International World Games Association

The International World Games Association (IWGA) is an international association, recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that organises every four years since 1981 the multi-sport event called The World Games.

History
The IWGA was founded on 21 May 1980 in Seoul, South Korea, as World Games Council by 12 international sports federations with a worldwide dissemination, of that were not yet part of the Olympic Games. The intention was to increase the popularity of the sports represented by these federations. The IWGA was constituted under Swiss law as a non-governmental and non-profit-making organisation. In 1996 the World Games Council was renamed into International World Games Association. Since its creation, the number of member federations has increased to 37 with the most recent admission being the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur in April 2014.

Membership
Federations that intend to become a member of the IWGA have to be part of GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations). The IWGA itself is also a member of GAISF and is represented on its council. Sports that want to be recognised by the IWGA need to have a worldwide significance but actually must not be in the programme of the olympic games.

The highest body of the IWGA is the general meeting, that takes place each four years one year after The World Games event. The general meeting elects a seven-member executive committee that hosts four years and also decides about upcoming host cities for The World Games.

Member federations
The following 37 international sports federations are members of IWGA.