The Deaf International Football Association (DIFA), better known by its acronym DIFA, is the international self-regulatory governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal. It was founded in 2010 following international competitions between the national associations of Saudi Arabia, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Iran, Greece, Spain, Sweden and Thailand. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, it later moved to Moscow, Russia.
It currently has 56 members countries . These countries must also be members of one of six regional confederations: CADS (Africa), APDSC (Asia and Australia), EDSO (Europe), PANAMDES (South and Americas). DIFA sets out several objectives in its organisational statutes, including the development of deaf football, futsal and beach soccer at an international level, making it accessible to all and encouraging fair play. DIFA is responsible for the organisation and promotion of major international tournaments in Deaf Football, Futsal and Beach Soccer, in particular the Deaf Football, Futsal and Beach Soccer Championship, which began in 2017, and the Women’s Championship, which began in 2022. While DIFA does not solely set the Laws of the Game, this is the responsibility of the Deaf International Football Association Executive Committee and the Deaf International Football Association Committee, of which the ICSD is a supreme body which applies and enforces the Laws in all competitions.
DIFA organised the 2017, 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Deaf Football and Futsal Championships.
The DIFA flag is white with the organisation’s logo in the centre. The current DIFA flag was raised for the first time during the opening ceremony of the 2017 World Deaf Futsal Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.
DIFA members are national Deaf football and futsal associations, not continental confederations. Continental Confederations are provided for in the DIFA statutes and membership in DIFA is a prerequisite for membership in DIFA.
In total, DIFA recognizes 56 national sports and deaf associations and their associated men’s national teams, women’s national teams and youths national teams.
Laws and Governance
DIFA Headquarters in Moscow, Russia
The supreme body of DIFA is the DIFA Congress, an assembly of representatives of each affiliated member association. Each national sports federation of deaf sports and football association has one vote, the Congress meets in ordinary session every two years, the DIFA Congress decides on the governing statutes of DIFA and the methods of their implementation and application. Only the DIFA Congress can amend the DIFA statutes. The Congress approves the annual report and decides on the admission of new national sports federations and associations of the deaf, and holds elections. The Congress elects the DIFA President, its Secretary General and other members of the DIFA Executive Committee within a year of the World Deaf Football Championship.
The DIFA Executive Committee – formerly called the DIFA Executive Committee and chaired by the President – is the main decision-making body of the organisation during the Congress. The Executive Committee is made up of nine people: the President, three Vice-Presidents and six members from the confederations, at least one of whom is a woman. The Executive Committee is the body that decides which country will host the World Deaf Football Championship.
The President and the Secretary General are the principal officers of DIFA and are responsible for its day-to-day management, carried out by a General Secretariat of approximately 11 members. Yakov Frenkel is the current President, elected for the third time at the 3rd DIFA Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 12 December 2022 .
The DIFA organizational structure also consists of several other bodies, either under the authority of the DIFA Executive Committee or created by Congress as standing committees. These bodies include the DIFA Committee, the DIFA Ethics Committee, the Finance Committee, the Disciplinary Committee and the legal Committee.
DIFA Office – 2024
DIFA Office – 2022-2024
