The American soccer advances of a new square in its march towards a possible entry in the Olympic Games. Its international body, the IFAF, will be proposed for final recognition by the IOC Executive Board at its next session, scheduled for 15-17 October 2023 in Mumbai, India. The International Federation of American Football was granted provisional recognition in 2013. It should, except in an unlikely scenario, change the provisional into definitive. The IOC justifies its decision, taken on Wednesday 29 March on the second day of its Executive Board meeting, by the excellent copy delivered by the IFAF. Its statutes, practices and activities are in accordance with the Olympic Charter, explains the IOC. The body chaired by Frenchman Pierre Trochet has adopted and implemented the World Anti-Doping Code and the Olympic Movement Code on the prevention of competition manipulation. As an added bonus, it has demonstrated that it retains its independence and autonomy in the governance of its sport, and meets the criteria set out in the summer sports recognition procedure, including a minimum of 50 affiliated national federations from at least three continents (IFAF currently has 74 on five continents). As a reminder, the IFAF, with the help and support of the NFL, has embarked on a campaign to have flag soccer (pictured above) included in the Olympic program for the Los Angeles 2028 Games. The discipline was selected in the short list of the Californian organizers.
