The 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships kicks off today as 54 of the world’s best men’s and women’s flag football teams take to the field at the Pajulahti Olympic Training Center in Lahti, Finland.

Hosted by the American Football Association of Finland, the record-breaking edition of the event is the culmination of IFAF’s biggest-ever international cycle of flag football competition and will bring together elite athletes representing 31 nations from five continents at the most competitive and thrilling tournament to date. In the five years to 2024 a 41 per cent increase in entries at the Flag World Championships has been achieved.

The Championships Opening Ceremony took place yesterday (Monday 26), with more than 600 athletes coming together at the Pajulahti Olympic Training Center as Global Flag Football Ambassador and Mexico women’s national team quarterback, Diana Flores, joined Finland’s Essi Sastamoinen and Micky Kyei to lead the Athlete Oath. President of IFAF, Pierre Trochet, then declared the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships officially open.

The full schedule of matches sees the group stages take place on August 27 and 28, before knockout and ultimately medal rounds follow on August 29 and 30. The Lahti Sports Center will host the medal games, with the men’s final beginning at 18:15 CET on August 30, followed by the women’s title game at 19:30 CET.

”This 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships will be another landmark in our sport’s history with 54 Teams from five continents gathering here in Pajulahti for this record-breaking competition,” said Pierre Trochet, President of IFAF, at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships Opening Ceremony. “All over the world, we play flag football – there are 20 million flag football players in 100 countries – and at this Championships we will show the world that flag football, without a doubt, will light up LA28.”

The full schedule for the competition can be found at the Championship Game Centre. Full live streaming coverage of all games is available at IFAF.TV.

The 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships is taking place against a backdrop of an historic year for the sport in with flag football confirmed to feature on the official program of the Olympic Games for the first time ever when it makes its debut in Los Angeles 2028. The most inclusive and accessible format of the game, flag football is one of fastest growing disciplines in the world with over 20 million players in 100 countries. 

Photo:  IFAF media