Märit Bergendahl was elected new President of the Swedish Floorball Federation’s Central Board (CB) during the General Assembly held on Sunday June 16th in Bromma, Sweden.

– I am humble before the task of leading the Swedish Federation Central Board during the upcoming years. As the President I have an important role, but the Central Board does the job together, she says in the Swedish Federation’s press release, and continues:

– During the upcoming season I hope that we will deal with the contradictions that have existed regarding the Swedish Super League, so that we can unify our forces and pull in the same direction. The contradictions have had an inhibitory effect on our development.

The 50-year-old Bergendahl is a lawyer and works as a judge. She has held several different managerial positions and is currently working as head of an EU operation in Palestine.

In 2015, Bergendahl was elected to the Central Board of the Swedish Floorball Federation and became Vice Chair the following year. She has a long club commitment behind her with ten years in the Board of FBC Lerum where she has also been Chair. When she was nominated in 2015 by Göteborg’s Floorball Association (today West Sweden) to the Swedish CB, she knew immediately that she wanted to contribute to the work on the national level.

Bergendahl has been involved in the launch of “Swedish Floorball Wants” (Svensk Innebandy Vill), the document that forms the basis for how the Swedish Floorball Federation works.

– When we launched “Swedish Floorball Wants” we got a good material to work with to make the floorball to what we want it to be. I think many see it as a positive direction. Having the possibility to work with these issues has been incredibly inspiring and it is something we should continue with. My hope is that we have a common view of how to best develop floorball.

This is the first time ever that the Swedish Floorball Federation has a woman as President.

– I do not want people to think that I only want to promote women’s floorball because I’m a woman. I think that men and women shall have equal opportunities to get involved with our sport. It is important that both men and women participate in the decision-making bodies as this benefits everyone and it is something we need to work with all the time. Once in the Central Board, gender shall not play a role, the most important thing is that we get a CB with competencies and experiences that complement each other and where all members contribute to the goals we set.

Tomas Engholm, who has been the President since August 2012 and was now not up for re-election, was appointed Honorary President of the Swedish Floorball Federation. Previously, the IFF President, Tomas Eriksson, has been elected as Honorary President.

Swedish Floorball Federation Central Board:

Märit Bergendahl, President

Martin Klabere

Victoria Wikström

Helen Sundström Hetta

Lena Larsson

Andreas Carlsson

Helén Wiklund Wårell

Carin Sjöberg

Mats Romell

Source & more information: Swedish Floorball Federation