Thirty-two nations from six continents discover opponents at 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships

A total of 32 men’s and 23 women’s national teams from six continents will battle for gold medal glory at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships at the Pajulahti Olympic Training Center in Lahti, Finland, from August 27-30.

In the men’s competition, the winners and runners up from eight groups will qualify for the knockout Round of 16 in the quest to be crowned world champions. The women’s tournament will see the top three nations from five groups advance, along with the best fourth-place finisher.

The 11th biennial event will be the largest and most significant in the sport’s history with the top seven finishers in the women’s competition also qualifying to compete along with hosts China at The World Games in Chengdu in 2025. Flag Football is poised to make its Olympic Games debut in Los Angeles in 2028.

There are some mouthwatering matchups in both competitions created by a serpentine draw system based on the 2023 IFAF Flag Football World Rankings.

“The spotlight will shine brighter than ever before on flag football and we are excited to see the sport’s elite athletes compete on the world stage in Finland,” said IFAF President Pierre Trochet. “The competitiveness at last year’s continental championships shows that we will have a wide-open competition on a platform where new stars can emerge.”

Among the highlights in the women’s competition, in Group A defending world champions the United States faces Asia-Oceania continental silver medalist Australia and France the fourth-place finisher from Europe. Those nations are poised to host the next three editions of the summer Olympic Games: Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

Gold medalist at The World Games in 2022 Mexico will be challenged by Canada and Italy in Group B. Group C features the winner of the 2023 Asia-Oceania crown Japan and European bronze medalist Germany, while Great Britain, the champions of Europe, are paired with The World Games bronze medalist Panama in Group D.

Among the highlights in the men’s competition the United States defends a world title won in Israel in 2021 and in Group A will come up against a Spain team that narrowly lost in the European quarterfinals last year. In Group B world and continental runners up Mexico face an Australian team that made its mark at the Asia-Oceania championships.

European champions Germany land in an all-European group with Great Britain among their opponents, while in Group G, traditionally high-scoring Israel will meet a Denmark team looking to recapture the form that won six straight European championships.

2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships – Women’s Group Stages

2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships – Men’s Group Stages 

Notes:

Tournament rankings for both the men’s and women’s competitions are based on the 2023 IFAF Flag Football World Rankings. In the case of a nation not entering a team, teams advanced accordingly in the tournament ranking. For example, in the men’s competition world number 5 Thailand will not attend, so number 6 Italy assumed that position and subsequent nations received an improved ranking. Where teams were unranked due to non-participation in IFAF tournaments between 2021 and 2023, alphabetical order is used to position those teams.

Teams that do not advance to the knockout Round of 16 will participate in a placement competition.

Read the original article in americanfootball.sport.