WFDF 2024 World Guts Championship to be held concurrently
The WFDF 2024 World Ultimate Championships (WUC) will be held in Gold Coast, Australia from Saturday the 31st of August through Saturday the 7th of September. The WFDF 2024 World Guts Championship (WGC) will be held concurrently at the same venue. The events will be staged at the Runaway Bay Sport Precinct, with satellite fields located at the Alabaster Drive Sports Precinct, and athlete accommodations will be adjacent to the beach at Surfers Paradise. WFDF expects more than 2,500 athletes from 40+ countries to participate in three Ultimate divisions (Open, Women’s and Mixed) and in one of Guts Frisbee.
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) will be the events subsidiary of Australian Flying Disc Association Ltd (AFDA) (WFDF’s member National Federation), working in close cooperation with the city of Gold Coast and the Queensland state government. The event, which was formerly known as the World Ultimate and Guts Championship (WUGC), will be split for the first time into the two separately titled events.
“These Championships being hosted in Australia in 2024 will mark the return of National teams to WFDF World Championships for the first time since 2016 on account of the WUGC being canceled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. WUGC 2016 was hosted in London and it is great to host this event in the Asian-Oceanic region to give all participants an opportunity to travel to parts of the world they might not otherwise have the opportunity to visit,” stated Robert “Nob” Rauch, WFDF’s President. “Australia and the Gold Coast will offer a unique immersion in the cultural aspects of Australian sporting events. The LOC has put considerable efforts into developing a detailed plan and building a relationship with the host city since before the pandemic and it was able to pick up and continue with those plans to deliver a fantastic experience for athletes, supporters, and spectators.”
AFDA hosted the WFDF 2018 World Under-24 Ultimate Championships and the WFDF 2006 World Ultimate Club Championships with great success. The 2024 LOC will be headed up by Mathew Ryan and his experienced team of event coordinators who have significant experience hosting national and international events.
Outside of Flying Disc, the host city hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games and is hosting several sporting events for the 2032 Summer Olympics; the Gold Coast area will be home to sports such as Volleyball, Football, Triathlon, and Cricket among others. The region within Australia is a huge buzz of international sporting events right now.
“We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded the privilege of hosting the WFDF 2024 WUC and WGC events,” commented AFDA’s Chairman of the Board Simon Farrow. “This achievement is the result of an immense amount of effort put forth by TD Mat Ryan, who embarked on this dream back in 2018. Mat’s dedication can be traced through his participation in various World Ultimate events, his organization of numerous local Australian tournaments (at both the state and national levels), and his invaluable contributions as a key volunteer at the 2018 World U24 Ultimate Championships. As someone who has had the privilege of volunteering in diverse capacities for the WFDF 2019 WU24 in Germany and the 2018 and 2022 WUCC events in the USA, I am personally excited to contribute to the delivery of an exceptional experience for athletes, volunteers, and spectators from all corners of the globe. I am confident that all of the Australian Ultimate community will be excited to be hosting this event on our shores.”
WFDF extends a warm welcome to all member National Federations for players to represent their country at the event. The official event bulletin with detailed information as well as pre-registrations to nominate teams will be available in the coming months. Bids for WUC will be allocated per the rules as published in Appendix E.4 and will be offered to Member National Federations in good standing with WFDF. WGC will allow up to three (3) teams per country to participate as the competitive schedule allows.
WFDF will also be staging another major Flying Disc event in Australia late next year. The WFDF 2024 World Team Disc Golf Championship (WTDGC) will be held in Mundaring, Perth in Western Australia from Wednesday 6th November through Saturday 9th November, 2024.