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Innsbruck: Sports final celebrates inclusion in floorball with new records!
Innsbruck 2025: Sport Austria Finals promote inclusion through Unified Floorball, cooperation with Special Olympics, also active regionally.
Innsbruck: Sports final celebrates inclusion in floorball with new records!
The Sport Austria Finals 2025 in Innsbruck set a remarkable sign of inclusion in sport. As part of this important event, the existing cooperation between Special Olympics Austria and the Austrian Floorball Association (ÖFBV) will be further intensified. An official cooperation agreement has been signed that aims to give athlete: Inside with intellectual impairments, access to floorball sport. Nicole Koch, the national director of Special Olympics Austria, describes the partnership as intensive and appreciative, which laid the foundation stone for successful cooperation.
The UNIFIED Floorball Cup, an innovative tournament format, is the central element of this cooperation that was designed for people with and without impairment. The aim of this initiative is to show that impaired people are able to do sports at a high level. ÖFBV President Karl Zehetner described this partnership as a significant step towards strengthening existing structures and the opening of new perspectives in the area of inclusive sport. The positive response to the activities and tournaments motivates everyone involved to further promote inclusion in sport.successes and perspectives of the inclusive sport
A special success for the unified floorball team in Austria was the winning of the gold medal at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in March 2025. This triumph is considered a drive for further development of inclusion sports. Including teams are already active in several Austrian federal states, including Vorarlberg, Styria, Burgenland and Vienna. Those responsible plan to establish other teams in order to expand the range and the possibilities for athlete: inside with and without impairment.
The organization of the Unified Floorball Cup comprises six match days in different regions, while a major final tournament takes place in Graz. An exciting competition is also held as part of the Sport Austria Finals in the MS Hötting West, which gives the initiative additional visibility. Sebastian Koller, the deputy sports director of Special Olympics, emphasizes the uniqueness of the inclusive competition, which not only reduces sporting but also social barriers.
Inclusion in sport and social perception
The importance of inclusion in sport is also supported by a BGW research program, which was started in 2021 in cooperation with Special Olympics Germany. The program examines the current state of inclusion in popular sports and the perception of disabled people. As part of the study, the status quo of inclusive structures in organized sport is analyzed, the reporting on disabled sports in the media is evaluated and the presence of people with disabilities in social media such as Instagram and Twitter examines. These findings are crucial for the further development of inclusive offers and the extraction of new network partners.
In this context, the event of Sport Austria Finals 2025 can be seen as an important step in order not only to promote sport, but also to create a new awareness of inclusion in society. Information on further initiatives and events is on the websites of [Laola1] (https://www.laola1.at/de/Red/verbaende/sport-austria/finals --special-Olympicsundsund-floorball-staerken- Inclusion/) Olympics] (https://specialolympics.at/gelebte-im-floorball/) and bgw to be found.