World Freestyle Football Association

The World Freestyle Football Association (WFFA) is the international governing body of freestyle football.[2]

WFFA
World Freestyle Football Association
AbbreviationWFFA
Founded1 January 2017 (2017-01-01)
Founded atOntario, Canada
TypeFederation of national associations
Legal statusNot-for-profit
PurposeSport governance
HeadquartersOntario, Canada
Coordinates47°22′53″N 8°34′28″E
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
114 Member countries
Official languages
English, Spanish
Steve Elias [1]
Head Of Operations
Lukas Skoda
Head Of Partnerships
Daniel Wood
Head Of Digital
Daniel Rooseboom de Vries
Websitewww.thewffa.org

Freestyle football is defined as an art and sport, which involves participants creatively juggling a ball using all parts of the body to entertain audiences and outperform opponents; it combines street culture of football tricks, dance, acrobatics and music.[3][4]

Organisation

The WFFA develops and manages the Official World Rankings System, the World Freestyle Day (held annually on 1 September), all rules and regulations of official WFFA competitions, and the key WFFA events across the calendar.[5]

The WFFA is a non-profit organisation, headquartered in Ontario, Canada).[2]

Membership

The organisation operates throughout 114 countries (as of January 2019) with the mission of growing awareness and participation in the sport of freestyle football for both male and females of all ages. The ambition for the sport to be used as a tool for positive social change in communities worldwide. The Key Leaders in each country have a role to play in the overall governance of the sport, by casting votes on any rule changing matters and contributing new ideas to grow the sport in their regions. The structure and worldwide network for the sport has been in development since 2007.

Events

WFFA football events can be Open or Closed events. All Open-events (National, Continental and World) allow participants to score World Ranking points, whilst all Closed-events are invitation-only for pre-qualified or elite athletes.[6] Events can take place live or online. Events annually receive over 200 million engagements online and connect to audience across the world through social media platforms like Facebook,[7] Instagram,[8][9] and YouTube.

The key events in the freestyle football calendar include:[6]

  • Freestyle Football World Masters.[14][15]
  • Red Bull Street Style World Finals.[16]
  • South American Freestyle Football Championship.
  • North American Freestyle Football Championship.[25]
  • African Freestyle Football Championship.[26][27]
  • National WFFA Championships in all countries.

Ambassadors

In 2014, Ronaldinho joined WFFA as a global ambassador. More celebrity names from the worlds of football, music, and entertainment have also shown their support for Freestyle Football at events.[28][29]

References
  1. "Uganda's finest freestyle ball juggler Andy Skillz lands invite to 2019 Africa Olympic Beach Games". 16 March 2019.
  2. noCtrl. "World Freestyle Football Association news". www.thewffa.org.
  3. David Goldblatt; Johnny Acton; Mike Garland (September 2009). The Football Book. p. 29. ISBN 9781405337380. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  4. "Freestyle football in Russia". FIFA.com. 2016-07-23. Archived from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  5. noCtrl. "World Freestyle Football Association news". www.thewffa.org.
  6. noCtrl. "World Freestyle Football Association news". www.thewffa.org.
  7. "The World of Freestyle Football". www.facebook.com.
  8. "WFFA (@thewffa) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com.
  9. "Freestyle Football – Uppers, Lowers, Stalls".
  10. "Super Ball 2018 Prague – Super Ball 2018 in Prague, Czech Republic". www.superball.name.
  11. "Super Ball World Open Freestyle Football Championships 2018". www.facebook.com.
  12. "2017 PantherBall – Street Soccer and Freestyle Lifestyle".
  13. "Jesse Marlet grote winnaar Panther Ball in Mexico!". 26 April 2019.
  14. Gray, Stephen (1 February 2018). "World Freestyle Masters Set to Converge in Tokyo for a Brand New World Championship Tournament".
  15. "World Freestyle Masters 2018: What is it, how to watch & everything you need to know - Goal.com". www.goal.com.
  16. "Meet the Red Bull Street Style judges!". Red Bull.
  17. Calderon, Lizzy (7 March 2019). "Why 2019 Will Be the Year of Women's Freestyle".
  18. Bruton, Michelle (21 October 2018). "Freestyle Women's BMX Hits the 2020 Olympics. She Aims to Bring It to the X Games". OZY.
  19. "Get ready for the European Freestyle Football Championships - Goal.com". www.goal.com.
  20. "European Freestyle Football Championships". euronews. 20 December 2013.
  21. Gray, Stephen (9 October 2018). "The Roundup: The Biggest and Best Upcoming Street and Freestyle Football Events".
  22. Gray, Stephen (21 December 2018). "Five Takeaways From This Year's Controversial Asia Pacific Freestyle Championships".
  23. "AFFC".
  24. "Asia-Pacific Freestyle Football Championships".
  25. "American Panna & Freestyle Tournament History – Street Soccer and Freestyle Lifestyle".
  26. Usenekong, Gold (5 September 2018). "African Freestyle Championship: Top Stars, Artistes Hail Organisers – Complete Sports Nigeria".
  27. "Events – Freestyle Football – Feet 'n' Tricks International – Lagos, Nigeria". Feet 'n' Tricks.
  28. "Nigeria: Fashanu, Tonto Dike, Siasia, Others Named Freestyle Football Ambassadors". 4 September 2018 – via AllAfrica.
  29. Bikes, Silverback. "Brand Ambassador, Saki, the freestyle football phenomenon!". media.silverbacklab.com.
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