World Flying Disc Federation Receives Recognition by the International Olympic Committee
31 May 2013
The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Friday the 31st of May 2013 to grant the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) provisional IOC recognition during their meeting in St Petersburg (Russia). WFDF serves as the international sports governing body of all flying disc sports.
“WFDF welcomes this recognition to join the Olympic family and we confirm the commitment of the flying disc community to the ideals set out in the Olympic Charter,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “Our strong value of “spirit of the game” on the field of play and off of it has always reflected these principles. We thank the IOC Executive Board and administration for their support and encouragement, and our Member Associations, board of directors, and athletes for their enthusiasm and commitment to this process.”
The International Olympic Committee in its formal release stated "The EB (Executive Board) has granted provisional recognition to the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) after the International Federation fulfilled all the criteria of the IOC recognition procedure. The EB noted that the WFDF is a rapidly growing Federation with tremendous youth appeal, a strong grounding in Olympic ideals, gender equality and good governance, including WADA compliance. The EB welcomes the Federation into the Olympic family."
"This recognition by the IOC today is a very important milestone for flying disc sports, and should greatly support our grass roots development programs in countries around the world, opening the door for our members to seek their own National Olympic Committee recognition,” commented Rauch further. “However, this is just the start of a long journey as we look to further develop disc sports and fulfill all the criteria stipulated by the IOC so that one day we will have a product which is equal to the current sports of the Olympic Games in both sports excellence and commercial interest.” WFDF joins 33 other international sports federations that are recognized by the IOC but are not currently a part of the Olympic sports program.
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) serves as the international governing body of all flying disc sports. Since WFDF was founded in 1985, the development of the sport has been quite rapid and Ultimate and the other disc disciplines today are some of the fastest growing sports in the world, due to the simplicity of the basic rules, the speed of the game, its self-officiation, and its appeal with youth and across gender lines. WFDF estimates that there are currently 7.5 million active participants globally across the various disciplines, including Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Freestyle, Guts and Field Events. WFDF today represents 59 member associations in 56 countries. WFDF was approved as a member of GAISF (now SportAccord) and the International World Games Association in 1995, is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) registered corporation in the State of Colorado, USA, and it is a signatory of the WADA World Anti-Doping code.
Latest WFDF Communiques
01 April 2019 - Official Communication 
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that the Global Association of International Sport Federations (“GAISF”) confirmed that the Flying Disc sport of Freestyle will be on the sports programme of the first edition of the World Urban Games, to be held in Budapest (Hungary) on 13-15 September 2019.
GAISF Director Philippe Gueisbuhler confirmed Freestyle’s place on the competition programme in a letter sent to WFDF Executive Director Volker Bernardi. “We thank you very much for your collaboration and look forward to working together to ensure the first edition of the World Urban Games in Budapest in 2019 is a success,” wrote Gueisbuhler.
27 February 2019 - Official Communication
The Congress of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved of an additional Bylaws revision after concluding the vote by electronic means. The unanimous decision approves two additional modifications of the revised WFDF Bylaws that were approved by Congress during their annual meeting on 13 July 2018. The modifications incorporate the concept of “self-officiation” into the WFDF Bylaws and require Congress approval for any changes of the provision, in order to further clarify and promote Spirit of the Game.The proposals had been submitted jointly by the Swiss and Belgian associations.
“The addition to the purpose of WFDF in Article I, section 2 of the Bylaws to include the principle of ‘self-officiation’ in our Bylaws puts an even stronger emphasis on the Spirit of the Game to which WFDF is committed,” explained WFDF President Robert L. “Nob” Rauch.
21 February 2019 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has received today the official notification by Paris 2024 that Flying Disc was not selected as an additional sport for the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games.
Paris 2024 Sport Director Jean-Philippe Gatien wrote to WFDF President Rauch that “after careful consideration, the Paris 2024 Executive team has reached a final decision” and that Flying Disc “has not been selected to be put forward to the IOC to become a part of the Olympic Games 2024 sports programme.”
The sports of Surfing, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, and Breaking were selected by Paris 2024 as additional sports to be put forward to the IOC for approval, as was announced at their Press Conference in Paris this morning.
