The Cheerleading Worlds

The first USASF World Cheerleading Championship was held on April 24, 2004. This event was an invite-only competition, with only two divisions - Senior All Girl Level 5 and Senior Coed Level 5 - and only 14 teams competing. This first event was held at a backstage sound stage at Disney MGM Studios (now Disney Hollywood Studios) at Walt Disney World that held a maximum of 500 spectators.[9] At this point in time, the winners of each category received jackets, similar to NCA and UCA, instead of the rings currently received.[9]

The second Cheerleading Worlds event happened April 23–25, 2005.[11]

This year, the competition expanded to include both small and large divisions within the senior all-girl level 5 and senior coed level 5 categories, for a total of four divisions teams could be eligible within.[10]

This year saw the first international teams competing at worlds with New Zealand All Stars, however, there was not yet a split of international divisions from regular divisions.  [10]

The Cheerleading Worlds' third event occurred on April 21–24, 2006.[12]

This year’s event introduced the split of international divisions, offering international open all-girl level 5 and international open coed level 5 divisions, making a total of 6 divisions.[13]

This also marked the first time that one gym program took home multiple titles within one year, with Cheer Athletics being the world champion across three divisions and GymTyme All Stars being the world champion across two divisions.[10]

The Cheerleading Worlds 2007 was held on April 20 to 23, 2007.

This year’s event introduced junior divisions,[14] and was the first year that the event also included Dance Worlds.[15] This year was also the first year that championship rings were introduced for each athlete who was a member of a world championship-winning team.[16]

Held on April 26–28, 2008, the 2008 Cheerleading Worlds marked the first year of level 6 being introduced in the form of international open divisions and the first time a division had seen a limited/unlimited split.[14]

The 2009 Cheerleading Worlds was held on April 25 to 26, 2009 across the Disney Wild World of Sport's Milkhouse arena and Disney's Hollywood Studios' Indiana Jones Theatre at Walt Disney World, Florida.[17]

Preliminaries were held for all senior level 5 divisions, with only 50% of teams progressing to the finals to compete for the championship.[17]

Preliminaries were also held for international division teams, with a maximum of three of the highest scoring teams per country advancing to finals. International division score sheets were adjusted to reflect the predominant international skill capabilities at the time.[17]

IASF's Nation Cup was awarded at this event to the highest-scoring team from each country within the top 10 in international divisions, ranked by the average of all scores from all teams per country within a division.[17]

The 2010 Cheerleading Worlds was held on April 24 and 25, 2010 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World, Florida, with preliminary rounds being held within the Disney Hollywood Studios theme park for the international divisions.

The 2011 Cheerleading Worlds was held on April 30 and May 1, 2011, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, Walt Disney World, Florida.[18]

2011 marked the removal of the junior international divisions from eligible worlds divisions.[14]

Preliminary rounds were held for at large bid winners in all divisions with 40 or more registered teams, with the top 50% of at large bid winners moving onto semi-finals with the partial bid and paid bid winners.[18]

In all international divisions where 11 or more US teams were entered, Worlds Trial preliminaries were held to advance only the top 10 to semi-finals.[18]

IASF awarded the Nations Cup within international divisions to the highest scoring teams from each country from the top 5 countries, with the top 5 countries determined by the average score of all teams from each country.[18]

The 2012 Cheerleading Worlds was held April 27 to April 29, 2012, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, Florida.[19]

This year’s event included preliminary divisions for all teams in the senior coed divisions, and teams with at large bids in the senior all-girl divisions as well as US worlds trials for all US teams entered in international divisions.[19]

IASF’s Nations Cup was once again awarded, however this year saw the placements based on each country’s highest team in the division instead of being based on an average score of all teams for each country within the division.[19]

The 2013 Cheerleading Worlds was held April 27 to 29, 2013 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Walt Disney World, Florida.[20]

Preliminaries were held for at large bid winners within the senior all-girl divisions, all teams within the senior coed divisions and all US teams within the international divisions.[21]

The 2014 Cheerleading Worlds were held April 26–28, 2014 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World, Florida.[22]

Preliminaries were held for winners of at-large bids within the senior divisions, with senior coed divisions split into groups A and B and the top 10 from each preliminary round progressing to semi-finals.[23]

Preliminaries were also held for all US teams within the international open divisions, with the top 10 advancing to compete in international open semi-finals. Preliminaries for the US international open teams, known as world trials, had their preliminaries held at Epcot’s World Showcase pavilion.[24]

The 2015 Cheerleading Worlds were held April 25–27, 2015 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World, Florida.

Preliminaries were held for at-large bid winners in the senior small and senior medium divisions for both all-girl and coed teams. The senior small divisions had preliminary group splits, with 10 teams advancing from each group to the semi-finals.

International open preliminary world trials were held for both US and Canadian teams this year due to the number of teams being entered into international open all-girl level 5 and international open coed level 5 from Canada the previous year. No US worlds trials were held for the international open all-girl 6 division due to there being less than 11 US teams that had entered the division in 2014, automatically advancing all US teams to semi-finals in this division.

