International Federation of Pickleball

As of April 22, 2022 there are 59 national organizations in the International Federation of Pickleball, including the special administrative region of Hong Kong, China. These national associations are organized into four categories: full members (1), Associate members (22), Affiliate members (34), and Provisional members (2). Each member country is organized under the umbrella of a continental federation. Full member countries can have members elected to the IFP's board of directors, while associate and affiliate member countries cannot.[9] All member countries are required to follow the rules of pickleball as established by the IFP.[10]

The IFP has five continental federations. These are the Asia Federation of Pickleball (AFP), North American Pickleball Federation, South American Pickleball Association, European Pickleball Federation (EPF), and Oceanic Pickleball Federation.

Overall, the IFP gives complete autonomy to member countries in their own nations, except if the actions of a member nation "affect the international image of the sport, the uniform application of one set of rules, or in some way affect the future Olympic status of the sport."[9]

The IFP's officers on the board are elected by the IFP's full member nations and serve two-year terms. The board consists of four officers, including the President, and lower-ranking members known as "At Large" members. The board may assign a maximum of six at-large members at any given time. The previous President is also reserved an "At Large" spot on the board.[11]

As of March 30, 2022, the Secretary and At Large board members resigned, along with eight other director level positions.[8]

Board of Directors (2021)

Role	Board Member	National Association
President	Pat Murphy	United States
Vice President	Sunil Valavalkar	India
Treasurer	David Jordan	United States
Secretary	Vacant
At Large	Vacant

Team North America leader Marcin Rozpedski, holding the trophy earned by Team North America at the inaugural 2017 Bainbridge Cup

The IFP hosts the annual Bainbridge Cup, one the first international pickleball team tournament to ever be played. The tournament is named after Bainbridge Island, where pickleball was invented by Joel Pritchard and his colleagues. It consists of two teams representing geographical regions, usually continents. Originally, the tournament pitted players from Europe against those from North America. In the 2021 Bainbridge Cup, the tournament was organized as "east" versus "west", with players west of the Mississippi River and those from Asia on one team, and players east of the Mississippi and those from Europe on the other.[12][13]

The tournament consists of divisions organized by age and skill level for men's, women's, and mixed doubles. Men's and women's singles were played for the first time at the Bainbridge Cup as a demonstration event in 2021.[12] The event was first hosted in Madrid, Spain in 2017, and has since been hosted in Italy, Germany, and the United States.[12][13][14]

Year	Date(s)	City	Country	Results	Notes
2017	Sep 15	Madrid	Spain	201 North America 119 Europe	The inaugural was played concurrently with the Spanish Open Pickleball Championships.[15]
2018	Jul 20	Montesilvano	Italy	106 North America 82 Europe	Played concurrently with the Italian Open Pickleball Championships.[16]
2019	Jul 12	Essen	Germany	193 Team World 173 Europe	Played concurrently with the German Open Pickleball Championships.[17]
2020	Jul 3	Nottingham	England	Event Cancelled	Originally scheduled to be played concurrently with the English Open Pickleball Tournament. Both events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021	Apr 7–11	Holly Hill, FL	USA	Team cup Cancelled	Event title: Humana-Island Doctors Bainbridge Cup by International Federation of Pickleball. Originally scheduled to be played using an East vs. West team format, but the team format was eliminated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.