World Boxing has increased its membership to 89 countries after its Executive Board approved the applications of five more boxing National Federations.
The five new members are: the Bulgarian Boxing Federation, the Ghana Boxing Federation, the Sierra Leone Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Federation of the Bahamas and the Albania Boxing Federation.
The approval of the applications follows the recent decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to grant provisional recognition to World Boxing (25 February 2025) and its subsequent confirmation (20 March 2025) that boxing has been restored to the sport programme for LA28.
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-recognised anti-doping polices 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 programme.
The additions of the National Federations for boxing Ghana and Sierra Leone increases World Boxing’s representation in Africa where it now has nine members.
The President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said: “After the recent confirmation that boxing will be part of the programme for LA28, the announcement of five more members, including two from Africa, is more great news for World Boxing as we go from strength to strength and continue to grow our global footprint.
“It is clear that the future of boxing as an Olympic sport lies with World Boxing. The continued growth of our membership is further evidence of the widespread support that exists for our vision of the sport and an expression of confidence in World Boxing’s ability to deliver a better future for boxing that puts the interest of boxers at the heart of decision making.”
Under World Boxing’s Statutes, the approval of the Executive Board means the five new National Federations have been endorsed for membership. Final approval of membership status can only be conferred by Congress, which is the ultimate authority of World Boxing, and will be voted on at the next Congress in New Delhi in November 2025.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with a mission to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.
It held its first formal meeting with the IOC in May 2024 and on 25 February 2025, it was granted provisional recognition by the IOC as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level.