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International Federation of American Football
International sport governing body From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body of American football associations. The IFAF oversees the organisation and promotion of all international competitions across both contact and non contact versions of the game,[2] including the IFAF World Championship of American Football, which is held every four years. The IFAF became a provisionary member of SportAccord in 2003, and became a full SportAccord member in 2005. In 2023, IFAF was officially recognised as an Olympic IF (International Federation) by the IOC. In 2023, IFAF marked a historic new streak, with flag football being selected as one of the five new Sports for the LA 28 Olympic Summer Games. The organization's head office is located in Paris, France.
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Structure and organization
The IFAF recognizes in their respective areas the following branches[3][4] and has 75 members as of June 2024 and 78 in August 2025:[5]
- IFAF Africa : 10
- IFAF Americas : 18
- IFAF Asia : 13
- IFAF Europe : 30 (European Championship of American football)
- IFAF Oceania : 6
Members
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Africa (11)
Americas (18)
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Trinidad and Tobago
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Asia (13)
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Thailand
Vietnam
Europe (30)
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Great Britain
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
Oceania (6)
American Samoa
Australia
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
French Polynesia
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Variants
Source:[6]
- Tackle football[7]
- Flag football[8] 40 minutes with two halves of 20 minutes
- Wheelchair football[9] Indoors or outdoors
- Beach flag football[10] 4 players - 25-yard field - 30 minutes with two halves of 15 minutes
Competitions
American football competitions
(Men)
- IFAF World Championship of American Football
- World University American Football Championship (FISU / IFAF)
- World Games (IWGA / IFAF)
(Junior)
(Women)
Flag football competitions
(Men / Women)
- IFAF Flag Football World Championship
- World Games Flag Football (IWGA / IFAF)
Governance controversy and schism
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Following the cancellation of the 2015 IFAF World Championship in Sweden for financial reasons, the event was moved to the United States. In February 2015 Tommy Wiking resigned as president of IFAF due to the cancellation of the event. During the 2015 meeting, Tommy Wiking was illegitimately put[clarification needed] as president, and caused a schism. One group, in New York, elected Roope Norenen as interim president in September 2014, and Richard MacLean in 2015. The other group, based in Paris, recognized Tommy Wiking as president.
In September 2016, "IFAF in Paris" suspended six nations for not submitting players information for anti-doping, The suspended nations were the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Finland, and Denmark. A group of European federations wished for a reunification of the sport during a December 2016 meeting in Rome.[11] In May 2017, after a split that created rival groupings of the International Federation of American Football, the IFAF grouping based in Paris stripped its recognition of USA Football,[12] citing disputes over anti-doping enforcement. IFAF (Paris) instead recognized the United States Federation of American Football as the USA's governing body,[13] and the USFAF organized a team to participate in the 2017 World Games, in which it won a bronze medal. The grouping of the IFAF based in New York continued to recognize USA Football[14] and organized the 2017 Women's World Championships, which the USA won.[15]
In March 2018, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) determined that the IFAF (NY) was the proper governing entity and voided all decisions of the other IFAF entity, including their decision to strip USA Football of its recognition.[16] USA Football is currently the internationally recognized governing body for American football in the United States.[17]
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See also
References
External links
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