A very interesting league competition emerged before the start of this season. The 3 Nations Floorball League (3NFL), organized by the national federations of Austria, Slovenia and Hungary, is a promising project connecting top teams from these countries together in a very competitive manner.

Nine teams (three from each country) are battling for the title, which is to be decided at the Final 4 event in March.

An article by Petr Havej

We spoke with a spokesman of the 3 Nations Floorball League, Mr. Rachlinger, who gave us some insights into the background of this competition. “The plan is that we have a competitive league for the top 3 teams of our countries so that all three nations keep improving their level of playing floorball”, he said.

Below you can find the nine teams, three from Austria, three from Hungary, and three from Slovenia. For the current ranking, also see below.

“The most important thing is that we do not see this as an Austrian League with Hungarian or Slovenian guest teams or in any other way round. Our three countries have a historical good connection and we see each other as strong partners”, Rachlinger continued.

The 3 Nations Floorball League (Photo: 3NFL Facebook page)

The competition will conclude on the weekend of March 14-15, when the Final Four event takes place in Villach/St. Martin (Austria). “This year Villach will be the host of the Final Four after having the Finals in Škofja Loka, Slovenia, last year. It would be great to have a team from every nation there but you can’t plan this.” At the moment of writing, the top 4 consists of two Slovenian and two Hungarian teams.

This league is a great example of future paths for lower-ranked countries to improve the level of play for their clubs. In regards of expanding the league to other countries, Mr. Rachlinger has the following to say: “First of all we have to look at the league and the interests of the federations and make this league a strong institution in central Europe before thinking of expanding it to more teams or to other countries.”

“Not every time getting bigger means getting better. But I can sure imagine that this could be interesting to other teams from other nations as well, but our focus is on Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary.”

Both men’s and women’s league

The 3NFL focused at first on the men’s league, but with women’s floorball also getting more and more popular in these countries, a competition for women has also been created. “This year we also started the women version with teams from Slovenia and Austria, the final 4 this year will be played in Linz, Austria. We will see what the future will bring.”

The women version of the 3NFL has started this year as well (Photo: 3NFL Facebook page)

This is the second season of this international competition. Last year there were Austrian as well as Slovenian teams involved (with the current leader Škofja Loka clinching the title), but it was not until the start of this season the Hungarian teams joined in and formed the 3 Nations Floorball League with three teams from each country.

Participating teams

VSV Unihockey (AUT): Finalists from the last year, the most successful team in Austrian floorball (8 titles). A very ambitious team that aims to win the title this year, despite the fact they’re at risk of not making it to the top 4. Star players: Timo Schmid, Niklas Fechtig.

KAC Floorball (AUT): A lot of key players left the team before the season. KAC hope to gain some experience and to develop their young players. Star player: Christoph Platzer.

SU Wiener FV (AUT): This team from Vienna is the reigning Austrian champion. It’s an offensively playing team, aiming at the highest spots. Star players: Jakob Mayer, Henri Nummi.

Pheonix Fireball SE (HUN): Pheonix is a team full of Hungarian national team players, who won the EuroFloorball Challenge twice and are the reigning Hungarian champion. Star players: Domokos Rácz, Tamás Rési.

SZPK Floorball Team Komárom (HUN): Komárom is a successful Hungarian team with a lot of experienced players who hopes to be at the top of the table. Star players: Péter Pfneiszli, Richárd Németh.

Dunai Krokodilok SE (HUN): The Hungarian Krokodilok is a determined team, lead by the Finnish coach Tuominen. The team consists of a lot of young players who need time to adapt to this kind of competition. Star player: Norbert Ressely.

FBC Borovnica (SLO): Good pre-season transfers put them amongst the Final Four contenders, currently at the 4th place. Last season they finished 6th and of course, the team’s aiming to improve. Star players: Robert Košir (top scorer of the league), Rok Korošec.

Polanska Banda (SLO): Banda also tried to strengthen their roster before the season by adding some experienced players. The team’s five times straight finalists of the Slovenian league. Star players: Anže Šneberger, Sašo Bizjak.

Insport Škofja Loka (SLO): Title defenders and currently the leaders of the league. Last season, they lost only 1 out of 23 games and they’d like to repeat this and get the second title. Star players: Luka Peklaj, Blaž Tomc.

Every team in the men’s 3 Nations Floorball League plays 16 matches in the regular season. The Top 4 teams are qualified for the Final Four event. As we can see in the ranking below, Škofja Loka and Pheonix Fireball will certainly get tickets for the Final Four.

The two remaining tickets will go to two of the teams currently ranked at 3-6th place, with Komárom and Borovnica having a better position. During the Final Four, the #1 ranked team will face the #4, while #2 and #3 play in what can be called the other semifinal.

Current ranking (2 games before the end of the regular season)

Insport Škofja Loka (SLO) – 15/33 Pheonix Fireball SE (HUN) – 15/32 SZPK Floorball Team Komárom (HUN) – 15/29 FBC Borovnica (SLO) – 14/29 VSV Unihockey (AUT) – 14/25 SU Wiener FV (AUT) – 14/24 Polanska Banda (SLO) – 14/11 KAC Floorball (AUT) – 14/6 Dunai Krokodilok SE (HUN) – 14/4

Top scorers

More information about the 3NFL can be found here, or on Facebook.

This article was written by Petr Havej and edited by Daniël Nicolai.

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