilardi RC Chairman

Minutes

§ 1. Opening of the meeting

Mr. Eriksson greeted all welcome and opened the meeting at 09.30. Mr. Eriksson stressed that there has been a lot of development during the last passed year and the effort made by Mr. Kauppinen in Thailand and Mr. Orlando in Argentina and the office concerning the other new countries, has been very prosperous.

§ 2. Approval of the agenda

The agenda was scrutinized, completed/updated with six new appendixes. (Appex 4: Financial report; Appex 5: Claims; Appex 28: Licence working group; Appex 29: Slovenia letter of interest; Appex 30: Czech Open application; Appex 31: Internet site statistics).


§ 3. Minutes from the CB meetings

The minutes from the last meetings 04/2007 held in Oslo 01.09.2007 (Appendix 1) and the two per capsulam meetings on the 05/2007 14.11.2007 (Appendix 2) and 06/2007 per capsulam 14.12.2007 (Appendix 3) were scrutinized, approved and put ad acta.

§ 4. Economy

a) Preliminary financial report 31.12.2007 (Appendix 4)
Mr. Jonsson reported on the preliminary financial report, per 31.12.2007, which gives a preliminary surplus of approximately 24.000 CHF. The financial report shows, that the finance has proven to be well in line with the planned budget. The balance shows a slight grown of our own equity.

Mr. Eriksson thanked the Treasurer and the Office for having a good control over the finances.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

b) Information on IFF claims – status December 31st, 2007 (Appendix 5)
Mr. Jonsson presented the IFF claims per 31.12.2007. During the last year the claims have been halfed and most of the outstanding claims are related to the WFC 2009, where the registration date was the 31.12.2007.

Mr. Orlando proposed that the federations which have outstanding debts will be informed and reminded about the effects of not paying the membership fees; e.g. in accordance with the statutes and conjunction with the upcoming General Assembly in Prague.

Mr. Eriksson agrees with the proposal of Mr. Orlando.

The CB decided: To approve the report and inform the associations with claims related to the membership fees.

c) Approval of the IFF Budget for 2008 (Appendix 6)

Mr. Eriksson stressed that IFF is growing on all levels, also in the field of the finance. The General Assembly 2004 gave the CB the task to develop the operation of the IFF and move them to a more office based solution. Mr. Eriksson thanked the Finnish Federation for the Office support and the Swiss Federation for the financial support given to IFF for Development work for a total of five years, from 2007 to 2011.

Mr. Liljelund gave a short review on the budget process. Based on the earlier decision made by the CB, the Office has prepared a budget proposal for 2008, for the IFF CB. The committee chairmen and function heads have been given information about the proposed budget for their field of responsibility.

The Office has collected the received information and built a proposal for the budget 2008 based on that, which has been discussed in the ExCo. Mr. Liljelund gave a short presentation about the changes in the proposed budget compared to the budget approved by the General Assembly 2006.

Mr. Eriksson stressed that the budget process has been carried out in a good and professional way and it has been presented to the concerned parties.

The CB decided: To approve the proposed revised budget for 2008. Change of the IFF Financial Regulation Mr. Eriksson stated that now when the proposed budget has been approved by the CB, the CB needs then to amend the IFF Financial Regulation accordingly, when it comes to the daily allowance of the persons working for IFF during an IFF Event., i.e. Referee Observers and Jury members. (Appendix 23).

Mr. Eriksson proposed to approve the proposed changes in the Financial Regulations.

The CB decided: To approve the proposal changes in the Financial Regulation.

§ 5. World Championships

a) WFC 2008 Czech Republic

Mr. Suman gave a short report concerning the preparation of the 7th Men‘s WFC 2008 to be played in Ostrava and Prague, in the Czech Republic. The organiser has signed a deal with the Sazka Arena, which proved to be very hard.

