International Shooting Sport Federation

Shooting events for men were first included on the Olympic programme in its inaugural edition, at Athinai 1896, and the first World Championships in the sport were held the following year, in Lyon, France.

On 17 July 1907, representatives from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands met in Zürich, Switzerland, to formally establish the L’Union Internationale des Fédérations et Associations nationals de Tir. After the 1st World War, on 16 April 1920, the organization was reestablished under the name L’Union Internationale de Tir (UIT).

The 37th UIT World Shooting Championships, staged in Moskva, Russia, in 1958, were the first to include specific events for women. Women were first allowed to compete in Olympic shooting at Ciudad de México 1968, when all events became open to both genders. At Los Angeles 1984, the UIT finally introduced separate Olympic events for women.

At the 1998 General Assembly in Barcelona, Spain, the word “sport” was formally incorporated into the federation’s current name, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). Shooting has also been a part of the Youth Summer Olympics since the competition’s inception, at Singapore 2010, with events for boys and girls.

The ISSF headquarters is located in München, Germany. In 2022, the Italian politician Luciano Rossi was elected as President of the federation. As of January 2026, the ISSF brings together 163 member federations from 149 countries or territories around the world.