President's Bio
Tommy Wiking
President
International Federation of American Football (IFAF)
Message from IFAF President Tommy Wiking
Welcome to the IFAF website where we are proud to represent the great game of American football and its growth and development around the world.
People are sometimes surprised to discover that so many sports enthusiasts are devoted to not only watching but also playing the game in more than 50 countries. Since IFAF was formed in 1998, we have expanded from an initial handful of members to an impressive number that we anticipate will continue to thrive.
Our key goals are to host successful competitions, to gain IOC (International Olympic Committee) recognition and to continue football development and participation throughout our member countries and beyond.
IFAF has established a Junior World Championship for players aged 19 and under, a Senior World Championship that has been played every four years since kicking off in 1999 and a Flag Football World Championship that has been played every two years since 2002. We are also in the process of establishing a Women’s World Championship.
IFAF welcomes fans of American football whether their interest is in playing, coaching, officiating, volunteering as an administrator or simply watching a sport that crosses international borders.
We hope that the IFAF website enables fans to become as familiar with the sport on an international level as they are with teams and players in their own country.
Biography
As IFAF President, Tommy Wiking orchestrates the international development and growth of the game of American football that has enticed 52 countries from five continents to become members of IFAF.
Membership of IFAF has increased significantly since its formation in 1998 and recent new members include Bulgaria, India and Serbia, as well as the establishing of a continental federation to represent the Oceanic region.
Since Wiking’s election as the third President of IFAF in 2006, the organization has seen countries such as the Australia, Bahamas, New Zealand and Panama embrace international junior competition in line with the IFAF objective of increasing participation in IFAF tournaments.
In 2007 Japan hosted the third IFAF Senior World Championship, in 2008 Canada hosted the fourth IFAF Senior Flag Football World Championship for men and women and the United States committed to host the inaugural 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship. IFAF also plans to introduce the first Women’s World Championship of American Football in 2010.
Wiking first discovered the game in the 1980s in his native Sweden, though he admits he was not immediately impressed by the sport. Not long after a friend had convinced him to watch the Minnesota Vikings take on the Chicago Bears in American Bowl preseason action in Stockholm, he felt compelled to learn more about the game the rest of the world calls American football. A new cable TV channel began showing highlights in Sweden and Wiking soon discover a passion for the game. He eventually became a San Diego Chargers fan after attending his first NFL regular season game on a Monday night in Southern California,
Wiking was typical of a new generation of international American football fans whose enthusiasm was the catalyst for teams to spring up across the globe. Many European countries experienced a similar upsurge in interest in the decidedly foreign sport. He took the initiative and started his own university team in 1990, played left tackle for the Stockholm Traders and a year later was elected to the board of the Swedish federation, eventually taking over the presidency.
Wiking, whose IFAF leadership is combined with a full time regular job as Chief Financial Officer of StayAt Hotels in Sweden, attended the first ever IFAF meeting when it was founded in 1998. He became President in 2006. The delegates from a record number of 28 countries present at the annual IFAF Congress in Seville, Spain, unanimously elected Wiking for a second term in the summer of 2008.
A resident of Gothenburg, the second-largest city in Sweden located on the country’s west coast, 40-year old Wiking and his partner Sofia have two children, Ulysses (2) and Aeneas (six months).