From 6th July 2008 till 12th of July 2008 the Woman and Men World Championships 2008 of the International Inline- and Rollersports Federation (FIRS) will take place at venues in Ratingen and Düsseldorf Benrath.

17 nations coming from 4 continents will attend the Men World Championships, as there are: Australia, Czech Republic, USA, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Korea, China, Iran, Great Britain. The mayor of Ratingen, Mr. Harald Birkenkamp, represents the city.

Last year at the World Championships 2007 in Bilbao the Czech team won the gold medal. Switzerland won the silver medal and the team coming from Canada the bronze medal.

Although at the Women World Championships teams are coming from four continents. 10 teams will attend this particular event: France, USA, Great Britain, Namibia, Canada, Switzerland, Czech Republic, New Zeeland, Japan, and Germany. Mr Dirk Elbers, the first mayor of Düsseldorf, represents the city.

Last year team USA won the World Championships 2007 followed by teams from Czech Republic and France.

The official schedule for the world championships has been published. Games of the Women World Championships will take place at the venue in Benrath, games of the Men World Championships will take place in Ratingen.

The German men's team plays in pool D versus teams coming from Belgium, the Netherlands, Mexico and Iran. The team ranked first in pool D at the end of round robin is qualified for the quarter finals. After round robin the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranked teams out of pool A and B are qualified for the quarter finals, whereas out of pool C and D the 1st placed teams are qualified.

Here an overview of teams attending the pools:

Gruppe A: CZECH REPUBLIC, FRANCE, USA, KOREA

Gruppe B: SWITZERLAND, CANADA, ITALY, SPAIN

Gruppe C: GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRALIA, CHINA, VENEZUELA

Gruppe D: GERMANY, BELGIUM, IRAN, THE NETHERLANDS, MEXICO

At Women World Championships round robin will be played based on pools A and B. Here the German team will play in pool A versus USA, Great Britain, Spain and Iran. Both teams ending up round robin 1st will be directly qualified for the semi finals, whereas the 2nd and 3rd placed teams will have to play pre-play-offs to identify the remaining teams for the semi finals.

The round robin pools are:

Gruppe A: USA, GREAT BRITAIN, SPAIN, GERMANY, JAPAN

Gruppe B: CZECH REPUBLIC, FRANCE, FINLAND, CANADA, NAMIBIA