2026 IFAF Men's Flag Football World Championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026 IFAF Men's Flag Football World Championship was the 12th World Championships in men's flag football. It was held in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 13 to 16 August 2026.
| |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Flag football |
| Location | Düsseldorf |
| Dates | 13 August–16 August |
| Host | Germany |
| Venue | 1 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  United States (7th title) |
| Runner-up |  Italy |
| 3rd place |  Canada |
.jpg)
The United States are defending champions coming into the tournament and won their sixth consecutive and seventh overall title.[1][2]
The top two teams (except the host nation and gold medalists United States) qualified to compete at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[3] Silver medalists Italy, and bronze medalists Canada were the teams that qualified.[4]
Venues
The championship will take place at Düsseldorf's flag football complex in Garath. The complex was inaugurated by the City of Düsseldorf and the New England Patriots in April 2025.[5] Two fields are within the complex, which are the New England Patriots Flag Football Field and the Sebastian Vollmer Flag Football Field.[6]
Teams
Qualifiers
The International Federation of American Football introduced a new qualifying format for the Flag Football World Championships.[7]
- 16 teams for each division (men's and women's)
- Host nation automatically qualifies
- Qualification via IFAF Continental Championships, in which the quotas are,
- Europe: 6 berths
- Americas: 4 berths
- Asia-Oceania: 2 berths (one for each continent)
- Africa: 1 berth
- Additional merit-based allocations for two continents based on past performances
- A maximum of six teams per continent (not including hosts)
Americas and Asia-Oceania were each given additional allocations for the performances of Panama and Japan respectively in the 2024 Men's Flag Football World Championships. Europe had higher ranked nations but could not secure any more berths due to the 6-team cap.
| Continent | Qualifying tournament | Team | Previous best performance | World ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | Host nation |  Germany |
Runners up (2002, 2004) | 11 |
| 2025 IFAF Men's European Flag Football Championship | Italy |
3rd place (2010, 2014) | 4 | |
 Austria |
Champions (2002, 2004, 2012) | 2 | ||
 France |
Champions (2006) | 5 | ||
 Great Britain |
12 | |||
 Israel |
9 | |||
 Switzerland |
3rd place (2024) | 6 | ||
| Americas | 2025 IFAF Men's Americas Flag Football Championship |  Mexico |
Runners up (2014, 2021) | 3 |
| United States |
Champions (2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2024) | 1 | ||
| Canada |
Champions (2008) | 10 | ||
 Panama |
3rd place (2021) | 13 | ||
 Brazil |
17 | |||
| Asia | 2025 IFAF Men's Asia-Oceania Flag Football Championship |  Japan |
4th place (2004) | 7 |
| Oceania |  Australia |
8 | ||
 American Samoa |
33 | |||
| Africa | 2025 IFAF Men's Africa Flag Football Championship |  Nigeria |
32 |
Groups
The 16 teams are sorted into four groups of four based on the IFAF World Rankings in serpentine order.[8]
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States (1) |
Austria (2) |
Mexico (3) |
Italy (4) |
| Australia (8) |
Japan (7) |
Switzerland (6) |
France (5) |
| Israel (9) |
Canada (10) |
Germany (hosts) (11) |
Great Britain (12) |
| American Samoa (33) |
Nigeria (32) |
Brazil (17) |
Panama (13) |
On 10 August 2026, the Nigerian Federation of American Football informed the International Federation of American Football of their withdrawal due to the inability of the traveling delegation to secure the necessary visas in time for the tournament.[9] As there was no time to replace Nigeria, all their matches were forfeited with a score of 1-0.
