World Games Gold Medalists to headline 2023 IFAF Americas Continental Flag Football Championship

 The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) has confirmed entries for the event, which will take place from July 5-7 at the United States Performance Center (USPC) and University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The rosters include some of the planet’s most exciting flag football talent. Hosts USA’s men’s and women’s national teams are also reigning world champions having picked up gold at the 2021 IFAF Flag Football World Championship in Israel, while the USA women claimed silver at The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama last year. Mexico’s men’s national team earned silver at the World Championship and bronze at The World Games, while Mexico’s women’s national team was runner up in Israel in addition to winning at The World Games.

Also taking part are Brazil, Canada and Chile in the women’s and Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Chile in the men’s, setting up a thrilling competition amongst elite teams from across North and South America. Panama, who featured at The World Games 2022 in both the women’s and men’s event, with the women winning bronze, is also planning to attend.

IFAF President, Pierre Trochet:

 “With just under a month to go the 2023 IFAF Americas Flag Football Championship is shaping up to be an incredible showcase featuring some of the world’s best teams and the most exciting talent from across the two continents. As one of the pinnacle events in our expanded international calendar, the event will highlight the growing competitiveness of flag football around the world, building on flag football’s ever-expanding popularity and propelling the game to even greater heights.” 

The tournament will feature some of the sport’s most recognizable athletes, including Mexico quarterback Diana Flores, who is an IFAF NFL Global Flag Football Ambassador and starred in the NFL’s ‘Run With It’ Super Bowl commercial earlier this year. Seven of Diana’s golden teammates from The World Games will also return for Team Mexico in Charlotte. Meanwhile, two stars of the U.S. National Teams, who also serve as Global Flag Football ambassadors, quarterbacks Darrell ‘Housh’ Doucette and Vanita Krouch and will aim to lead their men’s and women’s teams to victory on home soil. Krouch is the most decorated women’s flag football athlete of all time and is widely recognized as the sport’s answer to Tom Brady. She looks to add to her legacy as she has been named to her fifth U.S. Women’s National Team. 

The Americas Championship is the first of three Continental Championships taking place this year as IFAF embarks on its biggest-ever cycle of global flag football competition in the run up to the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships, in Lahti, Finland, which will be the biggest to date.

The Continental Championships will serve as a qualifying pathway for the first time, with the reinforced global competitions structure reflecting flag football’s momentum as one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. It comes at a time of sustained global growth for the discipline, which has over 20 million players in more than 100 countries around the world. It is also one of nine new sports currently under consideration for inclusion in the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.