The 2016 Cheerleading Worlds were held April 23–25, 2016 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World, Florida.[25]

Preliminaries were held for at-large bid winners in the senior small and senior medium divisions for both all-girl and coed teams. The senior small and senior small coed preliminaries saw a group A and group B split due to high numbers, with 10 teams from each group advancing to semi-finals.[25]

US world trials preliminaries were held for all US teams entered in international open all-girl 5 and international coed level 5 divisions this year, with all US teams in other internaitonal divisions automatically advancing to semi-finals.[25]

Canadian world trials preliminaries were held for all Canadian teams competing in international open coed 5, with all Canadian teams from other international divisions automatically advancing to semi-finals.[25]

The 2017 Cheerleading Worlds was held from April 29 to May 1, 2017, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World, Florida.

Preliminaries were held in the senior small and senior medium division for both all-girl and coed teams with at large bids in these divisions. Once again, the senior small and senior small co-ed divisions saw a group A and B split with the top 10 from each group advancing to semi finals.

US worlds trial preliminaries were held in the international open small coed 5 and international large coed 5 divisions, with Canadian worlds trial preliminaries being held in the international open all-girl 5 category. The top 10 from each country’s worlds trial advanced to the worlds international semi-finals.

The Cheerleading Worlds 2018 took place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World on April 28–30, 2018.[27]

In 2018, senior extra small all-girl level 5 and senior extra small coed level 5 divisions were now eligible for worlds, with some stipulations. These stipulations included that a program could only have one extra small team, either all-girl or coed, and that if a program received a bid in either senior extra small all-girl or senior extra small coed, the program may not compete in any other division or alternatively, the extra small division team must compete in the senior small division.[28][14] 

World trials were held for Canadian teams in the international open all-girl level 5 division and international open small coed level 5 and for US teams in international open small coed 5, international large coed level 5 to advance the top 10 teams to the international division semi-finals.[29]

The small gym located in Jacksonville, Florida won the 2019 Cheerleading Worlds for the first time in their gym's history. The team, Infinity Allstars Royals, won first place by a total of 12 points.

The 2019 Cheerleading Worlds was held 27–29 April 2019 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World, Florida.[30]

This year saw the introduction of a range of new US only divisions, including senior open level 5, senior open small coed level 5 and senior open large coed level 5 divisions. A relaxation was also made in the US only senior extra small all-girl and senior extra small coed divisions, allowing for any program regardless of number of worlds teams to field a team in this division.[31][14]

New international divisions were also introduced, bringing in non-tumbling divisions and global cheer divisions that included crowd-leading cheer alongside the cheer routine. These divisions were introduced for level 5, in both all-girl and co-ed divisions.[14][32]

Preliminaries were held for at-large bid winners in the senior extra small and senior small categories for both all-girl and coed teams.[33]

The 2020 Cheerleading Worlds was scheduled to take place April 24–27, 2020.

As part of the intended scheduled competition, USASF and IASF had adjusted division levels, with level 5 restricted becoming level 5, level 5 becoming level 6 and level 6 becoming level 7. IASF had intended to add level 5 divisions to the event as a result, including International Open All-Girl Level 5, International Open Small Coed Level 5, and International Open Large Coed Level 5. They also planned to add International Open All-Girl Non-Tumbling Level 7 and International Open Non-Tumbling Coed Level 7. The new level 5 and non-tumbling level 7 divisions were restricted to only non-U.S. based teams.[14]

However, due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the USASF announced on April 24 that the event was cancelled.[34]

Before announcing the cancellation, USASF had sent an email to gym owners and coaches exploring the possibility of postponing the event until the last week of June 2020, which ultimately did not go ahead.[35]

IASF initially took the path of postponing their sections of the event, international open divisions, until late September to early October 2020, however, cancelled the event outright for the year in May 2020.[36]

Controversy broke out due to USASF sending a confidential email to gym owners and coaches that had been sent the night before public announcement which explained their decision to cancel the event, allowing them to disseminate the information among their athletes before public announcement. However, cheer reporting site "Cheer Updates" received this email and published the news before USASF made the public announcement, which was the first that some athletes and families had heard of this news, as their programs had not yet informed them.[37]

The Cheerleading Worlds 2021 was the first year that saw an event go ahead with USASF and IASF running their worlds events separately as a result of travel restrictions associated with COVID-19.

For 2021, the level changes that had been intended to be implemented for IASF governed divisions at the cancelled 2020 event were enacted. In October 2018, IASF announced an introduction of a level 7 division for the 2020 world championships, with level 5 restricted becoming level 5, level 5 becoming level 6 and level 6 becoming level 7.[38] This had an impact on the divisions offered at both events held this year.

