World Karate Federation

International governing body of sport karate

World Karate Federation

Sport| Karate
Jurisdiction| Worldwide
Membership| 200
Abbreviation| WKF
Founded| 10 October 1970; 54 years ago (1970-10-10)[1][2][3]
Affiliation| IOC
Regional affiliation| World
Headquarters| Madrid
Location| Spain
President| Antonio Espinós of Spain
CEO| Sara Wolfferdown
Vice president(s)| Jose Garcia-Maañón, Nasser Alrazooqi, Bechir Cherif, Gunnar Nordahl, Michael Kassis, Wolfgang Weigert
Official website
www.wkf.net

The World Karate Federation (WKF) is an international governing body of sport karate with 198 member countries.[4] It is the only karate organization recognised by the International Olympic Committee and has more than a hundred million members.[5][6][7][8] The WKF organizes their Junior and Senior Karate World Championships, which are each held every other year. The President of the WKF is Antonio Espinós, and the headquarters are located in Madrid, Spain.[9]

## History

[edit]

Karate was introduced to Europe around the 1950s by Japanese masters, mainly from the Japan Karate Association (JKA).[10] In 1961, Jacques Delcourt was appointed President of French Karate Federation, which was at that stage an associated member of the French Judo Federation. In 1963 he invited the six other known European federations (Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Spain) to come to France for the first-ever international karate event, and Great Britain and Belgium accepted the invitation.[11]

In December of that year, six of the seven federations gathered in Paris, in what was to be the first European Karate Congress, with the aim of improving and organising karate tournaments between their countries. It was noted that the unification of the different karate styles was impossible, and so they decided to unify the refereeing.[11][12]

By 1963 the European Karate Union was created, with Jacques Delcourt voted in as President. The following year the first European Karate Championships were held, in Paris.

In 1970, the International Karate Union (IKU) was formed by Jacques Delcourt in an effort to organise karate at the world level. Upon hearing this, Ryoichi Sasakawa, President of the Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organization (FAJKO), which later changed its name to the Japan Karate Federation (JKF), travelled to France to discuss the creation of an international governing body.[10][13] The IKU was quickly disbanded and a new organisation was formed between the EKU and the Japanese federation, and was called the World Union of Karate-do Organizations (WUKO).[14][15]

In 1985 the World Union of Karate-do Organizations was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the official board for karate.[16]

The integration of several new organizations during the 1990s saw WUKO membership increase to 150 National Federations. Therefore, a new name that would more accurately reflect the size and scope of the organization was needed. The name of the first International organization representing sport Karate was thus changed to World Karate Federation (WKF) on December 20, 1992. [17]

The significant growth of WKF resulted in a consolidated organisation that fully represented the sport of Karate at the international level. This legitimacy was confirmed in 1999 when the IOC officially recognised the World Karate Federation as the sole governing body for the sport of Karate in the world. [18]

In August 2016 it was announced Karate would be in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[19][20]

## Members

[edit]

The global membership of the World Karate Federation stands at 200 national federation members, spanning five continents.[21]

### Continental federations

[edit]

Continent  | Name  | Abbreviation  | national member federations

|
|
|

Africa | African Karate Federation | UFAK  | 50
Asia | Asian Karate Federation | AKF  | 44
Europe | European Karate Federation | EKF  | 54
Americas | Panamerican Karate Federation | PKF  | 39
Oceania | Oceanian Karate Federation | OKF  | 13

### National federations

[edit]

Asia [22] |  |  |

|
|
|

Afghanistan |  Bahrain |  Bangladesh |  Bhutan
Brunei |  Cambodia |  North Korea |  Timor-Leste
Hong Kong |  India |  Indonesia |  Iraq
Iran |  Japan |  Jordan |  Kazakhstan
Kuwait |  Kyrgyzstan |  Laos |  Lebanon
Macau, China |  Malaysia |  Mongolia |  Myanmar
Nepal |  Oman |  Pakistan |  Palestine
China |  Philippines |  Qatar |  South Korea
Saudi Arabia |  Singapore |  Sri Lanka |  Syria
Tajikistan |  Thailand |  Chinese Taipei |  Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates |  Uzbekistan |  Vietnam |  Yemen

