Finalnd successfully defended their men's world floorball title in front of a record crowd in Prague's 02 Arena ©IFF

Finland completed the defence of their title at the Men’s World Floorball Championships in Prague with a 6-3 win over Sweden in front of 16,276 fans in the 02 Arena - a tournament record.

The previous record had been set in the last match at the 02 Arena as 16,112 spectators had witnessed the Czech Republic hosts’ ultimately unsuccessful bid to win a bronze medal as they went down 4-2 to Switzerland.

That beat the previous record of 15,106 set during the first final in 1996, also between Sweden and Finland, in the Globe Arena in Stockholm. 

Since these biennial Championships started at Stockholm, Sweden have won on eight of the 12 occasions – with Finland frustrating them on four occasions.

Not since 2004 has another team been involved in the final – and on that occasion the Czech Republic were beaten 6-4 by Sweden.

The Swedes had earned a morale-boosting win over the champions in the group stages, but Finland were making no mistakes second time around, taking a 1-0 lead after four minutes through Juha Kivilehto that they never lost.

Peter Kotilainen doubled his side’s lead in the 24th minute, but Sweden replied four minutes later through Alexander Galante Carlström, and then drew level though an outstanding backhand shot from Alexander Rudd.

Kivilehto put Finland back in charge with a second goal in the 47th minute, however, and then Kotilainen claimed his own second goal of the match with a rocket of a shott from almost the halfway line.

When Nico Salo added the fifth Finnish goal in the 50th minute, the match was effectively over.

Four minutes before the end of regulation time Rudd’s converted penalty shot provided a glimmer of hope for the Swedes, but with less than two minutes remaining  the Finns closed the scoring through Sami Johansson’s empty-netter.

The 16,276 attendance also created a new overall record attendance figure for these Championships of 181,518 spectators. 

The bronze medal match was a replay of the 2016 version, and the result was the same.

Petri Kettunen’s home team, who had beaten their opponents 6-4 in the group stages, managed to tie the score at 2-2 in the second period.

But Tim Braillard tipped the match Switzerland’s way with a goal in the last minute of the second period.

Latvia beat Germany 5-3 to claim fifth place, while, in the last match at the second venue of Arena Sparta, Norway defeated Denmark 9-5 to claim seventh place.