The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

associations. The IFAF oversees the organisation and promotion of all international competitions across both contact and non contact versions of the game, including the IFAF World Championship of American Football, which is held every four years. The IFAF became a provisionary member of

SportAccord SportAccord is a global sports event organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, that is governed by stakeholders representing the Olympic and non-Olympic International Federations and has currently taken on some of the activities of the dissolve ...

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 Flag football is a variant of gridiron football (American football or Canadian football depending on location) where, instead of Tackle (football move)#Gridiron football, tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or ...

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 and has 75 members as of June 2024: * IFAF Africa : 12 * IFAF Americas : 16 * IFAF Asia : 13 *

IFAF Europe IFAF Europe was the governing body of American football in Europe. It is a member of the International Federation of American Football. IFAF Europe replaced the European Federation of American Football (EFAF) which had begun in 1976 as the Americ ...

: 29 (

European Championship of American football The European Championship is a continental competition of American football founded in 1983 and contested by the member countries of IFAF Europe. The tournament also serves as a qualifier for the IFAF World Cup. This Championship is also known as ...

) * IFAF Oceania : 5

Members

Competitions

American football competitions (Men) * IFAF World Championship of American Football * World University American Football Championship (FISU / IFAF) *

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

(IWGA / IFAF) (Junior) * IFAF U-20 World Championship (Women) * IFAF Women's World Championship Flag football competitions (Men / Women) * IFAF Flag Football World Championship *

Flag Football (IWGA / IFAF)

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. 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 USA Football is the National Governing Body (NGB) of American football in the United States, having received formal certification from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee on April 17, 2025, becoming the 38th Summer Olympics National Govern ...

, citing disputes over anti-doping enforcement. IFAF (Paris) instead recognized the United States Federation of American Football as the USA's governing body, and the USFAF organized a team to participate in the

2017 World Games The 2017 World Games (), also known as Wrocław 2017, was the tenth edition of the World Games, held from 20 to 30 July 2017 in Wrocław, Poland. The World Games were organized by the Wrocław Organizing Committee. Wrocław was selected as the h ...

, in which it won a bronze medal. The grouping of the IFAF based in New York continued to recognize USA Football and organized the 2017 Women's World Championships, which the USA won. In March 2018, the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

(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. USA Football is currently the internationally recognized governing body for American football in the United States.

References

External links