Results
Preliminary round
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | |
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Samoa |
3 | 2 | 1 | 83 | 79 | +4 | Quarter-finals | — | 38–32 | 21–7 | 24–40 | |
| 2 | United States |
3 | 2 | 1 | 122 | 83 | +39 | 32–38 | — | 40–7 | 50–38 | ||
| 3 | Australia |
3 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 87 | −37 | 7–21 | 7–40 | — | 36–26 | ||
| 4 | Israel |
3 | 1 | 2 | 104 | 110 | −6 | 40–24 | 38–50 | 26–36 | — |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | |
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan |
3 | 3 | 0 | 81 | 70 | +11 | Quarter-finals | — | 37–28 | 43–42 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Canada |
3 | 2 | 1 | 55 | 43 | +12 | 28–37 | — | 26–6 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | Austria |
3 | 1 | 2 | 49 | 69 | −20 | 42–43 | 6–26 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Nigeria |
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | |
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mexico |
3 | 3 | 0 | 106 | 79 | +27 | Quarter-finals | — | 30–22 | 38–32 | 38–25 | |
| 2 | Germany |
3 | 2 | 1 | 92 | 70 | +22 | 22–30 | — | 42–28 | 28–12 | ||
| 3 | Switzerland |
3 | 1 | 2 | 112 | 99 | +13 | 32–38 | 28–42 | — | 52–19 | ||
| 4 | Brazil |
3 | 0 | 3 | 56 | 118 | −62 | 25–38 | 12–28 | 19–52 | — |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | |
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy |
3 | 3 | 0 | 100 | 79 | +21 | Quarter-finals | — | 45–36 | 34–31 | 21–12 | |
| 2 | Panama |
3 | 2 | 1 | 102 | 98 | +4 | 36–45 | — | 33–26 | 33–27 | ||
| 3 | France |
3 | 1 | 2 | 100 | 99 | +1 | 31–34 | 26–33 | — | 43–32 | ||
| 4 | Great Britain |
3 | 0 | 3 | 71 | 97 | −26 | 12–21 | 27–33 | 32–43 | — |
Championship round
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| American Samoa | 14 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Canada | 24 | |||||||||
| Canada | 36 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Italy | 41 | |||||||||
| Italy | 38 | |||||||||
| 16 August | ||||||||||
| Germany | 22 | |||||||||
| Italy | 26 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| United States | 46 | |||||||||
| Mexico | 33 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Panama | 19 | |||||||||
| Mexico | 40 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| United States | 42 | Bronze medal game | ||||||||
| Japan | 38 | |||||||||
| 16 August | ||||||||||
| United States | 45 | |||||||||
| Canada | 34 | |||||||||
| Mexico | 26 | |||||||||
Placement matches
5th place bracket
| 5th-8th place semi-finals | 5th place | |||||
| 15 August | ||||||
| American Samoa | 34 | |||||
| 16 August | ||||||
| Germany | 32 | |||||
| American Samoa | 48 | |||||
| 15 August | ||||||
| Japan | 38 | |||||
| Panama | 38 | |||||
| Japan | 42 | |||||
| 7th place | ||||||
| 16 August | ||||||
| Germany | 32 | |||||
| Panama | 33 | |||||
9th place bracket
| First round | Second round | 9th place | ||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| France | 41 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Brazil | 25 | |||||||||
| France | 39 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Australia | 19 | |||||||||
| Australia | 1 | |||||||||
| 16 August | ||||||||||
| Nigeria | 0 | |||||||||
| France | 35 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Switzerland | 29 | |||||||||
| Austria | 20 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Israel | 42 | |||||||||
| Israel | 45 | |||||||||
| 15 August | ||||||||||
| Switzerland | 54 | 11th place | ||||||||
| Switzerland | 50 | |||||||||
| 16 August | ||||||||||
| Great Britain | 35 | |||||||||
| Australia | 36 | |||||||||
| Israel | 38 | |||||||||
13th place bracket
| 13th-16th place semi-finals | 13th place | |||||
| 15 August | ||||||
| Brazil | 1 | |||||
| 16 August | ||||||
| Nigeria | 0 | |||||
| Brazil | 26 | |||||
| 15 August | ||||||
| Great Britain | 33 | |||||
| Austria | 20 | |||||
| Great Britain | 28 | |||||
| 15th place | ||||||
| 16 August | ||||||
| Nigeria | 0 | |||||
| Austria | 1 | |||||
Final ranking
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
 | United States |
 | Italy |
 | Canada |
| 4 | Mexico |
| 5 | American Samoa |
| 6 | Japan |
| 7 | Panama |
| 8 | Germany |
| 9 | France |
| 10 | Switzerland |
| 11 | Israel |
| 12 | Australia |
| 13 | Great Britain |
| 14 | Brazil |
| 15 | Austria |
| 16 | Nigeria |
| Qualified for the 2028 Summer Olympics. |
Television
See also
