The IFAF became a splintered gorup following a dispute at last year's IFAF in Canton, Ohio, in the United States.

Wiking reportedly offered his resignation as President in February 2015 following the collapse of the World Championships in his native Sweden but then changed his position, though he denies this.

IFAF senior vice-president Mac Kaneuji served as the organisation’s acting head until Noronen was elected President in Canton, where Wiking reportedly led a walkout after he was unable to chair the meeting.

They then held their own meeting in the lobby of the hotel in Canton, it is claimed.

Noronen continues to insist that he is now the leader, although Wiking is recognised as the legitimate President by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and SportAccord, the umbrella organisation for Olympic and non-Olympic sports.

He represented the sport at the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the Olympic Games. 

The key nations attending the Wiking’s Paris Congress included Germany, France, Ireland, and Kuwait. 

The United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland and Wiking’s own country of Sweden, were among the countries who attended the Congress in New York City chaired by Noronen.

The US, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Denmark and Finland have subsequently been suspended from the IFAF for refusing to submit information related to athletes for the selection of a registered testing pool as required by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). 

“IFAF, as a WADA signatory and IOC-recognised International Federation, is committed to protecting the clean athletes," said Wiking.

"I sincerely hope that these National Federations realise the grave position they have put themselves in and that they comply with the WADA and IFAF Anti-doping programme as soon as possible."

Adding the confusion is that Noronen's group have control of the official IFAF website and Wiking's administer its Facebook account.

Following the meeting in Paris, the Wiking-led IFAF issued a statement claiming they had "unanimously voted in favour of a new structure" for the world governing body.

"The goal is to implement standard procedures and organisational approaches for the world’s governing body for American football which are common practice in most other global sports associations, especially those of recognised Olympic sports," the statement said. 

"In a move to meet the requirements of the IOC in regard to good governance and anti-doping policies, precise regulations for these are now laid down in IFAF statutes. 

"As sports, sports policy and in particular these of IOC-recognised organisations are in the public eye more than ever before, it was necessary for IFAF to provide members and operative personnel with guidelines, how to fulfill expectations not only within the American football community but also within society in a whole.

"In recent months it became obvious that structures within the global governing body for American football needed to be changed, especially in the process of attaining full IOC recognition for IFAF and the sports of American football."

Other officials elected at the IFAF Congress in Paris included Germany's Robert Huber as senior vice-president, Turkey's Sahin Kömürcü and Italy's Leoluca Orlando as the other two vice-presidents. 

Guatemala's Marco Antonio Cobar was elected as treasurer, Ireland's Janice Ward as secretary. 

France's was elected as legal officer.

Indonesia's Anon Raras Mitayani-Hahn and India's Namdev Shirgaonkar were elected to the new Presidium, along with John Mahnen, who will serve despite being from the US.

Albania, Bahamas, Portugal and Uganda were elected as new members.