2015 IFAF World Championships To Feature Competition For Cheerleading And American Football

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Cheer Union (ICU) and the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) will be working together to promote both sports at the 2015 IFAF World Championships, to be held July 4-18, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The ICU and the IFAF have each been recognized by SportAccord as the official governing body for their respective sports. Both Cheerleading and American Football have a rich 100-year history originating from American university sporting programs in the late 1800s. More than a century later, both sports are thriving and growing rapidly. 

Tommy Wiking, IFAF's President said, "Cheerleading and American Football obviously have a long history of working together, American Football athletes on the gridiron, and Cheerleading athletes in the same venue engaging the American Football spectators. The 2015 IFAF World Championships will bring together both of these great sports at one event, promoting an atmosphere of national pride for both the American Football and Cheerleading fans in this uniquely historical and now famous game environment."

"This is quite an exciting time for both the sports of American Football and Cheerleading," said Karl Olson, ICU's Secretary General.  "What began more than 100 years ago at an American university campus for both of our sports is continuing to grow on all continents at a very rapid pace." 

As a complement to IFAF's qualified national teams traveling to Stockholm for the 2015 IFAF World Championships, ICU's respective national cheer federations plan to send their own national cheer teams to support and perform during their nation's American Football games, as well as compete against the other national cheer teams for a 2015 World Cheerleading Game Day Championship title. Currently, ten (10) American Football teams have qualified for the 2015 IFAF World Championships: Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Sweden and the USA, and two (2) more nations will qualify within the next five (5) months.

ICU President Jeff Webb commented, "Cheerleading is certainly a unique sport. While it is very competitive from the Competition aspect, Cheerleading also has the ability to enhance the game experience for other sporting events. ICU values the great relationship we have with the IFAF organization and IFAF President Tommy Wiking. We know that the 2015 IFAF World Championships will be a wonderful event for all of the competitors and we look forward to working together to help make this event a great experience for the fans."

About IFAF and ICU
The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the world governing body for American Football and the International Cheer Union (ICU) is the world governing body for Cheerleading. More information can be found on www.ifaf.org and www.cheerunion.org. Photography is available upon request. Contact Michael Ryan at [email protected] (American Football) or Sheila Noone at [email protected] (Cheerleading) for more information.

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SOURCE International Cheer Union