On 1 July 2010 Joachim Gossow officially became the Chief Executive Officer of the International World Games Association (IWGA). For the first time the IWGA has a full-time CEO. 50-year-old Joachim Gossow from Germany has been the IWGA Sports Director since 2005. For the time being his work will be focused on preparing The World Games 2013 in Cali, COL.

At the SportAccord in Dubai in April 2010 the delegates of the 32 member federations of the IWGA decided unanimously to entrust Joachim Gossow with these new responsibilities. Co Koren, honorary General Secretary of the International World Games Association, did not stand re-election in April 2010 for age reasons.

By employing a full-time CEO, the IWGA will make its work more professional. President Ron Froehlich: „The highly successful editions in Duisburg (Germany) 2005 and Kaohsiung (TPE) 2009 highlight the positive development of The World Games during the last years. We wish to respond to this development and to consolidate the success.  For this purpose we need to work with full-time staff.“

Joachim Gossow sees it as his task to build and extend these structures. „Since 2005 the interest in The World Games has increased enormously. This refers to the world of business, the media, but also to potential host cities. We wish to present ourselves to these partners as an association that is aware of its growing importance and that addresses the new challenges and chances with self-confidence.” The new CEO has his office in Duisburg, GER.

Joachim Gossow was an active handball player and was also as a coach in the First League. He worked over 20 years for the sports administration of the City of Duisburg. As a Sports Director he dedicated himself to the organization of The 2005 World Games on behalf of the local Organizing Committee. After the successful games in Duisburg he became the IWGA Sports Director. He contributed substantially to the preparation of The World Games 2009 in Kaohsiung.