The process concerning the TV agreement has been going on and the organiser has received a proposal for the televised matches. The organiser has started the communication with all teams and the first contact has been made. From a marketing side the year will be hard, with the Football Euro 2008 and the Olympics, but there have been some positive results for the organisers. The main concern and the objective is how to fill the big arenas, like Sazka and Cez arena, with spectators.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

Mr. Liljelund gave a report about the ongoing TV negotiations with the Czech TV and the Czech Floorball Union. The plan is that the Czech TV produces all in all 8 matches, including the four Czech group matches and the semi finals and the medal matches. The plans are to sell and distribute the international signal to a minimal price as possible and too as many countries as possible. The plan is to send a proposal out to the potential countries in January 2008, which are the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Latvian, Swedish and Swiss TV‘s and the federations.

Mr. Jansson explained the structure of how IFF has built the strategy for the TV, trying to make an even financial result, still making it possible to have as many matches televised as possible.

Mr. Eriksson stressed that he is very pleased with the TV situation, which has developed very well in the last few years, both with host broadcasters as well as with Eurosport.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

Mr. Kratz reported about the preparations for the C-division which is to be played in Bratislava, in the Slovak Republic between the 21.-27. of April 2008 and the signed agreement.

The following teams have registered for the tournament: Australia, Spain, Slovakia, Canada, France, Korea, Georgia, Liechtenstein and Serbia. (Appendix 21a and Appendix 21b).

Mr. Orlando stressed that there has to be a time limit concerning the payment of the participation fees. All the fees have to be paid by the 29th of February, 2008, in order to be able to participate.

Mr. Orlando informed that the Argentinean Floorball Federation has applied for a wild card for participation in the WFC 2008 C-Division.

Mr. Eriksson supported the proposal of Mr. Orlando, to give the Argentinean Federation a wild card, under the same requirements like all other participants.

The CB decided: To approve the report and grant the Argentinean Federation a wild card for the WFC 2008 C-division and demand all participants to fulfil their financial obligations by the 29th of February, 2008.

b) WFC U19 Men 2007 Switzerland

Mr. Suman gave a Jury report, on behalf of Mr. Martin Wolmhed, who was the Jury chairman for the Men‘s U19 WFC held in Switzerland, in November 2007. From a Jury point of view, the event was a very good organised IFF Event.

Mr. Eriksson also informed that in conjunction to the U19 WFC 2007, the IOC Senior Sports Manager Mr. Jean-Laurent Bourquin visited the championships.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

c) WFC U19 Women 2008

Mr. Liljelund reported on the negotiation for the agreement with the organiser, the Polish Floorball Federation are in the final phase and that the agreement, will now be signed after the Polish government has replied to the Polish Federation. The event will be organised in three cities, Wolsztyn, Babimost and Zbaszyn from the 7th to the 11th of May 2008, with two four team groups in the A-division and a B-division of four teams.

Mr. Suman expressed that the Polish federation, will be able to organise a good tournament and that Mr. Budzinski has now got some good experience while he has acted as a Jury member in some of the recent IFF events.

Mr. Kratz reported on the preparations made for the U19 WFC 2008.

The following teams have registered: Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Latvia, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Georgia and Ukraine.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

e) Licence system for the participation in WFC‘s

Mr. Orlando informed that about a year ago a discussion was started whether there should be some kind of licence system for the member associations for the participation in an IFF Event. This is due to the fact that there are federations attending IFF Events without as an example organising a proper championships, thus looking for players over the internet. A small group was formed, which held a meeting during the EFC on the 11th of January, 2008, looking over whether the licence system is needed and if so, how it would be built-up.

The working group discussed whether all the requirements were already in the statutes and present regulations and then brainstormed what kind of requirements in addition should be included in such a licence system. The implementation of a relevant list of criteria‘s would be earliest included for 2012 (Appendix 28).

Mr. Kauppinen felt that all federations must keep in mind that the most important fact is to develop the sport in their own countries and only then to participate in International events. However it is important that the IFF for unforeseen circumstances can allow new federations to participate in IFF Events.

Mr. Jansson expressed that it is important to have organisers of different IFF events in the future and therefore it is important that all federations have organised an international match before they enter an IFF Event.

