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North American Floorball League

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North American Floorball League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 NAFL season
SportFloorball
Founded2020; 4 years ago (2020)
First season2022
CommissionerRyan Connor
No. of teams6
HeadquartersGeorgetown, Texas, U.S.
Most recent
champion(s)		Fresno Force (1st title)
(2024)
Most titlesFlorida Vikings (2 titles)
Official websitenafloorball.com

The North American Floorball League (NAFL) is a semi professional floorball league in North America, consisting of five teams across the United States. The league was founded in June 2020, and began play in the summer of 2022.[1][2] The NAFL is the first elite level floorball league in North America, taking place in what is typically the offseason of most upper tier floorball leagues worldwide so as to draw the best possible talent without conflicting with club schedules.

History

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Creation of the League

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Prior to the creation of the NAFL, elite floorball was greatly concentrated in Europe, and there was an absence of top-tier leagues to develop talent that was present in North America. The Canadian Floorball Federation has run the Floorball League of Canada since 2013,[3] and the United States has operated a series of club tournaments such as the Golden Gate Cup[4] and the Texas Open;[5] however, there was no cohesive, highly promoted league to showcase the best talent that the two countries had to offer, or to attract international players who wanted to see the sport grow in North America.

Because the existing floorball seasons in North America and Europe took place during the fall and winter, an idea was devised to create a summer league that could increase the level of competition in North America for its best players without eliminating the structures already in place. The concept was for a league in which teams from across the United States and Canada could play full seasons while still minimizing travel and limiting budget, attracting fans to the sport and allowing the top floorball players in North America to be celebrated as elite athletes. The idea began to take fruition in June 2020, and the league was publicly announced on August 1, 2020, scheduled to begin play the next summer.[6][7] However, the inaugural season was postponed to the summer of 2022 due to ongoing border closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[2][8][9]

Team Creation

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The first team to be formed was the Fort Worth Jaguars, who were publicly announced on August 17, 2020.[10] They were followed a month later by the Cleveland Bucs, who were announced on September 21, the Texas Tornadoes, who were announced on October 19, and finally the Fresno Force, who were founded on December 16, 2020.[11][12][13][14][15] Following the postponement of the originally scheduled 2021 season, it was announced on December 8, 2021 that the Florida Vikings would be joining the league as a fifth team for the 2022 inaugural season, and the Utah Raptors were announced as a replacement for the Cleveland Bucs on January 15, 2022.[16] The Texas Tornadoes suspended operations on May 16, 2022, bringing the total team count for the inaugural season back to four.[17]

Inaugural Season

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The inaugural season included a bye week to account for the World Games being held in Birmingham, AL. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top seed Florida Vikings defeated the second seed Fort Worth Jaguars in the finals, becoming the first ever Troy Cup champions. The Fresno Force took third place after a playoff victory over the Utah Raptors. Josef Juha of the Vikings was voted league MVP after leading the league in goals and tying for the league lead in points, while the league leader in assists and co-leader in points, Rasmus Pasanen of the Jaguars, finished second. Third place in MVP voting went to Matt Smith of the Fresno Force.[18][19]

League Structure and Rules

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The NAFL consists of six teams who play each other team twice in the regular season, followed by a two-round playoff for the top four teams. To reduce travel, individual teams will host every team in a single city, with each team playing games in that city before traveling to another host city as a league.

The league plays with IFF rules,[20] but because of its positioning during what is traditionally the offseason, the NAFL can attract some of the top talent worldwide while allowing players to continue playing with their home clubs in the winter.

Games are played in three 20 minute periods, with an intermission between each, and should the game end in a tie, there is a 5-minute, sudden death overtime period, followed by a shootout. Teams are seeded in the playoffs based on the points they earn during the season. Three points are awarded for a win in regulation, two points for a win in overtime, one for a loss in overtime, and no points are given for a regulation loss. The only deviation from the IFF rulebook is that penalty shots and shootouts are played with a 15-second shot clock in the NAFL, whereas IFF rules allow an unlimited amount of time to shoot, as long as either the ball or shooter are continually moving forward.

