The American Football Association in Poland, ZFAP, (Związek Futbolu Amerykańskiego w Polsce) has taken the first step to becoming a full-fledged member of the International Federation of American Football, IFAF.
IFAF is the governing body for international amateur football and a such has been working with the ZFAP and the Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism in recent months to begin membership implementation proceedings for the new Polish federation..
That changed in February of this year when the ZFAP was voted in as the official governing body of American football in Poland.. The new governing body has now been recognized by IFAF and been given Allied status. However, the ZFAP will not act as governing body for the final season of the LFA apparently scheduled for this fall.
Dawid Biały, President of the American Football Association in Poland:
“Since the creation of ZFAP, we have been guided by the principle of ‘one play at a time’. We focus on activities that will contribute to the long-term development of American football in Poland, and joining the IFAF was one of the most important goals of ZFAP from the very beginning. Many thanks to President Richard MacLean for his trust and also to Managing Director Andrew Fuller.”
Allied Member status, which was introduced in 2016, was designed to recognize emerging national federations, and although Poland is not an emerging nation in terms of the development of football, it was deemed necessary to relegate it to the first rung of membership, for a short time at least, due to the disarray of the past three years.
As an Allied Member, Poland will have no voting rights but may send delegates to IFAF congresses and is allowed to bid for and host non-World Championship tournaments. IFAF will monitor the situation in Poland in terms of coaching development, compliance with anti-doping measures and an overall commitment to the development of the game. The next tier is Associate Member and this can be conferred as early as January 1, 2021, provided Poland has met all the initial requirements. Associate Members are entitled to one voting delegate at Congress with each vote being weighted as one vote.
The third and final tier of membership is Full Member status. Full Members have the right to host and/or participate in all recognized international events (with a national team), are entitled to one voting delegate at Congress with each vote being weighted as 3 votes. Also, Full Members may submit motions for Congress and nominate candidates for Board and Committee positions.
About IFAF
Founded in 1998, the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body for the sport of American football and is responsible for all regulatory, competition, performance and development aspects of the game including both contact and non-contact versions of the game, on a global level.