Eight months before the start of the event, and after the expiry of the first registration phase, almost all the prominent companies in the industry have confirmed their attendance in Cologne, organisers of the FSB show say.
“The current registration figures after the early bird show very clearly that FSB is back to pre-coronavirus levels,” says a delighted Matthias Pollmann, Vice President of Trade Fair Management at Koelnmesse. “80 per cent of the exhibition space at FSB has already been reserved with a few months still to go. A clear signal from the industry that FSB in Cologne is indispensable as an international industry platform”, Pollmann continues. FSB 2023 will take place from 24 to 27 October 2023 in co-location with aquanale, the International Trade Fair for Sauna.Pool.Ambience. The event’s conceptual sponsor is IAKS, the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities.
FSB as the industry’s leading international platform covers everything relating to public spaces, playground equipment, outdoor fitness, sports equipment, sports flooring and stadium infrastructure. Among the companies that have already registered to exhibit are AST, Avalon, Condor Grass, Dow Europe, Edelgrass, Forbex, Grass Inc, Hauraton, Herculan, Juta, Lano Sports, Mapei, Melos, Mondo, Nurteks, Polytan, Regupol, Saltex, Schmitz Foam, SMG, Sports and Leisure Group/Domo, Synlawn and TenCate. There is also a group attending from France and a group of international companies exhibiting on the theme of basketball, organised by OIKO srl.
Three halls
FSB 2023 will be staged in Halls 9, 10.1 and 10.2 of the Cologne trade fair grounds. Hall 9 will focus on public spaces, playground equipment, ice sports and outdoor fitness. All the offerings for sports halls, sports equipment, indoor sports concepts and outdoor fitness will be grouped together in Hall 10.1. Thematically linked to this showcase, outdoor sports surfaces, artificial turfs, recycling, sports centres and stadium infrastructure will be presented in Hall 10.2.
FSB’s conceptual sponsor and most important partner is IAKS, the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities. This year, the organisation will once again host the internationally renowned IAKS Congress as part of the trade fair. The congress is taking place for the 28th time this year, on the theme of “Sports and leisure buildings as the foundation of a resilient society”. The congress will discuss topics such as the social function of sport and exercise and sports and leisure facilities, methods and tools for measuring public value, research on climate protection goals, and product developments by IAKS member companies.
In addition, the BSFH (Federal Association of Playground Equipment and Leisure Facility Manufacturers), the ESTC (EMEA Synthetic Turf Council) and the International Basketball Association (FIBA) will also all be exhibiting as sports organisations at FSB and play an active part in the specialist event programme.
The event’s successful partnerships with the information portal Sportstättenrechner and STADTundRAUM will be continued at the 2023 edition of the trade fair. For the fourth time, FSB will once again feature the networking area of Sportnetzwerk@FSB, an initiative by Koelnmesse and the online cost calculator for sports facilities, Sportstättenrechner. This is where decision makers from clubs, stadiums and local authorities can meet leading companies from the sports facilities industry. The planners’ forum, which is being organised with STADTundRAUM and BSFH, brings together architects, designers, landscape architects and municipal decision-makers for dialogue and exchange.
German Sports Facilities Day
The 2nd German Sports Facilities Day is also being held as part of FSB. The event, which is being organised jointly by IAKS Germany, the German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB), the Association of German Cities (DST), the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB) and the Federal Institute of Sports Science (BISp), will focus on “improving the situation of sports facilities and areas in Germany”.
And the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) is organising a conference at FSB in collaboration with the Ice Hockey Association of North Rhine-Westphalia (EHV NRW) and IAKS – this will be the fourth time the event is held.