Mr. Eriksson stressed that we need to look upon all countries and take into account their special situations.

Mr. Orlando informed that the implementation will be soft and that the working group will finalize the proposal until the next CB meeting.

The CB decided: To approve the report and give the working group the task to finalize the proposal until the next CB meeting in April.

§ 6. EuroFloorball Cup

a) EFC 2008

Mr. Kauppinen reported on the ongoing EuroFloorball Cup 2007-2008 final round, being played in Vantaa. The competition is running well and there have not been any complaints from any party involved and the new Energia Arena has been seen as very well suited for Floorball.

Mr. Kauppinen felt that the additional qualification of two top ranked teams for the EFC have proven to be good, since both teams have made it for the semi finals. Spectator wise the EFC has been pretty good and the organiser is near to reach their target of 6.000 sold daily ticket. Mr. Kauppinen stressed that there is a need to work more on the cooperation of sponsorship sales and the reserved fields for IFF.

Mr. Eriksson felt that the Energia Arena venue is very good for Floorball and he would like to stress that the step taken to change the system of the tournament, i.e. only one game per team per day, has proven to be a good decision. If looking at the men‘s side the results clearly shows, that it has been a correct step, to include more top ranked teams.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

b) EuroFloorball Cup Qualifications 2008

Mr. Kratz informed about the actions taken by the office, to find organisers for the EFC qualification tournaments in the end of August 2008. The qualifications (totally three) are based on an East- and a West European group and the second ranked teams group. The last date to register is the 31st of May, 2008.

IFF has asked the Austrian federation whether they would be interested to organise a qualification tournament for the EFCQ, but so far there has not been any reaction.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

§ 7. Committees and Function reports

a) ExCo reports

Mr. Eriksson reported on the meeting held with the federation presidents of the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland in Zurich on the 12th of October, 2007, by invitation of the ExCo. (Appendix 7). The objective of the meeting was to meet with the new Presidents of the member associations and give some information to the four federations and get their support on the chosen direction of IFF. There was a number of topics raised by the Presidents, like for example the Calendar coordination meeting to be lead by IFF.

Mr. Eriksson reported that the ExCo proposes to form a working group, which would define the raison d‘etre for IFF, the strategic direction and the development of Floorball over the next coming decade and that this working group would bring forward a proposal for a Strategic Plan for IFF. This would then have to be approved by the IFF General Assembly in Prague 2008.

The proposal made by the ExCo is that the working group would be headed by Mr. Orlando and would consist of 4-5 members, representing different fields of expertise.

Mr. Orlando thinks that Floorball has changed rapidly during the last ten years, which means that we need to revise our strategy for the future and therefore we have to define our raison d‘etre in this new situation. Mr. Orlando proposes to rethink and review our present strategy decided upon already in 2001, connected with the relevant vision and mission.

Mr. Eriksson stated that the Plan of Action sets the objective on an operational level, but we need a documented strategical plan for the future. The group can not consist of 20 persons, it would be important to have a number of different fields of interest, represented in this group.

Mr. Kauppinen feels that it is good to revise the strategy on a four years basis, in order to take the right strategical actions to meet the vision of the IFF. It is also important to include the SWOT-analysis.

Mr. Jonsson and Mrs. Aagaard agree that it is time to review the IFF Strategy and Vision.

Mr. Jansson finds the objective of the working group a little problematic, when it comes to form the strategy, since that should be done by the upper management of the organisation. This due to the fact that this is always a starting point for the next strategical process. We need to think 5 or 10 years ahead, but also we need to consider the next steps from this as well.

Mr. Suman feels that we are facing a positive problem, when we are growing so fast. We need to build a bigger organisation and we need to define our major goals and we need to start the process.

Mr. Gilardi feels that this is a positive move to make and it is important to think about all the member associations.

Mr. Orlando pointed out that it is very difficult to name the persons for the group working with the strategical plan, but there could be a few persons in the group from the IFF CB and then a number of experts from the national associations. Mr. Orlando would also favour to have a steering group with-in the CB for the strategical process.

