Germany
ITF
West Germany was one of the nine founding countries of the ITF in 1966, when General Choi Hong Hi formalized the international federation after his European demonstration tour. This founding country status gives the German ITF community a unique historical place within the global Taekwondo movement. Today at least three organizations affiliated with the ITF are active in Germany — a reflection of the fragmentation derived from the post-2002 schism — although the community is active in European tournaments of the EITF and AETF circuit.
Founding Member
Founding member of the ITF — the origins
West Germany, one of the nine countries that signed the ITF charter in 1966
In 1965, General Choi Hong Hi toured several European countries — including West Germany — with his demonstration team. On 22 March 1966, when Choi formally founded the ITF in Seoul, West Germany was listed as one of the nine founding members alongside South Korea, South Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the USA, Turkey, Italy and Egypt.
In those early years the distinction between the branches that would later become 'ITF' and 'WT' did not yet exist: everyone practised the same Taekwondo under General Choi's instructions. The first national association operated within the Deutscher Judo Bund (DJB) from 1968, bringing together all practitioners. The institutional split began to take effect in Germany from 1973 onwards.
“West Germany — founding member of the ITF in 1966, one of the nine countries that signed the founding charter alongside General Choi Hong Hi.”
The Schism
The schism period — two paths under one name
The DTU monopolises institutional sport; the ITF community persists in parallel
With the ITF headquarters relocated to Toronto (1972) and later to Vienna (1985), the German Taekwondo community navigated the global schism. Practitioners aligned with the ITF style — with its 24 patterns or tul and Choi Hong Hi's philosophy — found a small but persistent community in Germany.
The schism was particularly complex in Germany given that the Deutsche Taekwondo Union (DTU, founded in 1981) was recognised by the DOSB as the sole body authorised to send athletes to the Olympic Games. This meant that ITF practitioners were excluded from the high-performance system, though they continued their activity in the European and international ITF competition circuit.
“The founding of the DTU (1981) as the sole Olympic body left the German ITF community outside institutional sport, though it preserved its own distinct technical and philosophical identity.”
Fragmentation
Post-Choi fragmentation — three ITF federations in Germany
ITF-D e.V., German-ITF e.V. and ITF-Germany e.V. coexist today
The death of General Choi Hong Hi in 2002 triggered a succession crisis that divided the international ITF into at least three rival organisations. In Germany this fragmentation was faithfully reproduced: ITF-D e.V. (Monheim am Rhein) appears as the main body under the DE code (ID 31766). German-ITF e.V. has an active presence on the European circuit. ITF-Germany e.V. was registered in Marburg in 2012 with 12 founding delegates.
Despite the institutional fragmentation, German ITF organisations maintain active participation in the European circuit. At the 2025 AETF European Taekwon-Do Championships held in Tallinn, Germany participated as part of the 33 countries on the continental circuit. The 2022 ITF World Championships (Netherlands) and the 2025 edition (Barcelona) also featured German representation.
“At least three organisations claim to represent the ITF in Germany — a direct reflection of the global fragmentation of the ITF following the death of Choi Hong Hi in 2002.”
Taekwondo in Germany
- ›Emigró a Alemania Occidental en 1966 — pionero absoluto del TKD alemán
- ›Enseñó Taekwondo antes de que existiera la separación ITF/WT
- ›Reconocido como 'Padre del Taekwondo alemán' por la comunidad marcial histórica
Keep exploring
The history of Taekwondo continues in every dojang, every class, every student.