Europe [23] |  |  |

|
|
|

Albania |  Andorra |  Armenia |  Austria
Azerbaijan |  Belarus |  Belgium |  Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria |  Croatia |  Cyprus |  Czech Republic
Denmark |  England |  Estonia |  Finland
France |  Georgia |  Germany |  Great Britain
Greece |  Hungary |  Iceland |  Ireland
Israel |  Italy |  Kosovo |  Latvia
Liechtenstein |  Lithuania |  Luxembourg |  Malta
Monaco |  Montenegro |  Netherlands |  North Macedonia
Northern Ireland |  Norway |  Poland |  Portugal
Moldova |  Romania |  Russia |  San Marino
Scotland |  Serbia |  Slovakia |  Slovenia
Spain |  Sweden |  Switzerland |  Turkey
Ukraine |  Wales |  |

Panamerica [24] |  |  |

|
|
|

Antigua and Barbuda |  Argentina |  Aruba |  Bahamas
Barbados |  Belize |  Bermuda |  Bolivia
Brazil |  Canada |  Cayman Islands |  Chile
Colombia |  Costa Rica |  Cuba |  Curaçao
Dominican Republic |  Ecuador |  El Salvador |  Grenada
Guatemala |  Guyana |  Haiti |  Honduras
Jamaica |  Martinique |  Mexico |  Nicaragua
Panama |  Paraguay |  Peru |  Puerto Rico
Saint Lucia |  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |  Suriname |  Trinidad and Tobago
United States |  Uruguay |  Venezuela |

Africa [25] |  |  |

|
|
|

Algeria |  Angola |  Benin |  Botswana
Burkina Faso |  Burundi |  Cameroon |  Cape Verde
Central African Republic |  Chad |  Comoros |  Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo |  Djibouti |  Egypt |  Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia |  Gabon |  Gambia |  Ghana
Guinea |  Ivory Coast |  Kenya |  Liberia
Libya |  Madagascar |  Mali |  Mauritania
Mauritius |  Morocco |  Mozambique |  Namibia
Niger |  Nigeria |  Rwanda |  Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal |  Seychelles |  Sierra Leone |  Somalia
South Africa |  South Sudan |  Sudan |  Swaziland
Togo |  Tunisia |  Uganda |  Tanzania
Zambia |  Zimbabwe |  |

Oceania [26] |  |  |

|
|
|

Australia |  Cook Islands |  Fiji |  French Polynesia
Guam |  Nauru |  New Caledonia |  New Zealand
Papua New Guinea |  Samoa |  Solomon Islands |  Vanuatu
Wallis and Futuna |  |  |

## Competition and events

[edit]

### Kumite

[edit]

* Individual kumite \- Men's -60 kg, -67 kg, -75 kg, -84 kg and +84 kg Weight
* Individual kumite \- Women's -50 kg, -55 kg, -61 kg, -68 kg and +68 kg Weight
* Team kumite \- Men and Women

### Kata

[edit]

* Individual kata \- Men and Women
* Team kata (synchronized) - Men and Women

team kata with bunkai

### Para-Karate

[edit]

* Athletes with Visual Impairments - Men and Women
* Athletes with Intellectual Impairments - Men and Women
* Wheelchair User - Men and Women

Rules:[27]

