International Esports Federation

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International Esports Federation
Map of member and associate nations
  Member nations per August 2020
AbbreviationIESF
FormationAugust 11, 2008; 13 years ago (2008-08-11)
TypeSports federation
HeadquartersBusan, South Korea
Official language
English
President
Vlad Marinescu
Main organ
General Assembly
AffiliationsTAFISA
Websitehttp://www.ie-sf.org

The International Esports Federation (IESF) is a global organisation based in South Korea whose mission it is to have esports recognized as a legitimate sport.

Member Nations[]

So far, there are 109 member nations in IESF:[1]

Continent Member Nations
Africa (13)  DR Congo,  Djibouti,  Egypt,  Ghana,  Libya,  Mauritania,  Mauritius,  Morocco,  Namibia,  Nigeria,  Senegal  South Africa,  Tunisia
The Americas (17)  Argentina,  Bahamas,  Brazil,  Chile,  Colombia,  Costa Rica,  Dominican Republic,  Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Honduras,  Jamaica,  Mexico,  Panama,  Peru,  Suriname,  United States,  Venezuela
Asia (34)  Bahrain,  Brunei,  Cambodia,  China,  Chinese Taipei,  Hong Kong,  India ,  Indonesia,  Iran,  Iraq,  Japan,  Jordan,  Kazakhstan,  Kuwait,  Kyrgyzstan,  Laos,  Lebanon,  Macau,  Malaysia,  Maldives,  Mongolia,  Myanmar,    Nepal,  Pakistan,  Philippines,  Saudi Arabia,  South Korea,  Sri Lanka,  Syria,  Thailand,  Turkmenistan,  United Arab Emirates,  Uzbekistan,  Vietnam
Europe (43)  Albania,  Armenia,  Austria,  Azerbaijan,  Belarus,  Belgium,  Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Croatia,  Czech Republic,  Denmark,  Estonia,  Finland,  France,  Georgia,  Germany,  Greece,  Hungary,  Ireland,  Israel,  Italy,  Kosovo,  Lithuania,  Luxembourg,  Malta,  Monaco,  Montenegro,  North Macedonia,  Netherlands,  Norway,  Poland,  Portugal,  Romania,  Russia,  San Marino,  Serbia,  Slovakia,  Slovenia,  Spain,  Sweden,   Switzerland,  Turkey,  Ukraine,  Wales
Oceania (2)  Australia,  New Zealand
Affiliate Members are eSports Middle East, Fighting Esports Group Korea (FEG) and International Esports Karate Organization (IE-KO).

History[]

The International Esports Federation was founded on August 8, 2008, by nine esports associations from Denmark, South Korea, Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Vietnam and Taiwan, and held its first general meeting in November of the same year.

A year later, on December 12, the IeSF was able to host its own international tournaments, starting with the "IeSF challenge" in 2009, followed by "IeSF Grand Finals" in 2010, and the "IeSF World Championship" in 2011 and onward.[2]

2012 saw a massive breakthrough for esports and the IeSF, as the IeSF 2012 World championship presented an esports tournament for women for the first time.

On July 7, 2013, IeSF was selected as counterpart for the electronic sports discipline of the 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.[3] This was a big breakthrough for esports and the IeSF, as the branch was introduced in an Olympic event for the first time.

In May 2013, IeSF was approved as the official signatory of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the branch of e-Sports.[4]

In July 2013, IeSF submitted an application to join Sport Accord, and is expected to be approved as a temporary member in April 2014.[5]

In November 2013, IeSF saw a successful overseas launch of its events, as the IeSF 2013 World Championship and the 2013 General Meeting was held in the city of Bucharest, Romania, in what was the first time of an IeSF event held outside of South Korea.

In May 2014, IeSF was approved for membership by TAFISA. The IeSF will be represented at the 2016 TAFISA World Games for All, to be held in Jakarta.[6]

In 2014, IeSF restricted female players from participating in the Hearthstone tournament, as part of the World Championship division of tournament into male and female sections. IeSF later revised the policy, uniting the section into open-for-all tournaments while maintaining female-only tournaments with smaller prize pools.[7]

In the 2015 World Championship, an esports panel was hosted with guests from international sports society to discuss the future recognition of esports as a recognized, legitimate sporting activity worldwide.[8]

