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 made 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.
Structure and organization
The IFAF recognizes in their respective areas the following branches[3][4] and has 75 members as of June 2024:
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.[5] 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,[6] citing disputes over anti-doping enforcement. IFAF (Paris) instead recognized the United States Federation of American Football as the USA's governing body,[7] 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[8] and organized the 2017 Women's World Championships, which the USA won.[9]
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.[10] USA Football is currently the internationally recognized governing body for American football in the United States.[11]