* Martial arts portal

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "WUKO Blog | Blog WUKO – WKF". Wuko.net. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
2. ^ "Karate's pitch for the 2020 Olympics - OlympicTalk". Plympictalk.nbcsports.com. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
3. ^ "World Karate Federation - WKF History". Wkf-web.net. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
4. ^ Warnock, Eleanor (2015-09-25). "Which Kind of Karate Has Olympic Chops?". WSJ. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
5. ^ CodexCoder. "World Karate Federation - The Book". www.wkf.net. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
6. ^ Smit, Sanette (2008). Karate. New Holland. ISBN 9781847731500. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
7. ^ "Final Report on the XXVIIth Olympiad" (PDF). Olympic.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
8. ^ "Karate's Olympic aspirations likely to get chop". Daily Telegraph. London. 2009-05-21. Archived from the original on 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
9. ^ "World Karate Federation President Antonio Espinos Discusses the Olympic Dream - Japan Real Time - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
10. ^ a b "Black Belt February 1976". February 1976. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
11. ^ a b Arriaza, Rafael (March 2009). "Chapter 16: Karate". In Kordi, Ramin; Maffulli, Nicola; Wroble, Randall R.; et al. (eds.). Combat Sports Medicine. Springer. p. 288\. ISBN 9781848003545. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
12. ^ "Sports Shorts". Apnewsarchive.com. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
13. ^ "Democracy, Karate & WKF Politics" (PDF). Wado-uk.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
14. ^ Evans, J. K. (1988): "The battle for Olympic Karate recognition: WUKO vs. IAKF." Black Belt, 26(2):54–58.
15. ^ "Black Belt June 1984". June 1984. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
16. ^ Guttmann, Allen (2001). Japanese Sports. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824824648. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
17. ^ "World Karate Federation - The Book".
18. ^ "World Karate Federation - The Book".
19. ^ "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". IOC. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
20. ^ "Olympics: Baseball/softball, sport climbing, surfing, karate, skateboarding at Tokyo 2020". BBC. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
21. ^ "Membership". World Karate Federation.
22. ^ "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
23. ^ "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
24. ^ "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
25. ^ "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
26. ^ "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
27. ^ Kata and Kumite Competition Rules, Archived 2 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, on the WKF website

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Official WKF YouTube channel
* WKF Karate Records

* v
* t
* e

National members of the World Karate Federation

Countries, teams, association and federation actively joining WKF World Championships.

| Europe (EKF) |

* ALB
* AND
* ARM
* AUT
* AZE
* BEL
* BGR
* BIH
* BLR
* CHE
* CYP
* CZE
* DEU
* DNK
* England
* ESP
* EST
* FIN
* FRA
* GBR
* GEO
* GRE
* HRV
* HUN
* IRL
* ISL
* ISR
* ITA
* KOS
* LIE
* LTU
* LUX
* LVA
* MCO
* MDA
* MKD
* MLT
* MNE
* Northern Ireland
* NLD
* NOR
* POL
* PRT
* ROU
* RUS
* Scotland
* SMR
* SRB
* SVK
* SVN
* SWE
* TUR
* UKR
* Wales

Asian (AKF)|

| South-East|

* BRU
* CAM
* INA
* LAO
* MAS
* MYA
* PHI
* SIN
* THA
* TLS
* VIE

|

West|

* BRH
* IRQ
* JOR
* KUW
* LIB
* OMA
* PLE
* QAT
* KSA
* SYR
* UAE
* YEM

East|

* CHN
* PRK
* KOR
* JPN
* TPE
* HKG
* MAC
* MGL

Central|

* KAZ
* KGZ
* TJK
* TKM
* UZB

South|

* AFG
* BAN
* BHU
* IND
* MDV
* NEP
* PAK
* SRI

African (UFAK)|

50 Affiliated countries

Pan America (PKF)|

* ANT
* ARG
* ARU
* BAH
* BAR
* BIZ
* BER
* BOL
* BRA
* CAN
* CAY
* CHI
* COL
* CRC
* CUB
* DOM
* ECU
* ESA
* VEN
* GRN
* GUA
* GUY
* HAI
* HON
* MEX
* CUR
* NCA
* PAN
* PAR
* PER
* PUR
* LCA
* VIN
* SUR
* TRI
* USA
* URU

Oceania (OKF)|

* AUS
* FIJ
* GUA
* NZL
* New Caledonia
* PNG
* Tahiti
* VAN
* SOL
* Wallis et Futuna

* v
* t
* e

International sports federations

ASOIF (30+2)
Summer Olympics Federations|

* AQUA (aquatic sports)
* WA (archery)
* WA (athletics)
* BWF (badminton)
* WBSC (baseball, softball and Baseball5) (associate)
* FIBA (basketball)
* WB2 (boxing)
* ICF (canoeing)
* UCI (cycling)
* WDSF (dance sport) (associate)
* FEI (equestrian)
* FIE (fencing)
* FIFA (football)
* IGF (golf)
* FIG (gymnastics)
* IHF (handball)
* FIH (field hockey)
* IJF (judo)
* UIPM (modern pentathlon)
* WSK (roller sports)
* FISA (rowing)
* WR (rugby union)
* WS (sailing)
* ISSF (shooting)
* IFSC (sport climbing)
* ISA (surfing)
* ITTF (table tennis)
* WT (taekwondo)
* ITF (tennis)
* TRI (triathlon)
* FIVB (volleyball)
* IWF (weightlifting)
* UWW (wrestling)

