The International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF) was founded on April 3, 1981 by Gerrit Does, a former motocross racer and Dutch citizen. He introduced BMX to the Netherlands in 1974 after seeing it in the United States. He also started the first European BMX sanctioning body the Stichting Fietscross Nederland (SFN) (the Dutch Bicycle Motocross Foundation (DBMXF) in English) in the Netherlands in 1978. George Esser, the same man who founded the American-based National Bicycle League (NBL) in 1974 was the co-founder of the IBMXF, after Mr. Does approached the NBL to begin preparations for the new body in December 1980 with the representatives of sanctioning bodies from Canada, Colombia, Japan, Panama, and Venezuela as well as representing his native the Netherlands. The IBMXF was a Waalre, the Netherlands-based body that conducted international events including its own World Championship event until its formal merger with the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) amateur cycling division the Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC) in 1996 to form the largest international sanctioning body. The UCI championships have since superseded the old IBMXF championships and unlike the old FIAC BMX championships it has a pro class. The NBL was affiliated with the UCI through its previous ties with the IBMXF and its merger with the FIAC.