ABSTRACT
International Sports Federations (IFs) govern global sport. There are more than 100 IFs (members of the Global Association of International Sports Federations [GAISF]), of which approximately 60 have their headquarters in Switzerland. IFs range from the powerful FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) which has been based in Zurich since 1932, to the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), which recently established its headquarters in Lausanne to govern the Chinese martial art also known as Kung Fu. IFs act as umbrella organisations for the national federations of their sport; in turn, national federations and state federations oversee clubs. IFs establish and control global rules, award championships to cities and countries, negotiate with sponsors and broadcasters and fight the excesses of sport such as doping and corruption. They are usually associations of associations and, from this point of view, their governance deserves to be studied separately from that of sports associations that comprise individuals, such as the IOC (International Olympic Committee) or clubs (Chappelet, 2016a).