AIOWF (7)
Winter Olympics Federations|

* IBU (biathlon)
* IBSF (bobsleigh and skeleton)
* WC (curling)
* IIHF (ice hockey)
* FIL (luge)
* ISU (skating sports)
* FIS (skiing and snowboarding sports)

ARISF (39)
Others recognised by IOC|

* FAI (air sports)
* IFAF (American football)
* FIA (auto racing)
* FIB (bandy)
* WBSC (baseball, softball and Baseball5)
* FIPV (basque pelota)
* WCBS (billiards sports)
* CMSB (boules)
* IBF (bowling)
* WBF (bridge)
* ICU (cheer)
* FIDE (chess)
* ICC (cricket)
* WDSF (dance sport)
* IFF (floorball)
* WFDF (flying disc)
* IFI (ice stock sport)
* WKF (karate)
* WAKO (kickboxing)
* IKF (korfball)
* WL (lacrosse)
* ILSF (life saving)
* FIM (motorcycle sport)
* UIAA (mountaineering)
* IFMA (muaythai)
* WN (netball)
* IOF (orienteering)
* FIP (polo)
* UIM (powerboating)
* IRF (racquetball)
* FIAS (sambo)
* ISMF (ski mountaineering)
* WSF (squash)
* IFS (sumo)
* TWIF (tug-of-war)
* CMAS (underwater sports)
* FISU (university sports)
* IWWF (waterski and wakeboard)
* IWUF (wushu)

AIMS (20)
Others in SportAccord|

* IAF (aikido)
* WAF (arm wrestling)
* IFBB (bodybuilding)
* ICSF (casting)
* WDF (darts)
* IDBF (dragon boat)
* FMJD (draughts)
* IFA (fistball)
* IGF (go)
* JJIF (ju-jitsu)
* FIK (kendo)
* WMF (minigolf)
* IPF (powerlifting)
* IPSC (practical shooting)
* FISav (savate)
* ISTAF (sepak takraw)
* ISFF (sleddog)
* ISTF (soft tennis)
* CIPS (sport fishing)
* FITEQ (teqball)

former GAISF
observer members (11)|

* WDA (dodgeball)
* FIFG (footgolf)
* IJRU (jump rope)
* IUKL (kettlebell lifting)
* FISO (obstacle)
* IPF (padel)
* IFMP (poker)
* IPSF (pole dance)
* IRF (rafting)
* IRL (rugby league)
* ITSF (table football/soccer)

Others|

* WEKAF (arnis)
* AFLC (Australian rules football)
* WBGF (backgammon)
* ISBHF (ball hockey)
* IBA (bodyboarding)
* WB (bowls)
* IBA1,2 (boxing)
* SJJIF (Brazilian jiu-jitsu)
* IFBA (broomball)
* WCF (croquet)
* WDBF (dodgeball)
* ICFRA (fullbore rifle)
* IGAA (Gaelic football and hurling)
* ATSX (downhill ice cross)
* IKF2 (kabaddi)
* WK2 (kabaddi)
* IKF (kempo)
* FISLY (landsailing)
* IMMAF (mixed martial arts)
* WMRA (mountain running)
* ORSI (ocean rowing)
* IPF (pickleball)
* IQA (quad ball)
* IFMAR (radio-controlled racing)
* IRF (rogaining)
* WSSF (snowshoe running)
* ISF (skyrunning)
* WSSA (sport stacking)
* ITHF (table hockey)
* ITPF (tent pegging)
* FIT (touch football)
* ITRA (trail running)
* IAU (ultra running)

* International Olympic Committee
* International World Games Association
* SportAccord

* 1 IOC recognition withdrawn
* 2 Contested governance

* v
* t
* e

International karate competitions

World|

* World Championships
* Team
* Cadet, Junior and U21 World Championships

Continental|

* African Championships
* Asian Championships
* European Championships
* Oceania Championships

Multi-sport|

* African Games
* Asian Games
* European Games
* Pan American Games
* Summer Olympics
* World Games
* Summer Youth Olympics
* World University Championships

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef

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