Dr. Rafael Santonja

Biography

Dr. Rafael Santonja (Spain) is the President of the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB), the international federation founded in 1946 by the brothers Ben and Joe Weider.

He has led the IFBB since 2006, when he was elected President at the congress in Ostrava (Czech Republic). He was re-elected in 2010 and 2014 and — most recently — in November 2022, when the congress held in Santa Susanna (Barcelona, Spain) with delegates of 104 countries re-elected him unanimously for the 2022–2026 term.

He is also the founder and President of the European Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (EBFF), and in the 1980s he was President of the Spanish federation.

In his message as President he describes fitness and bodybuilding in three ways: as a competitive sport, as complementary training for other sports, and as a healthy lifestyle at every age.

Management record

• 1980s — President of the Spanish Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation.
• European federation — founder and President of the European Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (EBFF); re-elected unanimously in May 2018 (term 2018–2022) and again in 2022 (term 2022–2026).
• 2006 — elected President of the IFBB at the congress in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
• 2010 and 2014 — re-elected IFBB President (Baku; Brasília).
• 2017 — under his presidency the IFBB launched its own professional division, IFBB Elite Pro; he attended its first events in Lahti, Finland, in October 2017.
• November 2022 — unanimously re-elected IFBB President for 2022–2026 at the congress in Santa Susanna (Barcelona, Spain).

Additional notes

As President he represents the IFBB before Olympic and international sports organizations; IFBB publications report, for example, his attendance at the general assembly of the National Olympic Committees in Doha (2019) and working meetings with sports authorities of several countries.

According to the federation’s own presentation, the IFBB has 204 affiliated nations.