Mr. Eriksson proposed that the working group will be headed by Mr. Orlando and that the ExCo will steer the work and decide upon the composition of the working group.

The CB decided: To approve the report and decided to appoint Mr. Orlando to head the working group and give the ExCo the task to form the working group, which is to present a first draft to the IFF CB in Bratislava.

Mr. Eriksson reported on the ExCo meetings held on the 09.10. in Nyon, Switzerland (Appendix 8) and the one held on the 08.11. in Solothurn, Switzerland (Appendix 9). The ExCo also have had a meeting with the new IOC Senior Sports Manager Jean-Laurent Borquin and the IOC member Patrik Baumann, FIBA secretary general, in connections with these ExCo meetings.

Mr. Orlando made a report from the AOFC 1st General Assembly held on the 6th of December 2007, in Singapore. (Appendix 10). The Singapore Sports Council now supports the AOFC Office with funds, via the Singapore Floorball Association. The AOFC Office has employed Ms. Ross working full-time in the AOFC Office. The AOFC has appointed Australia as an organiser for APAC in 2008 and Korea in 2009.

The AOFC General Assembly decided to change their statutes 8§ General Assemblies (iv-point) to: “A candidate for election or re-election (as the case may be) as a member of the Central Board of the AOFC must be nominated or re-nominated (as the case may be) by his or her country‘s member National Association and the person must have been a resident of the country for a period of at least two years in the last 3 years.” According to the IFF Statutes, the IFF CB needs to approve the change of the AOFC Statutes.

The CB decided: To approve the report and to approve the change of the AOFC Statutes.

b) Contacts to International Sports Organisations

Mr. Eriksson reported on the Recognition process of the IOC and the actions taken by IFF in order to both fulfil the requirements set by IOC and to lobby for the IFF application. IFF has asked the IOC for a possibility to supply additional information by the end of February.

Mr. Orlando informed that Floorball is spotted and surveillanced by the Sports Community, so it is really important that we see to it, that we can develop our member associations and the organisation and operations of IFF.

IFF has on the 14th of December sent in the application to the IOC, with the required appendixes. (Appendix 11).

Mr. Liljelund reported on the IF‘s Sports Forum, organised by GAISF and ASOIF, in Lausanne, Switzerland 26.-28.11., 2007 and the different discussions held there with the both hockey, ice hockey, handball and Gaisf. (Appendix 12).

The CB decided: To approve the report.

c) RACC

Mr. Suman gave a report from the RACC Workshop held in Solna, Sweden on the 19 – 21.10 which was held to make proposals for the IFF CB, to larger the group of the Jury management work and to prepare for the growing number of IFF Events. In the future the Jury might need a total of 200 man days to fulfil the tasks of the Jury in the IFF Events. (Appendix 13).

Mr. Orlando made some comments concerning the wording used in the RACC Workshop report, which was changed accordingly.

Mr. Kratz reported that the IFF CB needs to appoint the Rules 2010 Group. The RACC proposal is to nominate Mr. Martin Wolmhed as the chairman of the Rules Group, with Mr. Thomas Gilardi and Mr. Filip Suman acting as a Steering group. (Appendix 26).

The CB decided: To approve the report and nominate Mr. Wolmhed as the chairman of the Rules group.

Mr. Kratz informed upon the changes proposed in the Competition Regulations for National Teams and Club Teams, the Transfer Regulations and the Organizers Regulations where RACC has made some changes and updates. (Appendix 22a, Appendix 22b, Appendix 22c, Appendix 22d)

The CB discussed some technical details concerning the prohibition of betting on own teams, payment date for the participation in National team competitions and the wording of ranked teams and the some aspects related to transportation.

The CB decided: To approve the report and approving the proposed changes of the
regulations, with minor changes. It was decided that the referees are not entitled to bet on any match of the whole tournament, where they are involved.

