About European sambo federation

In 1972, the first Open European Sambo Championship for men was organized in Riga. The Champion was held under the auspices of the FILA. And only VI Championship in 1986 in Leningrad was organized by FIAS. Since then Europe championships have been held by FIAS while no European Sambo Federation existed at that time.

European Sambo Federation was established in Turin, Italy in 1991. It was started by national sambo federations of Italy, Russia, Georgia, Sweden, Lithuania, France and San-Marino. The president of the ESF was reelected a representative of Italy – Parde Mario Loi, who soon quitted his post and at the XI congress in Vilnius he was reelected.

Mikhail Tikhomirov, President of ESF, who was reelected for the second close at the IV congress of the ESF, became President of Russian Sambo Federation.

Since1992, European Championships have been held annually. Congresses have been organized annually as well. European Championship for women, young people, juniors and international championships have been held since 1992 The number of participating national federation has increased to 15—17 countries. It is also worth mentioning that in 1992 there was another sambo federation in Europe that held its own events. Sanboists of some countries took part in events organized by both federations.

After international federations the FIAS and the FMS united in Tbilisi in 1997, uniting of their European structures became inevitable too. For this purpose, a congress of national federations of Europe was held after European Championship 1998 to elect new heads of unarmed self-defense in Europe.
This year opened up a new stage in unarmed self-defense development in Europe.