23 January 2019 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), the international sports federation recognized by the IOC that is responsible for world governance of flying disc (frisbee) sports, is seeking one or two individuals to serve as an Event Coordinator (50%) and Administrative Coordinator (50%) to support the growth of our expanding organization. The positions contemplate a part-time (50%) consultancy opportunity for each position, although an individual with the right qualifications could be considered for both areas in a full-time consultancy position. The positions are virtual and so the applicant would need to demonstrate access to the office equipment required to perform the job.
20 January 2019 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation Board (WFDF) Executive Committee, Board members, Committee and Commission Chairs, Continental Representatives and staff come together for two and a half days of strategic discussions that will set the tone for Flying Disc for years to come.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring together a team of twenty WFDF board and key staffers for intense and productive discussions in New York City at our board meeting and strategic planning session this weekend,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “The WFDF board and staff are located across 12 different countries across global time zones and getting together primarily occurs during our monthly board meetings via a conference call. The 30 hours of meeting time this weekend significantly increases the productivity of discussions, reduces time in making decisions, and improves the work input, while building on the strength and comradeship of the WFDF key heads, making this meeting very important. ”
WFDF’s mission statement “to support and promote the global advancement of disc sports and spirit of the game” will be top of mind in all discussions as the group takes direct input and feedback from key representatives from multiple continents representing all the different Flying Disc Sports: Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Freestyle, Guts and Individual Overall Sports. 16 January 2019 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), in cooperation with the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), is releasing the second edition of the world rankings for disc golf by country. USA remain the top ranked team in the world, followed by Canada, Finland, New Zealand and Estonia.The criteria for ranking countries are a combination of performance at WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships and the PDGA ratings for top male and female players.
“The second edition of the WFDF World Disc Golf Rankings marks another significant step forward for WFDF members and countries affiliated with PDGA,” said Charlie Mead, the WFDF Disc Golf Committee chair.“As the criteria for ranking becomes known to the wider disc golf-playing world, National Associations are focusing their attention on how to move up the list. The inclusion of more women and juniors in the calculations for some countries has made a positive difference to their position.”
09 January 2019 - Official Communication
WFDF President Rauch re-elected
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has announced the results of its 2018 elections. This comes after the international federation recognized by the IOC for Flying Disc sports had executed a major revamp of its governance structure and Board composition that had been unanimously approved by the WFDF membership in the autumn of 2018. Among other positions, the membership re-elected Robert “Nob“ Rauch as President for an additional two-year term.
(Please read the full Release including biographies here)
“WFDF is excited about the revisions to our governance structure with the expansion of the Board of Directors, bringing in the heads of our Continental associations and formalizing several other ex-officio positions. We are also extremely pleased to have increased the number of women on the Board to seven out of the eighteen members as we continue to pursue gender equality in our goverenance structure as well as in our competitive events,”commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.
29 December 2018 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that it has launched its new wfdf.sport domain name and related portfolio under the “.sport” domain name program initiated and managed by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) to which WFDF belongs as a member.
“In today´s internet world of so many domain names and extensions, WFDF´s use of the wfdf.sport domain will provide much greater visibility and searchability for the Flying Disc community names. Using the strict criteria applied by GAISF enhances the legitimacy and credibility of Flying Disc‘s public communications and makes us a member of the exclusive ‘.sport‘ community,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.
18 December 2018 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that its Congress has approved the Flying Disc Associations of Kazakhstan, Malta, Sri Lanka, and U.S. Virgin Islands as its newest Member associations, increasing WFDF’s membership to 84 national member associations.
“WFDF is proud to welcome the four new member associations to the WFDF flying disc family concluding the latest admission process overseen by our Executive Director Volker Bernardi,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.
14 December 2018 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved VC Ultimate as the WFDF Official Apparel Supplier and Partner for 2019-2022. VC Ultimate, based in Toronto, Canada, receives the exclusive opportunity to develop and sell selected official event merchandise and apparel for the WFDF Ultimate Championship events for the four-year term.In return, this partnership will provide benefits to the players and teams, event organizers and to WFDF. VC Ultimate will also continue to work with WFDF to develop and market WFDF-branded gear to be sold through their Canadian, American and European online stores.
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