Mr. Suman informed about the RACC proposal concerning the playing system of the U19 WFC in the future and the proposed change of the age group. (Appendix 14) The RACC proposes to first evaluate the new system for the Adult WFC qualifications in 2010. So far there is no need to change the system, having a maximum of 16 teams in the U19 WFC competition.

The Swiss Floorball Federation has proposed to change the age group system for the U19, so that the players can during the U19 WFC be over 19 years of age. The players for the U19 WFC 2008 can be born after 1.1.1989 and still be eligible to play. (Appendix 15).

The Swedish Floorball Federation has proposed to change the age group system for the U19, so that the players should be allowed to be five months over-aged, so that the players that are under the age of 19 when the season starts should be allowed to participate even though they become 19 during the time between 1st of January and the ending of World Championships in May. (Appendix 16).

The SFF has further noticed that there have been discussions concerning the qualification system for the U19 WFC‘s. The SFF do not recommend using the same system of qualifications for the U19 as for the Adult WFC starting from the WFC 2010.

Mr. Jansson felt that there is a problem with the name U20. Also Mr. Kauppinen finds the U20 to be a problematic title for this category.

The RACC proposes that the title for the U19 WFC will be kept to U19 and that in the U19 WFC 2009 the players have to be born on or after the 1st of January 1990 and no later than 31st of December of 1993.

The CB decided: To approve the report and not to change the qualification system for the U19 WFC and the U19 WFC will be played with 16 teams until the review has been made concerning the Adults qualification and it was further decided that the age group shall be 15 to 19 years on the 1st of January of the year of the U19 WFC final round.

Mr. Liljelund informed about the application sent in by the Czech Open Organisations chairman Mr. Martin Vaculik, concerning the possibility to give the teams participating in the tournament the right to use players not registered to their club in the Czech Open. (Appendix 30).

In order to try to solve the difficult situation, with the late income proposal by the Czech Open, Mr. Liljelund made a proposal that IFF would use the Czech Open as a test window to test such a “loan system”, which has been discussed earlier in the IFF. This test would still have to be made according the present IFF Friendly International Regulation asking for the permission from both the giving club and the giving federation in writing and sending this to the IFF. Based on the evaluation the IFF RACC will then work out an appropriate proposal for a possible need to change the present IFF Regulations.

Mr. Jansson in principle disagreed with the application made by the Czech Open and felt that the proposal made by Mr. Liljelund was a bit too hasty and feels that the issue was not well enough prepared, for the CB to decide upon it. He felt that the application from the Czech party should have arrived much earlier.

Mr. Orlando felt that we need to ask the member federations how they feel about this proposal and take some time to make a relevant proposal to solve it. Further he agreed that there might be a need for some type of a loaning system of players for the future.

Mr. Eriksson is of the opinion that the application from the “Czech Open” was not sufficient and had arrived too late. In addition, he felt that the proposal for a test window was correctly made, by the secretary general. It was proposed that the RACC is given the task to evaluate the proposal of the Czech Open, taking into consideration both the needs of the giving club and federation and the organiser of the event.

The CB decided: To approve the report and to give the RACC the task to review the proposal of the Czech Open organisation and to return with a proposal until the next CB meeting in April.

d) RC

Mr. Gilardi thanked for the invitation to attend the IFF CB, which gives him a possibility to share the information flow and connect with the ongoing processes of the IFF. It was further reported that the work done by the RC is working well and the plans for the coming years are based on earlier discussions. (Appendix 20) It was further reported that there are now more referees than before, but that IFF faced the unfortunate situation that a number of referees have quitted their international career during the last year.

Mr. Eriksson thanked Mr. Gilardi for a work well done in the RC and Mr. Jansson also was pleased with the present development.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

e) Development function

Mr. Orlando reported on the Floorball Development Seminars held in Canberra, Australia 1.-2.12. and in Singapore 4.-5.12. (Appendix 17a, Appendix 17b).Both seminars proved to be a good investment of time and money, since the feedback was very positive.

