International Federation of American Football

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body of gridiron associations. The IFAF oversees 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. The organisation's head office is located in the French commune of La Courneuve, in the Île-de-France region.

"IFAF" redirects here. For The International Federation of Association Football, see FIFA.
International Federation of American Football
Formation1998
TypeSports federation
Headquarters79 Rateau Street
93120 La Courneuve, France
Membership
105 members
President
Richard MacLean
Websitehttps://ifaf.org/

Structure and organization

The IFAF recognizes in their respective areas the following branches:[1][2]

Member nations
Africa (11)
  •  Kenya
  •  Algeria
  •  Botswana
  •  Egypt
  •  Cameroon
  •  Ethiopia
  •  Ghana
  •  Morocco
  •  Nigeria
  •  South Africa
  •  Sudan
  •  Uganda
  •  Zimbabwe
  •  Rwanda
  •  Tunisia
  •  Congo

Americas (21)

  •  Argentina
  •  Bahamas
  •  Brazil
  •  Canada
  •  Cayman Islands
  •  Chile
  •  Colombia
  •  Costa Rica
  •  El Salvador
  •  Guatemala
  •  Haiti
  •  Honduras
  •  Mexico
  •  Nicaragua
  •  Panama
  •  Paraguay
  •  Peru
  •  Puerto Rico
  •  United States
  •  Uruguay
  •  Venezuela

Asia (27)

  •  Bangladesh
  •  Cambodia
  •  Chinese Taipei
  •  India
  •  Indonesia
  •  Laos
  •  Japan
  •  Jordan
  •  Guam
  •  Kazakhstan
  •  Kyrgyzstan
  •  Kuwait
  •  Malaysia
  •  Maldives
  •  Mongolia
  •  Myanmar
  •    Nepal
  •  Pakistan
  •  Philippines
  •  Qatar
  •  Saudi Arabia
  •  Singapore
  •  Sri Lanka
  •  South Korea
  •  Tajikistan
  •  Thailand
  •  Turkmenistan
  •  Uzbekistan

Europe (41)

Oceania (4)

Top competitions
  • Senior World Championship (Men and Women), every four years.
  • Under-20 World Championship (Men and Women), every four years.[3]
  • Senior Flag Football World Championship (Men and Women), every two years.
  • Senior Beach Football World Championship (Women, Men and Mixed), every two years.
  • Continental Championships are played in Europe, Americas and Asia.
  • World University American Football Championship (Men), every two years.
  • IFAF International Bowl (men), every year.

Governance controversy and schism

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 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.[4] In May 2017, "IFAF in Paris" stripped USA Football of their membership due to not following anti-doping and releasing players' information.[5] They were replaced by the United States Federation of American Football. The event at the 2017 World Games was run by the Paris group, while the "IFAF New York" group ran the Women's World Championship in 2017. In September 2017, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had determined that Wiking had officially resigned as president.[6]

On 1 March 2018, MacLean was declared the legitimate president of IFAF via a final ruling by CAS, according to a letter issued by MacLean and IFAF.[7]

IFAF stated in a letter that CAS had issued its full arbitral award and ruled that the election of Noronen as interim president at the 2015 IFAF congress in Canton, Ohio, was valid and that MacLean was duly elected president of IFAF 17 September 2016 and is IFAF's current president. The CAS ruling allowed IFAF to move forward as a united governing body. The previous rulings of "IFAF in Paris" were ruled void.

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See also

References
  1. "IFAF Congress ratifies new structure". usafootball.com. 7 July 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  2. Kelly, Roger (18 August 2014). "Structural changes on the horizon for American Football in Europe". AmericanFootballInternational.com. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  3. "Football Canada have been awarded hosting rights for the 2024 IFAF World U20 Championship". 25 February 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  4. "European federations attempt to reunify American football with series of measures following crunch Rome meeting". 9 December 2016. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  5. "USA Football not anymore National Governing Body of American Football in USA". IFAF. 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  6. Etchells, Daniel (4 October 2017). "CAS rule that Wiking did resign as President of IFAF in 2015 but confusion continues as who is in charge". Inside the Games. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  7. "IFAF Unified! Court of Arbitration rules Richard MacLean is President of IFAF". American Football International. 2018-03-02. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
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