IFAF Meeting Today To Decide Fate Of 2015 World Championships

According to IFAF’s acting point of contact Roope Noronen of Finland, the IFAF (International Federation of American Football) executive from throughout the world will convene a meeting today – December 29, 2014 – to determine the fate of the 2015 World Championships.

Members of the executive committee include the heads of the five IFAF federations including IFAF Europe, IFAF Asia, IFAF Oceania, IFAF Africa and IFAF Americas, as well as members of the IFAF Presidium, with the exception of President Tommy Wiking of Sweden who has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons.

As we reported on December 19, the 2015 Stockholm World Championships were cancelled due to the inability of the host Swedish federation to fund and organize the event. Since then a number of countries have been approached and some, including Mexico have shown interest.

However, speculation is rife as to how many countries have actually stepped up and offered as Mexico has. The British Association of American Football – BAFA – has apparently shown interest but after being contacted about this, Director of the BAFA, Andy Fuller had this to say:

“As it stands, the BAFA is fully focused upon the qualification games with Russia for the Women’s Championship and the U19 championship. Beyond this we have no public statement on the 2015 World Championships.”

Although Austria would have been a good choice having put on championships before, according to the Austrian federation website, they are dubious about the feasibility of hosting the championships.

The United States has been suggested and they would have the facilities and the manpower to host the event. It remains to be seen whether they have the will to organize it.

If a suitable site is not determined today, or in the very near future, the only other alternative is to postpone the event for a year or two. The problem with holding it in 2016 is the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Brazil (August 2 – August 21). That would definitely divert attention but at least the dates would not conflict. Waiting until 2017 is a possibility, but a six year wait between the flagship events for IFAF might be asking too much.

By the end of Monday, we should be much closer to a decision.