History

The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) was founded on 21 May 1961 at a Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The 10 founding members were Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. 

You can also find historical editions of IOF Publications (Memories of the Winners, Orienteering World 2009-2019, Inside Orienteering 2012-2015, O-zine 2001-2011, Annual reports, Scientific Journal of Orienteering) here: https://orienteering.sport/iof/communication/publications/

The German orienteering federation have also digitalized IOF material which can be found here. The oldest IOF material held in the german archive is from 1963, when IOF was 2 years old. Most of IOF’s magazine publications since then – called IOF Report until 1985, then for a short while IOF Bulletin before the name was changed again to Orienteering World – are included. One particularly interesting publication is the 2011 edition of Orienteering World, celebrating the 50th anniversary of IOF, which runs to 76 A4 sides and is crammed with interesting articles and pictures. Readers interested in the politics of IOF in the last 20+ years can delve into issues of the Biennial Report, and the archive also contains a special marketing and publicity brochure from the late 1990s, The World of Orienteering.

To know more...Click Here