When the fresh Olympic sport, Flag Football World Championships, arrive in Finland in August 2024, the hosting organization, the American Football Association of Finland (SAJL), introduces a new dimension to the international flag events – The nearly 200 World Championship games will be documented using a play-by-play statistical software custom-tailored for flag football.

American football is among the most heavily documented sports worldwide. The multi-dimensional game situations of this tactical sport generate abundant data for statistical analysis, which is utilized in coaching, assessing player performance, and, most importantly, maintaining fan engagement.

So far, statistics in flag football, the non-contact version of American football, have been in their infancy. This changes at the Finnish World Championships, as SAJL and its technology partner Appis Ltd introduce a new user-friendly play-by-play statistical software. This marks the first time when games in the major international flag football tournament will be statistically recorded using software specifically tailored for the sport. Play-by-play statistics will make game events and individual performances more transparent to teams, fans, and the media.

Appis Ltd’s senior developer, Erno Kulmala, tested the new software at the Flag Football Finnish Championships tournament in Jyväskylä last weekend, gaining valuable insights on how to finalize the service for the upcoming competition in August:

-The Finnish Flag Football Championship tournament held recently provided a great opportunity to test flag statistics. We gained valuable experience in data entry and UI design so that in the future, using the software would be effortless and smooth for everyone. We are currently building a larger ecosystem that includes not only statistics but also comprehensive management of leagues and tournaments. We are thrilled and proud to be participating in the August World Championships, where we can also showcase our new product.

In the future, high-quality statistics and their analysis will play a crucial role in the development of the emerging Olympic sport and in evaluating the performance of teams aiming for Olympic berths.

IFAF Flag Football World Championships will be held on August 27-30, 2024 in Lahti, Finland. Over 60 teams from more than 30 different countries have registered for the tournament, with nearly a thousand athletes expected to attend.

Appis Ltd aims to showcase its latest software to tournament attendees and participating countries during the event. More detailed information about the tournament’s statistics and software will be provided to the participating countries at the next technical meeting.