Malmö, Sweden – The Philippine Men’s National Floorball team clinched a 4-3 victory over Canada at the 2024 International Floorball Federation (IFF) Men’s World Floorball Championships in Sweden.
This big win gave the team its first-ever playoff spot and also qualified them for the World Games 2025 after finishing top 2 in their group.
The Philippines rose to the challenge in a high-stakes match against a physical Canadian side at Baltic Hall, securing a 4-3 victory.
Simon Sicat Laraño opened the scoring in the first period with a power-play goal assisted by Kim Varga.
Early in the second, Noah Laraño doubled the lead off a pass from Lucas Werelius.
Canada responded with a power-play goal from Alex Jette, but the Nationals widened the gap to 4-1 with goals from Rhodell Esguerra and Werelius.
Despite a late rally by Canada, with goals from Valtteri Viitakoski and Steven Friedli, the Philippine defense held firm.
In the final moments, goalkeeper Patrik Nessbo’s critical save denied Friedli’s equalizer, sealing the historic win leading them to play in Chengdu, China, next year.
The PH team will go against Latvia for the play-offs match today, Wednesday at 7:30 PM (PHT).