The USASF Cheerleading Worlds took place between May 8–10, 2021, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Walt Disney World, Florida. Due to international travel restrictions, this event was restricted to only teams from the U.S. competing.[39][40]

In recognition of the impact that COVID-19 had on teams being able to attend events to earn a worlds bid, USASF introduced applicant bids for this event only. This allowed teams that attended at least three 2020-21 USASF-sanctioned competitions, one of which must have been a 2021 worlds bid qualifying event, to apply for a bid. If approved, this was treated as an "at-large" bid, with teams paying for their own worlds registration packages and all other expenses.[39]

Exceptions were also made to the cheer athlete bid limitations for the 2021 event only due to the uncertainty around COVID-19, with the number of athletes that previously earned a paid bid, and were eligible to compete for and be awarded a paid bid on a second team were not held to compete with the second team. The number of athletes eligible for this exception per team ranged from 1-3 depending on the size of the team/division.[39]

Crossover rules were also relaxed for this year's event, with crossovers of athletes between cheer and dance teams permitted, which was a disqualification penalty previously.[39]

Preliminary rounds were held for teams in teams competing in the senior extra small all-girl level 6, senior extra small coed level 6 and senior open small coed level 6 divisions.[41]

In February 2021, IASF released an official statement that with the goal of "making some level of participation available for our athletes worldwide", they were working to secure dates to hold the IASF worlds championship in September 2021 in Orlando and hold a virtual format event if travel continued to be impacted due to COVID-19.[42]

Due to the ongoing impact, the announcement was made by IASF in July that they would be hosting the event virtually on October 1–2, 2021, with teams submitting videos of a "semi-final" and "finals" performance taken inside of a consecutive three-day window via the CheerMatch app, that would be scored by the judges.[43]

IASF chose to honour all bids for the cancelled 2020 worlds event as well as bids earned for the 2021 event, not requiring level 7 teams to receive a bid with all level 7 teams welcome to enter. IASF also did not enforce substitute rules and regulations for this event.[42]

Due to the impact of COVID-19, IASF allowed U17 (Junior) and U19 (Senior) teams to have an extra year of eligibility at the upper end of their age ranges to recognise the athletes who had aged out never finishing their final year.[44]

The 2022 Cheerleading Worlds event returned to its regular in person format, with IASF and USASF worlds being held as part of the same event. This competition was held between April 23 to 25, 2022 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

Preliminaries were held at this event for teams with at large bid in the senior extra small all-girl, senior extra small coed, senior open small coed, international open all-girl non-tumbling level 6 and international open coed non-tumbling level 6 divisions. The top 10 teams from the preliminary rounds advanced to compete in the semi-final round along with teams who held partially paid and fully paid bids.

The change was made in round advancements this year that if 40 or more teams competed in a division's preliminary round or semi-final round, then 15 teams would move forward to the next round of the competition instead of the traditional 10 teams.

At this event, three new senior divisions were offered for programs that were represented by only one team at the Cheerleading Worlds in the extra small/small all-girl, extra small coed and small coed divisions. Teams qualified by competing in their traditional category, but had the option to transfer to the appropriate limited category when registering for worlds.

IASF announced in May 2018 that they would be applying a "full top uniform" rule from the 2021 Cheerleading Worlds event onwards for teams in the international IASF-governed divisions, however, this was pushed to 2022 as a result of the pandemic. This meant that the 2022 Cheerleading Worlds was the first event to enforce this rule. This rule stated that teams competing in any international division must compete in a full top uniform, with no crop tops, half tops or mid-riffs being allowed per the image policy. This rule change was put in place in an attempt to promote a more globally athletic image of cheer.[47][48]

The 2023 Cheerleading Worlds were held from April 21 to April 24, 2023 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, Florida.

Preliminary rounds were held for senior open small coed teams with at-large bids, and U.S. teams with at-large bids in the international open all-girl non-tumbling level 6 and international open coed non-tumbling level 6 divisions. The top 10 teams from each of these preliminary rounds advanced to the semi-final rounds which included teams with partially paid and fully paid bids.

The semi-final round for the international open all-girl non-tumbling level 6 and international open coed non-tumbling level 6 divisions were declared the U.S. world trials, including only paid bid U.S. teams and the top 10 U.S. at large-bid teams from the preliminary round. Trophies and gold, silver and bronze medallions were awarded to the top three U.S. teams, and U.S. teams placing fourth through 10th were awarded trophies. The top three teams U.S. teams from this semi-final advanced to the division finals, along with the top three teams from other countries from the semi-finals.

IASF introduced five new international world divisions for teams under 18. Prior to 2023, IASF international worlds divisions had no maximum age, with athletes instead having to meet a minimum age to be eligible for teams, making these divisions the first divisions with such a maximum. Three of these divisions were level 5, which remained restricted to entry by non-U.S. teams - U18 all-girl level 5, U18 small coed level 5 and U18 large coed level 5 - and two in level 6 in non-tumbling variants - U18 all-girl non-tumbling level 6 and U18 coed non-tumbling level 6. Despite the introduction of five divisions, lack of entries meant that only four competed with no U18 large coed level 5 teams entering this division at the competition.[50][51][52]

IASF also raised the minimum age for open and global division teams to 15 years old, announcing they would further raise the age to 16 for the 2023-2024 season and Cheerleading Worlds 2024.[53][54]