"The World Games are a stepping stone to the Olympics."

The 27^th of July team USA will step into the World Games in Wroclaw, Poland, facing off with top floorball nations Sweden and Switzerland in an event that is one step away from the Olympics.

Team USA will play its first game on Thursday the 27^th of July when they face Switzerland and the event will round off with the medal rounds on Sunday the 30^th of July.

- As always, we select the players that we believe could come together as the strongest possible TEAM. When the total squad size is quite small, smaller than what we are used to, we decided that this time we didn't have room for rookies. The challenge in selecting the players has never been this competitive, head coach Stefan Hedlund told the IFF website.

Read the interview with head coach Stefan Hedlund here.

The 10th edition of the World Games will host more than 3,000 athletes from 31 sports and 111 countries will take part in the biggest sport event ever staged in Poland, under the patronage of the IOC.

IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell says: "As we look for getting more flexibility into the program of the Olympic Games in the future, certainly The World Games is one of the areas we are looking to observe, see the sports, see them performed at a very high level and with the best athletes in those sports. Obviously we are looking for sports that bring a real value to the program."

And IWGA President José Perurena makes it clear: "The World Games are a stepping stone to the Olympics."

Team USA will be facing its biggest challenge yet at the coming World Games in Poland. Switzerland and Sweden are two powerhouses in the world of floorball and are constantly among the top nations in the world.

Although Sweden lost to Finland in the final of the last World Floorball Championships the game came down to penalty shots and could have gone either way. Sweden are multiple time World Champions and have the top league in the world, the Swedish Super League.

Switzerland is not far behind and have captured many medals at the World Floorball Championships and will be an immense challenge for Team USA.

Team USA face Switzerland on Thursday the 27^th of July at 17:30 CEST and Sweden on Friday the 28^th of July at 12:00 CEST before heading into the placement rounds Saturday and Sunday. Watch the game against Switzerland here and the game against Sweden here.

After the World Games head coach Stefan Hedlund will head up the development camp at the US Nationals, read more and sign up here.

You can watch the game against Switzerland here and the one against Sweden here.

For more on team USA check out the presentation here.

Check out a team presentation of Switzerland here.

Check out a team presentation of Sweden here.

The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 10th edition of The World Games will be held in Wroclaw, Poland, 20-30 July 2017. More than 3,000 athletes from 31 sports and 111 countries will take part in the Games.