Touch Football World Cup
The first Touch Football World Cup tournament was held in 1988. Touch football and the Touch football world cup are monitored by the international governing body for touch the FIT. The Touch world cup has been hosted in five continents but is yet to be played in South America. Australia has hosted the World Cup the most having hosted it thrice. While the number of participant teams is growing steadily, almost all finals to date have been contested between Australia and New Zealand. Australia has won the most finals.
Touch as included in the Touch world cup is played on a rectangular 70m x 50m pitch. It is played six aside with eight substitutes. The match is played for 40 minutes in two twenty-minute halves. Touch unlike many other football variants always uses three referees and this is the same in the Touch football world cup.
Touch football and therefore the Touch World Cup are seen as competitors to its Rugby Union equivalent, Tag rugby and the Tag rugby world cup, which is held every three years, the Touch Rugby World Cup is instead held every four years much like the football and rugby world cups.
World Cup Venues
The following outlines the World Cups held and planned for the future- 1988 - Australia
- 1991 - New Zealand
- 1995 - United States
- 1999 - Australia
- 2003 - Japan
- 2007 - South Africa
- 2011 - Scotland
- 2015 - Australia
- 2019 - Malaysia
- 2023-TBD
World Cup Results
1988 - Australia (Gold Coast)
World Cup # : 1Dates : 14–16 November 1988
Participants : 5
Location : Carrara Oval, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 4 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 4 |
| Mixed Open | Australia | New Zealand | 4 |
| Men's Masters | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
1991 - New Zealand (Auckland)
World Cup # : 2Dates : 3–7 December 1991
Participants : 9
Location : Avondale Racecourse, Auckland, New Zealand
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 9 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 6 |
| Mixed Open | Australia | New Zealand | 6 |
| Men's Seniors | Australia | New Zealand | 7 |
| Women's Seniors | New Zealand | Australia | 5 |
| Men's Masters | Australia | New Zealand | 6 |
1995 - USA, Hawaii (Waikiki Beach)
World Cup # : 3Dates : 21–25 March 1995
Participants : 11
Location : Kapiolani Park, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, United States
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 8 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 6 |
| Mixed Open | Australia | New Zealand | 8 |
| Men's Over 30 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 7 |
| Women's Over 30 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
| Men's Over 35 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
| Men's Over 40 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 3 |
1999 - Australia (Sydney)
World Cup # : 4Dates : 21–24 April 1999
Participants : 19
Location : David Phillips Sports Fields, Daceyville, Sydney, Australia
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 13 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 8 |
| Mixed Open | New Zealand | Australia | 15 |
| Men's Over 30 Years | Australia | Lebanon | 12 |
| Women's Over 30 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
| Mixed Over 30 Years | New Zealand | Australia | 5 |
| Men's Over 35 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 4 |
| Men's Over 40 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
2003 - Japan (Kumagaya)
World Cup # : 5Dates : 24–28 May 2003
Participants : 10
Location : Kumagaya Rugby Complex, Kumagaya, Japan
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 6 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
| Mixed Open | Australia | New Zealand | 7 |
| Men's Over 30 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
| Men's Over 35 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 4 |
2007 - South Africa (Stellenbosch)
World Cup # : 6Dates : 17–21 January 2007
Participants : 15
Location : Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 8 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 8 |
| Mixed Open | New Zealand | Australia | 6 |
| Mixed 30s | New Zealand | Australia | 7 |
| Men's Over 30 Years | Australia | Samoa | 8 |
| Men's Over 35 Years | Australia | South Africa | 4 |
2011 - Scotland (Edinburgh)
World Cup # : 7Dates : 22–26 June 2011
Participants : 26
Location : Peffermill Sports Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 15 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 11 |
| Mixed Open | Australia | New Zealand | 19 |
| Senior Mixed | New Zealand | Australia | 7 |
| Men's Over 30 Years | Australia | England | 10 |
| Men's Over 35 Years | Australia | South Africa | 11 |
| Men's Over 40 Years | New Zealand | Australia | 10 |
2015 - Australia (Coffs Harbour)
World Cup # : 8Dates : 29 April - 3 May 2015
Participants : 25
Location : Coffs Harbour International Stadium, Coffs Harbour, Australia
Overall winner : Australia
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 16 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | 14 |
| Mixed Open | Australia | New Zealand | 22 |
| Women's Over 27 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 5 |
| Senior Mixed | Australia | New Zealand | 6 |
| Men's Over 30 Years | Australia | Cook Islands | 7 |
| Men's Over 35 Years | New Zealand | Australia | 6 |
| Men's Over 40 Years | Australia | New Zealand | 9 |
| Men's Over 50 Years | Australia | Italy | 5 |
Squads
The competition featured ninety teams from twenty five participating nations.2019 - World Cup (Malaysia,Putrajaya)
World Cup # : 9Dates : 29 April - 4 May 2019
Participants : 28
Location : Taman Ekuestrian, Putrajaya, Malaysia
Overall winner : Australia
Overall Runners up : New Zealand
| Division | Winners | Runners-Up | 3rd Place | Teams |
| Men's Open | Australia | New Zealand | Japan | 16 |
| Women's Open | Australia | New Zealand | Japan | 17 |
| Mixed Open | Australia | New Zealand | Scotland | 22 |
| Women's Over 27 Years | New Zealand | Australia | England | 7 |
| Senior Mixed | Australia | Cook Islands | New Zealand | 11 |
| Men's Over 30 Years | Australia | South Africa | France | 8 |
| Men's Over 35 Years | Australia | New Zealand | Cook Islands | 6 |
| Women's Over 35 Years | Australia | New Zealand | England | 4 |
| Men's Over 40 Years | New Zealand | Australia | Japan | 13 |
| Men's Over 45 Years | Australia | New Zealand | South Africa | 6 |
| Men's Over 50 Years | New Zealand | Australia | Singapore | 6 |
The 2019 Touch Football World Cup is the latest edition of the Touch football world cup. All divisions consisted of a round robin of 1 or more groups, and a finals series. Some groups also consisted of a playoff series.