World Boxing takes membership to 78 countries in LA 2028 bid

The Executive Board of World Boxing has approved six more membership applications from the National Federations for boxing in Kosovo, Syria, Hungary, Malawi, Estonia and Switzerland to take its membership to 78 countries.

The confirmation of Hungary as the 75th country to have its membership application approved by World Boxing’s Executive Board means that the International Federation has achieved one of the widely established criteria for Olympic inclusion, that a sport must be practiced in at least 75 countries on four continents.

All of the new National Federations have completed a rigorous application process to join World Boxing. They are deemed to be in good standing and, through their statutes and operating processes, able to demonstrate: a transparent and open election process; the existence and operation of WADA-recognized policies and processes; evidence of independent, structured, dispute resolution and appeals processes; formal recognition by either their National Olympic Committee (NOC) or Ministry for Sport and a solid national and international boxing program.

The President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said: “This is a very significant milestone for World Boxing, and I am delighted to welcome our six newest members and thank each of them for making the decision to join our mission to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.

“It is a particular pleasure to welcome Hungary as our 75th member as this means that World Boxing has achieved one of the widely established criteria for a sport to be included in the Olympic Games.

“This is very positive news for everyone involved with boxing, at all levels throughout the world, and I would like to thank all of our member National Federations for their steadfast support and commitment to delivering a better future for boxers and everyone associated with our sport.

“We are continuing to receive applications from National Federations across the globe that want to be part of World Boxing, and I urge all boxing leaders that want to ensure their boxers have the opportunity to compete at a future Olympic Games to do the same and apply to join World Boxing.”

A full list of the 78 National Federations that are members of World Boxing can be viewed here: https://worldboxing.org/membership/

World Boxing was launched in April 2023 and is committed to ensuring that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.

On May 7, 2024, it held its first formal meeting with the IOC which signaled the start of collaboration aimed at establishing a pathway for boxing to remain in the Olympic Games. On September 26, 2024, World Boxing announced that it had set-up an Olympic Commission, chaired by the President of the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan, Gennadiy Golovkin, to support and assist the process of developing a pathway to ensuring that boxing is restored to the Games.