Sébastien Pico, Marco Friedli and Tibor Kapanek, were inducted into the ISBHF Hall of Fame at the World Championships in Visp.
The three were officially honoured and inducted into the Hall of Fame during the interval of the women's World Championship match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic. The work of the three well-deserved street hockey personalities is honoured below, albeit not conclusively:
Sébastien Pico:
Pico made an honorary member by Swiss Streethockey a few years ago for his work for Swiss street hockey. His achievements at international level are also impressive. In an emergency exercise, he organised the U20 World Championships in Champéry in 2002 within a very short space of time, as a kind of test for the A World Championships in Sierre, which followed a year later and set new standards. Pico was also in charge of the current World Championships in Visp. Pico also coached Swiss junior teams for many years and also worked for the senior national team between 2005 and 2011.
Marco Friedli
For years, even decades, Marco Friedli was one of the absolute best referees in the world, not only in the domestic league but also at international level. Friedli had the honour of refereeing numerous NLA finals, cup finals and major international matches such as the World Cup final during his impressive career. His calm and unspectacular way of refereeing games was appreciated by players and coaches alike. After his active career, he is now making his vast experience available to young referees.
Tibor Kapanek
The attentive reader will have noticed that there were three Swiss referees mentioned at the beginning. In the case of Tibor Kapanek, this is of course not entirely correct. Kapanek has made such an impact on Swiss street hockey, first as a player and then as coach of the Oberwil Rebells and the senior national team, that we can already call him Swiss. In 2009, as Slovakia's outstanding defenceman, he scored goals against Switzerland. In the meantime, he has been able to pass on his expertise to countless Swiss national team players and has given the team a new face.
We would like to congratulate Séb, Marco and Tibor on their well-deserved induction into the ISBHF Hall of Fame and thank them for the invaluable work that the three "Hall of Famers" have done for our sport.