In addition to the seminar Mr. Orlando had a meeting with the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Institute of Sports, together with the Australian Floorball Association, in which the further development of Floorball in Australia was discussed.

Mr. Liljelund reported on the 2nd Couching Course held in China 17.-18.12.2007, in Beijing for the district PE teachers from the 18 different districts in Beijing, organised by the Education and Research Institute in the Beijing area. (Appendix 24).

The CB decided: To approve the reports.

f) Marketing function

Mr. Jansson informed about the situation with Infront, where there have been achieved no sales and therefore Infront has changed their strategy to sell only packages to single events, instead of whole sponsorship packages for the IFF. This new strategy is also without any major success. It seems that Infront made a miscalculation of the market value of Floorball, when signing the deal with IFF. IFF will shortly have discussion with Infront about the future. Mr. Jansson would like to look for possibly new forms of cooperation.

Further Mr. Jansson informed that the cooperation with Gerflor, Exel and Puma, is working well and that the contract with Puma is prolonged to 2009.

Mr. Kauppinen thanked Mr. Jansson for a good and detailed report, but asked if there is any idea to continue with Infront, since they are not performing at the moment. It was proposed to change the built up of the marketing agreement for IFF, for the coming Events.

The CB decided: To approve the reports.

g) Medical committee

Ms. Bruun reported on the WADA World Congress, held in Madrid on the 15.-17.11, where she participated with Mr. Orlando and the issues related to the new proposed WADA Code. It was reported that the major changes in the new Anti Doping Code that needs to be adopted, by the IFF until the 1.1.2009. (Appendix 18 and Appendix 25).

The changes, effecting IFF are mainly concerning the length of the sanctions, team sanctions, target tests for teams with doping violations, whereabout information, Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), out of competition and International Test Standards.

Mr. Orlando informed that team sports are heavily contesting the whereabout information‘s required by the WADA.

It was informed that IFF are in contact with the other team sports, in order to use the same views, since the present requirements are very hard for Floorball.

Ms. Bruun further reported on the Medical Committee meeting, held on the 8th of January, 2008 and the work being done in order to respond to the questions raised by WADA, concerning the new Code and the Standards for International Testing. Until to the 21st of January 2008, IFF will give our view upon the International Test Standards to WADA.

It was further informed that IFF will have to make a follow-up testing of a U19 player from the U19 WFC 2007, who have given a too high T/E ratio for testosterone. This will be made in cooperation with the Polish Federation.

The CB decided: To approve the reports.

h) Material function

Mr. Liljelund made a short report, on the upcoming ispo winter Floorball Village and the held preparatory telephone-meeting, which was held on the 23rd of November. This Floorball Village is a continuation of the process started with the village organised during the summer ispo 2007. This project is to be conducted by the Development Board and a total of ten Floorball material manufacturers, in order to grow the market of Floorball in Central-Europe. (Appendix 19)

Mr. Eriksson stressed that a number of manufacturers have felt that the summer ispo was a very positive.

The CB decided: To approve the reports.

i) Athletes Commission

Based on the decision on the November 14th, to form an Athletes Commission for the IFF, the CB needs to decide upon the members in this Commission.

Mr. Eriksson proposes that the Athletes Commission will be lead by Mr. Risto Kauppinen. The IFF Office has asked for nominations for the Athletes Commission from the member associations. The commission consists of four female and four male athletes. According to the decision made by the CB, it is for the half of the athletes to be elected by their peers, but due to the problem of not having all member associations present in the EFC, the proposal is that the IFF CB elects all the members now and the next elections will be organised during the Women‘s and Men‘s WFC‘s in 2009 and 2010.

The member federations have been asked to make proposals for the athletes in the Athletes Commission until the 31st of December and the list of nominees was distributed to the CB after new year. (Appendix 27).

Mr. Kauppinen feels that IFF has received very good nominations for the Athletes Commission and think that it is hard to choose among the candidates, due to the fact that they all are equally good.

