Improved application process for future WOC & WMOC

IOF Council has decided to enable applying for and awarding World Orienteering Championships (WOC) and World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC) in consecutive years.

In practice this means that national federations can apply for hosting a “Sprint” WOC 2028/2030 or a “Forest” WOC 2029 during the current bidding period that runs until the end of this year.

Henrik Eliasson, IOF CEO: “We can see that our biggest orienteering events are giving a huge positive impact for host cities, regions and national federations. By opening the availability to apply for WOC and WMOC in consecutive years, we aim to further improve the long term planning process for the organisers. We can see that this is a success factor, and can also enable a multi-year build up that will be a great foundation for a strong event legacy. Since we usually receive several strong bids every year we are also delighted to be able to recognize the great effort that is made by the national federations.”

Regarding WMOC it will be possible to apply for two consecutive years. In this current bidding period national federations can apply for WMOC2027/2028.

If the bid-quality is high enough, IOF Council is able to award a WOC or a WMOC to several future organisers in the same bidding period. Otherwise only WOC2028 and WMOC2027 will be awarded during 2024, and the coming years events will be possible to apply for in next years bidding period.

You can find Guidance notes and application documents per event on IOF website in the section: Apply for an IOF Event

If you have any questions, please email IOF Office