World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the

Netball World Cup The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New ...

and

Netball at the Commonwealth Games Netball at the Commonwealth Games, together with the Netball World Cup, is one of the two major tournaments in international netball. All the major netball playing nations are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was first played in 19 ...

. In June 2021 INF announced an official rebrand and became known as World Netball.

General information

The organisation is based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. The INF has over 70 national members which are grouped into five regional areas: Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Oceania. The INF is governed by a congress that meets every two years, a board of directors that meets three times a year, a chief executive officer and a Secretariat. It is also responsible for providing world rankings for national representative teams. The INF organises several major international competitions including the Netball World Cup and Netball World Youth Cup. It is also a signatory to the

World Anti-Doping Code The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

History

In 1957, a pair of national netball organisations discussed the need to create an international governing body for the sport to help address issues like standardising the rules. This conversation was started between England and Australia, while

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

was touring England. In 1960, netball representatives from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies finally gathered to create the needed organisation, the International Federation of Women's Basketball and Netball. The meeting took place in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), with rules for the newly creating organisation being created. A decision was made at this first meeting create a world championship competition for the sport to be held every four years, with the first event to be held in 1963 in Eastbourne, England. The organisation has since undergone lies several changes. After all countries adopted the name "netball" for the sport, the organisation was renamed the "International Federation of Netball Associations" (IFNA). This name was used until November 2012, when the organisation changed to its current name, the "International Netball Federation" (INF), to bring it in line with other sports governing bodies.

Netball World Cup

The INF is responsible for organising the

(formerly the ''World Netball Championships''), the premier event in international netball, held every four years. The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.

Netball World Youth Cup

The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Youth Cup (formerly the ''World Youth Netball Championships''), the premier event in international netball, held every four years in a year other than that of the Netball World Cup. The Netball World Youth Cup is the pinnacle of netball competition for emerging players who are under 21 years of age and the INF has held an U21 international competition every four years since 1988. The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.

Fast5 Netball World Series

The Fast5 Netball World Series is an international competition that features modified '' Fast5'' rules, and has been likened to

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

cricket and

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

. The competition is contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the INF World Rankings, with teams from Australia, England, Fiji, Jamaica, Malawi New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa having played in the series so far. The Series was first held in England from 2009-2011 and the game played was called Fast Net, this evolved into Fast5 in 2012.

Goals and objectives

The INF's fundamental purpose is to promote, improve and grow netball globally, in accordance with the ideals and objects of the Olympic and Commonwealth movements. One of the goals of the INF is to attain

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

) recognition for netball and to lobby for the sport's inclusion at future Olympic Games.

National organisations

The INF is responsible for Netball across the Globe with currently (March 2022) 88 Members, 65 Full Members and 23 Associate Members across 5 Regions; Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. 117 countries interest to netball. 39 Nations only interest and haven't teams and federations.

Members by Regions

Members

This list is incomplete:

Timeline

The following (incomplete) list is a timeline of national organisations becoming affiliated with the International Netball Federation: 1960 *

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

* South Africa * Wales 1978 *

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

State Netball Association 1992 *

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

2010 *

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

2019 * Bangladesh

References

Bibliography

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External links

*
INF blog

"IFNA" on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Netball Sports organizations established in 1960 1960 establishments in England Organisations based in Manchester Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations