The International Federation of Basque Pelota is the world-wide governing body for Basque pelota. It sets the regulations for international competition and organizes the competitions.

History

The International federation of Basque pelota was established on May 19, 1929, in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 brought into being by the French Federation of Basque Pelota, the Spanish Federation of Basque Pelota

Spanish Federation of Basque Pelota

The Spanish Federation of Basque pelota or Federación Española de Pelota Vasca is the main governing body of Basque pelota in Spain and one of the most important in the world along with the International Federation of Basque Pelota.-History:...

 and the Argentinian Federation of Basque Pelota. Due to the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, their activities were restricted until 1945. In 1946 the official modalities regulated by the federation were defined, and its specific rules set for equality of the participant country federations and the international championships. The headquarters of the federation are currently located in Pamplona

Pamplona

Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

President	Years Active
Jean Ybarnegaray	1929 - 1946
Manuel Balet Crous	1946 – 1954
Carmelo Balda Galarraga	1954 – 1969
Javier Gil de Biedma	1970 – 1978
Jesús Fernández Iriondo	1978 – 1994
Enrique Gaytán de Ayala	1994 – 2002
Dominique Boutineau	2002 - Present

Categories

• Pala Corta
• Rubber-paleta
• Paleta-Leather (fronton)
• Paleta-Leather (trinquete)
• Xare
• Cesta Punta
• Frontenis
• Hand-pelota (fronton)
• Hand-pelota (trinquete)

Participating National Federations

Currently the International Federation is constituted by 27 national federations.

Federation	Country
Spanish Federation of Basque Pelota Spanish Federation of Basque Pelota The Spanish Federation of Basque pelota or Federación Española de Pelota Vasca is the main governing body of Basque pelota in Spain and one of the most important in the world along with the International Federation of Basque Pelota.-History:...
French Federation of Basque Pelota
Argentinian Federation of Basque Pelota
French Federation of Basque Pelota
Canadian Federation of Basque Pelota
United States Federation of Basque Pelota
Mexican Federation of Basque Pelota
Uruguayan Federation of Basque Pelota
Italian Federation of Basque Pelota
Filipinian Federation of Basque Pelota
Greek Federation of Basque Pelota
Indian Federation of Basque Pelota
Belguian Federation of Basque Pelota
Dutch Federation of Basque Pelota
Venuzuelan Federation of Basque Pelota
Puerto Rican Federation of Basque Pelota
Peruvian Federation of Basque Pelota
Paraguayan Federation of Basque Pelota
Nicaraguan Federation of Basque Pelota
Guatemalan Federation of Basque Pelota
El Salvador Federation of Basque Pelota
Equatorian Federation of Basque Pelota
Chilenian Federation of Basque Pelota
Cuban Federation of Basque Pelota
Costa Rica Federation of Basque Pelota
Brasilian Federation of Basque Pelota
Bolivian Federation of Basque Pelota

Medal Count

The current historical medal count since 1952 is as follows:

Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1		58	47	35	140
2		56	61	29	146
3		42	23	11	76
4		37	34	24	95
5		4	29	13	46
6		2	4	9	15
7		0	1	2	3
8		0	0	6	6

Note 1: Medal count is sorted by total gold medals, then total silver medals, then total bronze medals, then alphabetically.

Note 2: From 1952 to 1970 there wasn't dispute for the bronze medal.

Note 3: The table includes all modalities, including the Plaza Libre event from the 1952 and from the 1958 Basque Pelota World Championships.