Teams

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Current Teams

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North American Floorball League is located in the United States
Jaguars
Jaguars
Force
Force
39ers
39ers
Growlers
Growlers
Aviators
Aviators
Sockeyes
Sockeyes
class=notpageimage|
NAFL Team Locations
Team City First Season Head Coach Captain
Aviators of Ohio Columbus, OH 2023 Sweden Andreas Blixt Sweden Zacharias Melin
Fort Worth Jaguars North Richland Hills, TX 2022 Finland Pekka Palomäki Sweden Alexander Spinord
Fresno Force Fresno, CA 2022 Sweden Bruno Lundberg[21] Sweden Kim Nyberg
Minnesota Growlers Duluth, MN 2023 Finland Jussi Sihvonen Finland Jukkapekka Auroila
Seattle Sockeyes Seattle, WA 2024 Finland Tuomas Korhonen Finland Kasper Tähkä
Texas 39ers Georgetown, TX 2023 Sweden Peter Lindgren Sweden William Jönsson

Former Teams

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Team City/Area Season(s)
Florida Vikings Orlando, FL 2022-2023
Utah Raptors Salt Lake City, UT 2022

Championships

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Season Date Champion Final score Runner-up Venue Location Ref
2022 July 24, 2022 Florida Vikings 11-3 Fort Worth Jaguars NYTEX Sports Centre North Richland Hills, TX [19]
2023 July 30, 2023 Florida Vikings 9-2 Fresno Force NYTEX Sports Centre North Richland Hills, TX [22]
2024 July 28, 2024 Fresno Force 7-6 Texas 39ers DECC Arena Duluth, MN

MVP

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Season Name Team Ref
2022 Czech Republic Josef "Pepa" Juha [cs] Florida Vikings [19]
2023 Sweden Linus Malmström Florida Vikings
2024 Sweden Billy Nilsson Fresno Force

References

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  1. ^ "North American Floorball League". nafloorball.com. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  2. ^ a b "NAFL to postpone inaugural season – North American Floorball League". nafloorball.com. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  3. ^ "Floorball Canada". www.floorballcanada.org. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  4. ^ "The 10th annual Golden Gate Cup". Archived from the original on 2021-11-28. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  5. ^ "North Texas Floorball Association - Texas Open". www.ntfa.us. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  6. ^ "Första nordamerikanska innebandyligan startar 2021". Innebandymagazinet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  7. ^ "Introducing the North American Floorball League". IFF Main Site. 2020-09-16. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  8. ^ "Ikävä uutinen julki – ensimmäinen NAFL-kausi siirtyy vuodella eteenpäin". Pääkallo.fi (in Finnish). 19 May 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  9. ^ "NAFL to postpone inaugural season until summer 2022". IFF. 2021-05-20. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Fort Worth Jaguars Floorball | North American Floorball League". www.ftwjaguars.com. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  11. ^ "Teams – North American Floorball League". nafloorball.com. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  12. ^ "TV: Uppsalabo blir ägare för NAFL-klubb". Innebandymagazinet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  13. ^ "Americký florbalový sen. Za mořem vzniká nová liga". www.ceskyflorbal.cz (in Czech). 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  14. ^ "NAFL aikoo kasvaa NHL:n jalanjäljissä: "Mitä jos sinulla olisi mahdollisuus olla mukana yhdessä "original six" -joukkueista?"". Pääkallo.fi (in Finnish). 22 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  15. ^ "Uusin NAFL-joukkue julkaistiin – Fresno Force ponnistaa Kaliforniasta". Pääkallo.fi (in Finnish). 18 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  16. ^ "Welcome Utah Raptors! – North American Floorball League". nafloorball.com. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
  17. ^ "Update regarding Texas Tornadoes – North American Floorball League". nafloorball.com. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  18. ^ "Češi dobyli Ameriku! NAFL ovládla Florida, Juha nejlepším střelcem ligy". www.ceskyflorbal.cz (in Czech). 2022-07-26. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  19. ^ a b c "Florida Vikings första mästarna i NAFL". Innebandymagazinet. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  20. ^ "North American Floorball League". FloorballPlanet. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  21. ^ "Bruno Lundberg klar som tränare i USA i sommar - Innebandymagazinet". Bruno Lundberg klar som tränare i USA i sommar - Innebandymagazinet. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  22. ^ "Här blir Florida Vikings amerikanska mästare för andra året i rad". Innebandymagazinet. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
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