International Federation of American Football


The International Federation of American Football 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.

Structure and organization

The IFAF recognizes in their respective areas the following branches:

Top competitions

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, "IFAF in Paris" stripped USA Football of their membership due to not following anti-doping and releasing players' information. 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 had determined that Wiking had officially resigned as president.
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.
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.