World Flying Disc Federation


The World Flying Disc Federation is the international governing body for flying disc sports, with responsibility for sanctioning world championship events, establishing uniform rules, setting of standards for and recording of world records. WFDF is a federation of member associations which represent flying disc sports and their athletes in 114 countries. The organization holds recognition from the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee, and is a member of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations, GAISF, and the International World Games Association. WFDF operates as a registered not-for-profit 501 corporation in the state of Colorado, U.S.

Membership

WFDF was formed in 1985 as a not-for-profit corporation and has member associations representing flying disc sports in countries across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, the Caribbean, and South America. The federation has distinguishes three categories of membership: national members, provisional members and associate members.
National members are defined as: flying disc associations that is the governing body for Disc Games solely within a single national boundary.
To be approved as a national member by WFDF, an organization must:
  1. Be organized with bylaws acceptable to WFDF;
  2. Operate under the rules, policies, and programs which are in compliance with all agreements to which WFDF is a party;
  3. Be open to participation without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, politics, sex, or sexual orientation;
  4. Represent a minimum of 50 individual disc players who are members of its organization in one or more Disc Sports;
  5. Hold an annual meeting and/or have another representative mechanism for its Constituents to elect a board of directors;
  6. Fairly represent the interests of Constituents for all Disc Games within the country; and
  7. Pay dues to WFDF as established by the Congress, and report annually regarding the number of its Constituents per the requirements as established by the Board of Directors.
Provisional members are those flying disc associations that function as the governing body for all all disc games within a national boundary but are yet to meet the criteria outlined by WFDF to be a National Member.
Associate members are those with ties to disc sports but are not national governing bodies. They may include not-for-profit organizations that provide services to disc sports or which represent particular disc sports organizations.

Members by regions

There are currently 122 members and two associate members, each belonging to their respective continental associations.
Continental associations are the central organizing bodies recognized by WFDF for disc sport events and promotion within a region continental region. These associations are responsible for coordinating matters of common interest of the members of their continent with WFDF.
NumberRegionCountries
1Africa15+4=19
2Asia-Pacific23+9=32
3Europe40+6=46
4Americas18+7=25
TotalWorld122

African Flying Disc Federation (AAFDF)

There are 15 WFDF regular members and 4 provisional members in Africa:
Regular members:
Provisional members:
There are 26 WFDF national members and 9 provisional members in Asia and Oceania:
National members:
Provisional members:

European Flying Disc Federation (EFDF) and European Ultimate Federation (EUF)

There are 40 WFDF national members, 4 provisional members, and 2 suspended members in Europe:
National members:
Provisional members:
  • Armenia - Armenian National Frisbee Federation
  • Bulgaria - Bulgarian Flying Disc Federation
  • Croatia - Croatian Flying Disc Federation
  • Moldova - Moldovan Flying Disc Federation
  • Romania - Romanian Flying Disc Association
Suspended members:
  • Belarus - Belarusian Flying Disc Federation
  • Russia - Russian Flying Disc Federation

    Pan American Flying Disc Federation (PAFDF)

There are 17 WFDF national members and 7 provisional members in the Americas:
National members:
Provisional members:

History

Flying disc sport rose with the invention of plastic and celebrated its in 2007. The early years of international flying disc play were dominated by the influence of the International Frisbee Association which was founded by Ed Headrick in 1967 as the promotional arm of the Wham-O Manufacturing Company. Many of the international affiliates began as Wham-O distributorships that sponsored tours of well-known Frisbee athletes. Several groups of individual disc event stars like Ken Westerfield and Jim Kenner touring Canada in 1972. The brothers Jens and Erwin Velasquez and the team of Peter Bloeme and Dan "Stork" Roddick made several tours of Scandinavia and the rest of Europe in the mid-1970s; Jo Cahow and Stork went to Australia and Japan in 1976 and Victor Malafronte and Monica Lou toured Japan around the same time. Stork—starting as head of the sports marketing arm of the U.S.-based Wham-O in 1975—played a crucial role in encouraging the establishment of national flying disc associations in Sweden, Japan, Australia, and in many of the countries of Western Europe. The FDAs began with freestyle and accuracy competitions but as Ultimate and disc golf caught on, the associations began to broaden their focus.
The concept of an independent world organization for the development and coordination of all of the disc disciplines began in 1980 at an Atlanta, Georgia, meeting of 40 international disc organizers. A loose federation led by Jim Powers was formed from that meeting but never took off. The following year, the relatively well-established national flying disc associations of Europe formed the European Flying Disc Federation. In 1983 Wham-O was sold to Kransco and the IFA was disbanded. Spurred on by the demise of the IFA, Stork called a meeting at the US Open Overall Championships in La Mirada, California. A plan was presented by Charlie Mead of England and a formal decision was made to establish a worldwide disc association in Örebro, Sweden during the 1984 European Overall Championships. This decision was confirmed later that year by other flying disc countries in Lucerne, Switzerland, during the World Ultimate and Guts Championships, and thus the World Flying Disc Federation was born.
The first WFDF Congress was held in Helsingborg, Sweden in July 1985, where the first set of statutes was adopted and the first board was elected. The first president was Charlie Mead, the first secretary Johan Lindgren and the first treasurer Brendan Nolan. Membership was composed of the national flying disc associations and US-oriented organizations such as the Ultimate Players Association, Freestyle Players Associations, and Guts Players Association. Committees were established to oversee international play and rules for each of the disc disciplines. Over the remainder of the 1980s, WFDF took on an increasing role in overseeing and promoting international disc tournaments with Stork as president and Lindgren as secretary-treasurer.
In 1992, Robert L. "Nob" Rauch was elected President of WFDF and Juha Jalovaara become chair of the Ultimate Committee. Over the next two years, WFDF was reorganized to better reflect the increasing growth of Ultimate and the diversity of WFDF's membership. The disc committee structure was simplified into a broad category of team sports and individual events. The role of the Rules Committee was expanded, headed by Stork, to ensure consistency and an annual rules book was printed. With a variety of representation, the categories of membership were further defined, with national associations able to join as regular, associate, or provisional members depending on level of participation and resources. WFDF's corporate standing was reorganized and incorporated in Colorado, obtaining US tax-exempt status. WFDF, with a fairly nominal budget, found help with the increasing use of e-mail that permitted reasonable communication and coordination. In 1994, the application to join the International World Games Association —championed by Fumio "Moro" Morooka of Japan—was prepared and eventually accepted by the IWGA leading to Ultimate's participation in the 2001 World Games in Akita, Japan, and in each of the subsequent competitions.
In May 2013, under the leadership WFDF President Robert L. "Nob" Rauch, WFDF was granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee and it is now one of 42 sports that are members of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations.
Due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, WFDF canceled all its world championship events in both 2020 and 2021. It is planning to recommence world championship events in Ultimate, Beach ultimate, Disc Golf, and Overall in 2022, and to participate in The World Games championships in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. in July 2022 that had been postponed from 2021.

Disciplines

Team Sports

Ultimate

is WFDF's largest and most widely played discipline, contested by mixed-gender, open, and women’s teams of seven players on a rectangular field. The sport includes several variants:
  • Outdoor Ultimate - The traditional 7-on-7 format played on grass fields
  • Indoor Ultimate - Modified rules for gymnasium play
  • Beach Ultimate - Played on sand with reduced team sizes and modified field dimensions
Ultimate governance has been part of WFDF since its founding in 1985. The discipline is featured in The World Games and is considered WFDF's flagship sport for potential Olympic inclusion.