Sweden beat Latvia in their opening match of the tournament ©IFF

Sweden overcame an early setback to beat Latvia as the Men's World Floorball Championship finally began in Helsinki.

The International Floorball Federation (IFF) event had originally been scheduled to take place in September last year, but suffered postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Latvia threatened a surprise result at the Helsinki Ice Hall, after Armands Savins struck four minutes into the contest to give the team a 1-0 lead.

Sweden responded impressively with goals from Linus Nordgren and Alexander Galante Carlstrom earning the record eight-time winners a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.

The pair were among the scorers in the second period where Sweden outscored Latvia 4-0 to extend their advantage.

Kevin Haglund scored twice in the third period, as Sweden pulled away from their opponents to seal an 11-1 triumph.

Sweden are expected to go head-to-head with hosts Finland for the World Championship title, having met in the previous seven finals.

Finland, who won four of those finals, launched their title defence with a comfortable win over Denmark.


Finland stormed into a 5-0 lead in the opening 14 minutes of the match to assert their authority on the contest.

Eemeli Salin completed a brace in the final periods to help Finland seal an 7-0 victory.

Group B began with Germany suffering a heavy defeat to the Czech Republic at Helsinki Ice Hall 2.

The Czech Republic, who reached the 2018 semi-finals, earned an 11-0 win.

Norway and Switzerland play tomorrow in the same group.

The top two nations in Groups A and B will reach the quarter-finals, with the remaining nations dropping into the playoffs.

Poland secured an 8-6 victory over Thailand in the opening Group C match of the day, before Slovakia earned a dominant 15-1 win against the United States.

Canada clinched a 9-8 win over Singapore in the first Group D contest, with Estonia playing the Philippines tomorrow.

Estonia and Philippines are participating in the tournament due to the COVID-19 withdrawals of Australia and Japan.

The top two teams in Group C and D will participate in the playoffs.

The bottom two nations in each group will compete in the 13th to 16th place playoffs.

Floorball is due to make an appearance at the Birmingham 2022 World Games, with the top five teams from the World Championship qualifying.