The four federations which are newly represented in the IESF are Colombia's Federación Colombiana de Deportes Electrónicos (FEDECOLDE), Kazakhstan's Qazaq Cybersport Federation (QCF), Turkey's Turkish Esports Federation (TESFED), and Ukraine's Federation of E-Sport of Ukraine (UESF).[9]

The addition of four more countries brings the IESF's total count of member nations to 60, with six continents represented. Asia and Europe make up the bulk of the numbers with 24 and 22 respectively, with Macau's arrival in 2016 marking the last time a new member joined until now.[9]

In July 2016, Macau became the 56th member nation of the IESF.[10]

The International eSports Federation (IeSF) has voted to accept the United States eSports Federation (USeF) as a full member. The decision, taken at the IeSF General Meeting in Kaohsiung in Taiwan, means that USeF is the official recognized national governing body of esports in the US.[11]

Esports is set to expand across the Middle East with Korean non-profit International Esports Federation (IESF) recently announcing plans to enter the region. IESF has signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UAE's Motivate Media Group, parent company of Gulf Business, to expand regionally. Currently, the Esports category has over 300 million gamers across the Middle East alone.[12]

World Championships[]

So far, the IeSF has held twelve World Championships:

Year Title Location Titles played Winner Runner up
2009 IeSF 2009 Challenge South Korea Taebaek, South Korea FIFA Online  South Korea  China
2010 IeSF Grand Final South Korea Daegu, South Korea FIFA Online, WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne  South Korea  Romania
2011 IeSF World Championship South Korea Andong, South Korea StarCraft II, FIFA Online  Sweden  South Korea
2012 IeSF World Championship South Korea Cheonan, South Korea Alliance of Valiant Arms, StarCraft II, Tekken Tag Tournament 2  South Korea  Austria
2013 IeSF World Championship Romania Bucharest, Romania League of Legends, StarCraft II, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Alliance of Valiant Arms  South Korea  Sweden
2014 Esports World Championship 2014 Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan Dota 2, Hearthstone, Ultra Street Fighter IV, StarCraft II, Tekken Tag Tournament 2  South Korea  China
2015 Esports World Championship 2015 South Korea Seoul, South Korea League of Legends, StarCraft II, Hearthstone  Serbia  South Korea
2016 Esports World Championship 2016 Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia[13] Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Hearthstone  South Korea  Finland
2017 Esports World Championship 2017 South Korea Busan, South Korea Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Tekken 7  South Korea  Philippines
2018 Esports World Championship 2018 Taiwan Kaohsiung, Taiwan Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Tekken 7[14]  South Korea  Finland
2019 Esports World Championship 2019 South Korea Seoul, South Korea Dota 2, Tekken 7, eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020  Japan  Sweden
2020 Esports World Championship 2020 Israel Eilat, Israel Dota 2, Tekken 7, eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 Postponed Postponed
2021 Esports World Championship 2021 Israel Eilat, Israel[15] Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Tekken 7, eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020

References[]

  1. ^ "Members of IESF". www.ie-sf.org. Retrieved January 15, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ leSF. "IeSF". Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  3. ^ leSF. "media > IeSF News > [IeSF News] Updates on 4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games and IeSF 2013 Asia Conference". Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Anti-Doping Community". World Anti-Doping Agency. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  5. ^ leSF. "media > IeSF News > [IeSF News] IeSF submitted its membership application to "Sport Accord"". Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  6. ^ "IeSF, 국제체육기구 가맹 "e스포츠도 생활체육"". Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  7. ^ Jenna Pitcher. "Previously male-only Hearthstone competition now open to all genders". Polygon. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  8. ^ [2015 IESF] e-Sports Summit with International Sports Society -EsportsTV. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20 – via YouTube.
  9. ^ a b Zalik, D. & Dejan. (2019-08-25). Esportsbets.com. International e-Sports Federation Launches Initiative To Bring Esports To The Olympics.
  10. ^ "Grow uP eSports". growupesports.com.
  11. ^ Mackay, D. (2019-08-12). The Sports Digest. International eSports Federation Accepts United States as Latest Member.
  12. ^ Freelance, M. (2019-11-14). GulfBusiness.com. Motivate, IESF sign MoU to grow regionally.
  13. ^ "8th E-Sports World Championships to Be Held in Jakarta, Indonesia - Esports by Inquirer.net". 18 March 2016.
  14. ^ "TEKKEN 7 Announces as Game Title for 10th Esports World Championship -". 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  15. ^ "85 countries will play at the IESF's 13th Esports World Championship". 2021-05-21.

External links[]

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