Wrestling Leagues and Associations: Who Runs the Sport

This article contains affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Learn more.

A summer week in Fargo, North Dakota, where high schoolers from across the country wrestle freestyle and Greco-Roman on row after row of mats. A March weekend in Cleveland with an arena full for the NCAA finals. An Olympic final in a hall where the crowd counts down the last seconds in a dozen languages. Wrestling has a lot of organizations, and each one runs a different piece of the sport. Here’s who’s who: the wrestling governing bodies, how high school and girls’ wrestling are run, the college wrestling associations, and the road to the Olympics, as of the 2026 season.

Back to our wrestling hub for the overview, or see the rules each level wrestles by.

United World Wrestling (UWW)

United World Wrestling is the world governing body for amateur wrestling. It was founded in 1912, is based in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, and has been a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations since 1983. UWW writes the International Wrestling Rules for freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling, sets the weight categories, and runs the Olympic wrestling tournament along with World Championships for U17, U20, U23 and senior wrestlers, plus Veterans World Championships for wrestlers 35 and older.

UWW’s age categories set the international ladder: U15 (14–15), U17 (16–17), U20 (18–20), U23 and senior. Senior World Championships are held every year except Olympic years, with 10 weight classes per style; the Olympics use 6 per style. For 2026, UWW approved a set of rule amendments and, according to reports, kept all weight categories unchanged through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle.

USA Wrestling

USA Wrestling is the national governing body for the sport in the United States and UWW’s US member. It picks and trains the national teams for freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling, and it runs a huge grassroots system: clubs, state associations, and national events for kids through veterans in folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman. Its membership hit a record of nearly 372,000 in 2024-25, up about 28,000 from the year before; by April 2025 it counted 5,687 clubs and more than 52,000 female athlete members.

• Age divisions: 8U, 10U, 12U, 14U and 16U in two-year bands, then the Junior division for wrestlers enrolled in grades 9–12, plus Masters divisions for adults. Women’s divisions mirror the men’s.
• Big events: the 16U and Junior National Championships in Fargo, kids’ folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman nationals, and the World Team Trials that help select the national team.
• Members are athletes plus “Wrestling Leader” members: coaches, officials and other leaders, more than 53,000 of them by April 2025.

High school: the NFHS and state associations

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) writes the high school wrestling rules book, including the weight management rule (Rule 1-5), and its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee publishes the model skin lesion release form. Each state association (Georgia’s GHSA or Pennsylvania’s PIAA, for example) runs the season: weight certification, the growth allowance, sectional and state tournaments, and which weight classes it uses. Many states run weight certification through the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and its Optimal Performance Calculator.

It’s a big sport. In the NFHS’s 2024-25 survey, boys’ wrestling passed 300,000 participants, an increase of 8,340 in a year, and stayed among the top 10 boys’ sports.

Girls’ wrestling: sanctioning and growth

“Sanctioning” means a state association officially recognizes girls’ wrestling as its own sport, with its own weight classes, season and state championship, instead of girls wrestling on the boys’ team. The growth has been remarkable. According to the NFHS, 74,064 girls wrestled at 8,100 high schools in 2024-25, up 15% from the year before and up from 11,496 a decade earlier. Forty states now hold a separate girls’ state championship, compared with five ten years ago. In states without one, girls can still wrestle, usually on the boys’ team.

Girls’ wrestling has its own weight classes (Georgia’s run from 100 to 235 pounds), and weight certification uses a 12% body fat minimum for girls instead of 7% for boys. Our youth wrestling page covers what parents should know.

College wrestling: NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA

• NCAA men: folkstyle championships in Divisions I, II and III. The first NCAA championship was held in 1928. At the 2026 Division I Championships (March 19–21, Rocket Arena, Cleveland), Penn State won its fifth straight team title with a record 181.5 points, ahead of Oklahoma State and Nebraska.
• NCAA women: a single national championship open to all three divisions, wrestled under freestyle rules in 10 weight classes. The first one, March 6–7, 2026, in Coralville, Iowa, was won by McKendree (171) over Iowa (166). Most programs are in Division III (59%) and Division II (35%).
• NAIA: men’s and women’s national championships. The 2026 men’s event in Park City, Kansas, was the 69th, with 320 qualifiers across 10 weight classes; the women’s championship was in its fourth year, with 210 qualifiers.
• NJCAA (two-year colleges): a men’s championship, held in March 2026 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and a women’s invitational. Indian Hills won both in 2026.

The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) runs the Optimal Performance Calculator, the weight management system NCAA programs and many states use. College wrestlers go through the NCAA’s weight certification (5% body fat minimum for men, 17% for women), skin checks at every weigh-in, and ear guards any time they wrestle live.

The road to the Olympics

Wrestling has been on every modern Olympic program except Paris 1900. Greco-Roman was there from the start, freestyle and Greco-Roman have been held together since Antwerp 1920, and women’s freestyle joined at Athens 2004. Today the Olympics have 18 wrestling events: six weight classes each in men’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle. In the US, the path usually runs from a club or high school to college, then through USA Wrestling’s national events and World Team Trials onto the national team, and from there to Olympic qualifying. Several of today’s NCAA women’s wrestlers already hold Olympic medals, a sign of how closely college and the Olympics are now tied.

Adult and veterans wrestling

USA Wrestling’s Masters divisions keep adults on the mat, and UWW holds Veterans World Championships for wrestlers 35 and older. Older wrestlers in USA Wrestling’s oldest Masters classes must bring a doctor’s letter clearing them for intense competition. Many clubs also run adult open mats, and former wrestlers often move on to jiu-jitsu or MMA.

Gear for the season

Whichever organization you wrestle under, the bag looks the same: ear guards like the Cliff Keen F5 Tornado (about $56 at Cliff Keen, required in NFHS and NCAA wrestling), wrestling shoes such as the ASICS Matflex 7, and a singlet. Remember that USA Wrestling’s national freestyle and Greco-Roman events don’t allow two-piece uniforms, and women must wear a women’s cut singlet. The full list is on our wrestling gear page.

More on the sport: wrestling injuries, wrestling training, and how another sport is organized on our soccer leagues and associations page.

Wrestling organizations: questions

What is the governing body of wrestling?

United World Wrestling worldwide, founded in 1912 and based in Switzerland. In the US, USA Wrestling is the national governing body; the NFHS writes high school rules and the NCAA writes college rules.

How many states sanction girls’ wrestling?

According to the NFHS, 40 states held a separate girls’ wrestling state championship as of its 2024-25 survey, up from five ten years earlier. Check your state association for its current status.

Is women’s wrestling an NCAA sport?

Yes. The first NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships were held March 6–7, 2026, in Coralville, Iowa, with one championship open to Divisions I, II and III. McKendree won the team title.

What is Fargo in wrestling?

USA Wrestling’s 16U and Junior National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota, a summer freestyle and Greco-Roman tournament for high school-age wrestlers and with brackets for boys’ freestyle and Greco-Roman and girls’ freestyle.

How many weight classes are there in Olympic wrestling?

Eighteen in all: six each in men’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle. Senior World Championships use 10 per style.