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This year however, the tournament will be organized for both men ́s and women ́s teams. Men will be fighting for the cup for the 13th time and women for the 7th time.

Slovak hockeyball players triumphed on the last three tournaments, next year they want to fight for the 4th title in a row. So far, only Canada was that successful in years 2001, 2003, 2005 and in 2007. Five gold medals make Canadian men ́s hockeyball team the most successful, followed by Slovakia with four gold medals and Czechia on the third place with three gold medals. Women ́s part of the tournament is dominated again by Canada with it ́s four gold medals, followed by Slovakia with one gold medal and Czech women ́s hockeyball team that closes the TOP 3 gold medal teams with it ́s one gold medal from the World Championship in 2017. The hockeyball elite is going to meet in Slovakia for the fourth time. Slovakia hosted championship of such kind for the first time ever back in 1996 in Bratislava, the next one took place in a central slovak town of Zvolen in 1999 and the last one was hosted in Bratislava in 2011. But this time, the organizers decided to organize such event in the eastern part of the country, in the city of Košice. „The tournament was already held in western Slovakia, then in the central part of the country and now it was time to give a chance to eastern Slovakia. But it is a good choice because hockeyball is a very well respected sports discipline as many successful hockeyball players have origins there and it has many spectators as well,“said the general secretary of the Slovak hockeyball union (SHbU) as well as the member of the organizational committee of the World Hockeyball Championship 2019 Július Száraz.

The city of Košice is also very pleased to host such event. The city will host two great events. “We were very pleased by receiving a message about organizing such a great event where all the best hockeyball players of the world will meet up. After few short weeks when we were hosting World Ice hockey championship this is going to be another great event in our beautiful city and we will be very happy to see all the crowds of visitors as well as fans who will come to Košice,“ said the executive director of Visit Košice Miroslav Klíma. The tournament will take place in Steel Arena and in it ́s affiliated training facility. Matches of the A-category will be played in the main hall and certain women ́s matches, in the second hall matches for the promotion from the group B as well as the remaining matches of the women ́s part of the tournament will be hold there. „We are deeply honored, that in 2019 we can welcome top hockeyball players, sport, that it ́s popularity has been growing rapidly year by year. During the hockeyball tournament, almost 90 matches will be played. That makes the hockeyball tournament, in terms of number of played matches, the most important event ever. Year 2019 will be for Steel Arena very unique because after hosting World Ice Hockey Championship, this venue will host World Hockeyball Championship and today we can say that these events are going to be the biggest sport events in the world. We thank the leadership of the hockeyball federation, that they chose eastern Slovakia and we strongly believe that in Steel Arena we reach our highest goals with our successful representation,“

summarized by general manager of Steel Arena in Košice Igor Havrilla. President of the Slovak hockeyball union (SHbÚ) Jozef Stumpel has been in his function for over 6 years and Slovakia has been hosting World Hockeyball Chmpionship for the second time under his management. Back in 2014, in Bratislava, also junior categories were fighting for the titles. „Back then we won the titles in U16, U18 as well as in U20 categories. We showed ourselves to the world as not only as great sportsmen but also as great organizers. Representatives from all over the world were praising us for our great organization and I am deeply covinced that we will be saying goodbye to our participants in the same vibe. However, the goal of achievement has to be moved up higher and higher of course. The Swiss and Czechs who hosted the previous World Tournaments did a fantastic job. We would like to organize them in a same way but slightly better,“ said Stumpel. The host venue has already been visited by the representatives of the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation (ISBHF). Its president George Gortsos from Canada was satisfied with the stadium and enchanted by the city. „We are very pleased, that we can all meet up in your beautiful city. In the name of all our federations we thank the Slovak hockeyball union and city of Košice that they decided to host the world tournament. We are all happily looking forward to it.“said the first man of the world hockeyball.