Mr. Kauppinen proposed to elect the following persons for the Athletes Commission Paula Jouhten (Finland), Linda B. Andersen (Norway), Widyawillis Bte Selamat (Singapore), Melanie Cathie (Australia), Niklas Jihde (Sweden), Mattias Hofbauer (Switzerland), Michael Schachner (Austria) and David Brown (USA).

Mr. Eriksson felt that it is important to elect members from especially non-European candidates and with only one per country.

The CB decided: To approve the report and elected Mr. Kauppinen as the chairman of the Athletes Committee and to appoint the following members Paula Jouhten (Finland), Linda B. Andersen (Norway), Widyawillis Bte Selamat (Singapore), Melanie Cathie (Australia), Niklas Jihde (Sweden), Mattias Hofbauer (Switzerland), Michael Schachner (Austria) and David Brown (USA). Mr. Kauppinen is to bring a proposal for the tasks of the Athletes Commission to the IFF CB.

§ 8. IFF Office

Mr. Liljelund informed that the process for hiring a new Office Assistant for IFF is underway and there were 11 applicants from 9 countries. The secretary general and the information manager have interviewed six applicants and based on the interviews the decision will be made during next week.

Mr. Liljelund further informed that the process for the hiring of the new IFF Competition Assistant has been started and the aim is to have a person employed before the summer, in order to be ready for the qualifications in the later part of 2008.

It was further informed the title of Mr. Kratz has from the start of January 1st 2008, been changed to Competition Manager and the title of Ms. Bruun has been changed to Information Manager, Ms. Bruun will still continue as the IFF Anti Doping Administrator.

In order to respond to the growing need at service in a number of fields Ms. Anniina Paavilainen will be employed as a project worker from mid January to end of May, in order to finalize the three stage coaching manuals and take care of the some issues related to the IFF Statistical system and Ms. Emily Koh has been employed to translate the IFF Coaching Manual into Chinese and to build a “Learn to Play”-material for four months.

Mr. Kratz informed about the International Calendar Coordination meeting organised by IFF, held during the EFC final round on the 11th of January.

Mr. Jansson felt that it is not primarily the task of IFF to organise such meetings, especially keeping in mind the equality between the IFF Member Associations.

Mr. Orlando expressed that IFF had been asked to invite for this meeting and that IFF merely guided the meeting, which Mr. Eriksson agreed to.

Mr. Liljelund informed that the idea is to have more associations participating in such meetings in the future.

The CB decided: To approve the reports.

§ 9. Member Federations

a) Members under suspension

Nothing to report.

b) New Member Applications

Mr. Liljelund reported that the Portuguese Floorball Federation has on December 19th applied for membership of the IFF.
In the application the statutes, the board and the explanation of the rules used was included. Mr. Liljelund further reported upon the situation concerning the other countries, which are to apply for IFF membership in the near future, including Belo-Russia, Cabo Verde, Chile, Croatia, Sierra Leone, Turkey, Uruguay.

The CB decided: To approve the report and accept the Portuguese Floorball Federation as IFF member nr. 45.

§ 10. Next CB meeting

The proposal is to have the next CB meeting during the WFC 2008 C-division in Bratislava, in the Slovak republic on the 26th of April 2008, starting at 10.00.

Since the IFF General Assembly is held on the 13th of December and the General Assembly shall be announced by the CB at latest 90 full days in advance (13th of September), the IFF CB needs to have two meetings in the Autumn, with one in the beginning of September and the other in time to send out the summons to the General Assembly together with the agenda, the CB reports, the financial report, auditors report, budget, nominations and any motions and proposals of the National Associations shall be sent to the National Associations at latest 30 full days in advance (13th of November).

The CB decided: To have its next meeting during the WFC 2008 C-division in Bratislava, in the Slovak republic on the 26th of April 2008, starting at 10.00. The meetings for beginning of September and November will be settled later, by the ExCo.

§ 11. Closing of the meeting

Mr. Eriksson thanked all members of the CB and closed the meeting at 14.30.

John Liljelund Tomas Eriksson
Secretary General President

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