International Netball Federation


The International Netball Federation, formerly the "International Federation of Netball Associations", is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the Netball World Cup.

General information

The organisation is based in Manchester, 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.

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 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, 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 several changes. After all countries adopted the name "netball" for the sport, the organisation was renamed the "International Federation of Netball Associations". This name was used until November 2012, when the organisation changed to its current name, the "International Netball Federation", to bring it in line with other sports governing bodies.

Netball World Cup

The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Cup, 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.
YearLocationNumber of teamsWinner
1963 DetailsEastbourne, England11Australia
1967 DetailsPerth, Australia8New Zealand
1971 DetailsKingston, Jamaica9Australia
1975 DetailsAuckland, New Zealand11Australia
1979 DetailsPort of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago19New Zealand, Australia, Trinidad & Tobago
1983 DetailsSingapore City, Singapore14Australia
1987 DetailsGlasgow, Scotland17New Zealand
1991 DetailsSydney, Australia20Australia
1995 DetailsBirmingham, England27Australia
1999 DetailsChristchurch, New Zealand26Australia
2003 DetailsKingston, Jamaica24New Zealand
2007 DetailsAuckland, New Zealand16Australia
2011 DetailsSingapore, Singapore16Australia
2015 DetailsSydney, Australia16Australia
2019 DetailsLiverpool, England16New Zealand
2023 DetailsCape Town, South Africa16-

Netball World Youth Cup

The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Youth Cup, 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.
YearLocationNumber of teamsWinner
1988Canberra, Australia, England9Australia
1992Suva, Fiji, England11New Zealand
1996Toronto, Canada, England18Australia
2000Cardiff, Wales, England11Australia
2005Fort Lauderdale, USA, England20New Zealand
2009Rarotonga, Cook Islands, England20Australia
2013Glasgow, Scotland, England20New Zealand
2017Gaborone, Botswana, England20New Zealand

Fast5 Netball World Series

The Fast5 Netball World Series is an international competition that features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. 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.
YearLocationNumber of teamsWinner
2009Manchester, England, England6New Zealand
2010Liverpool, England, England6New Zealand
2011Liverpool, England, England6England
2012Auckland, New Zealand, England6New Zealand
2013Auckland, New Zealand, England6New Zealand
2014Auckland, New Zealand, England6New Zealand
2016Melbourne, Australia, England6New Zealand
2017Melbourne, Australia, England6England
2018Melbourne, Australia, England6New Zealand

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 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 72 Members, 53 Full Members and 20 Associate Members across 5 Regions; Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
Full MembersAssociate Members
BotswanaBurundi
GhanaCameroon
KenyaCentral African Republic
LesothoGuinea
MalawiLiberia
NamibiaNigeria
South AfricaSeychelles
Uganda-
Zambia-
Zimbabwe-
Ivory Coast-

Full MembersAssociate Members
AustraliaBahrain
Chinese TaipeiBrunei
Hong KongPhilippines
IndiaJapan
MalaysiaKorea
PakistanNepal
SingaporeTimor Leste
Sri Lanka-
Thailand-
The Maldives-

Full MembersAssociate Members
Cook IslandsSoloman Islands
FijiNorfolk Island
New ZealandTokelau
Papua New Guinea-
Tonga-
Samoa-

The following list is a timeline of national organisations becoming affiliated with the International Netball Federation:
1960
1978
1992
2010