Competitions
Competitions are the heart of the International Federation of American Football. They form the basis of friendly and competitive relationships between countries and people within the IFAF federations.
In order to achieve growth and International Olympic Committee recognition, IFAF requires that its members participate in official IFAF competitions at all levels – senior and junior tackle football and flag football.
The inaugural IFAF Junior World Championship was established in 2009 featuring the junior national teams of players aged 19 and under from eight countries and four continents. The event will be played again in 2012 and every two years thereafter.
The junior event provided the ideal platform for emerging American Football nations to enter international competition. The Bahamas, a member of IFAF for only a matter of months, entered the qualifying stages and aided the development of the sport at home despite losing to Panama.
The IFAF Senior World Championship was first contested in 1999 in Palermo, Italy, when Japan won the first of back-to-back world titles, the second coming in Frankfurt, Germany in 2003.
Six nations converged on Japan in 2007 for the third tournament, including the United States for the first time in the competition’s history. Team USA outlasted Japan in triple overtime to be crowned world champions.
The 2011 IFAF Senior World Championship will be hosted by a European nation.
The IFAF Flag Football World Championship features a men and women’s competition every two years and was first played in 2002 in Austria. The hosts won the men’s event and Sweden took the women’s title. Two years later in France in 2004, the hosts again triumphed in the men’s section and Mexico’s women also went home with gold medals.
Asia hosted the 2006 championship in Korea as France won both the men’s and women’s championships. The focus shifted to Canada in 2008 where the host nation was triumphant for the third time in four competitions in the men’s event, while Mexico regained the women’s title.
The fifth IFAF Flag Football World Championship will be played in 2010.
Germany made the most of home advantage at the 2005 World Games, beating Sweden 20-6 in front of 16,005 spectators as American football debuted as an invitational sport. France took the bronze medal with a 14-0 win over Australia.
IFAF members will return to action at the 2013 games in Duisburg and Düsseldorf in Germany.
IFAF is in the process of establishing the inaugural IFAF Women’s World Championship of American Football as it continues to welcome and encourage female participation in the sport.
Several IFAF member countries such as the United States, Germany, Austria and Finland boast established women’s leagues and competitions and other countries including Sweden, Israel, Canada and France have developed successful women’s flag football initiatives.
In 2008 Finland hosted Sweden in the Finnish capital Helsinki the first ever international games played between two women’s national teams.
“Women’s tackle football is growing steadily in popularity and there is definitely enthusiasm among players for an international competition of the highest quality,” said IFAF President Tommy Wiking.
Details of the first ever Women’s World Championship of American Football will be announced by IFAF.
IFAF federations regularly compete in international friendly games and continental federation championships such as the European Junior Championship and the senior European Championship, which have become a staple of the international sporting landscape.