IFAF, IOC and NFL join global reach for flag football's Olympic debut in Los Angeles
DÜSSELDORF – The International Federation of American Football (IFAF), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the National Football League (NFL) formalized in Düsseldorf the first joint global promotional partnership of the three organizations dedicated to flag football and its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games. The agreement was signed on August 16, 2026, on the final day of the IFAF Flag Football World Championship, giving the event in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia additional significance in preparations for LA28. According to IFAF's announcement, the goal during the period leading up to the Olympic Games is to combine the global communications reach of the international federation, the Olympic movement and the most influential professional American football league. Promotion will take place through major NFL events, including international games and the Super Bowl, then through leading IFAF competitions and the IOC's communications channels. The partners will also use a shared visual identity linking the LA28, IFAF and NFL brands so that campaigns aimed at different markets have a recognizable common appearance.
The agreement comes at a time when flag football is moving from a phase of rapid international growth into a period in which it is being built as a fully fledged Olympic product. IFAF states that the discipline is now played by more than 20 million people in more than 100 countries, and the organization particularly highlights strong growth in participation among girls and women. Such a base is one of the reasons why the partnership is not limited solely to promoting the tournament in Los Angeles, but is conceived as a way of connecting existing American football fans with a new Olympic audience. IFAF, the IOC and the NFL are counting on a combination of elite sport, digital platforms, major events and well-known sports names to give flag football significantly greater global visibility in less than two years.
First three-party agreement focused on LA28 and flag football
According to IFAF, this is the first agreement of its kind between the IOC, IFAF and the NFL specifically focused on the joint global promotion of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and flag football. The new cooperation builds on the earlier relationship between IFAF, the NFL and the LA28 Organizing Committee, which have already been working for years on the international development of the discipline and its positioning ahead of its Olympic appearance. Instead of separate campaigns, the three organizations now have a framework for coordinated use of their biggest communications moments, from world and continental competitions under the auspices of IFAF to the most-watched NFL events and Olympic platforms.
IFAF President Pierre Trochet said that the federation sees the partnership as an opportunity to raise interest in flag football to a new level precisely as the sport approaches the biggest international stage. NFL Executive Vice President of Club Business, Major Events and International Peter O'Reilly emphasized, according to IFAF's announcement, that the Olympic debut represents an opportunity to accelerate the growth of the sport and introduce new athletes and fans to the discipline. The IOC sees the cooperation as a way to use the reach of all three organizations to tell athletes' stories and build interest in the Games over the next two years. In practice, this means that flag football will be more present in content that already has a large audience, rather than only on channels specializing in American football.
An important part of the agreement is also the shared visual identity, which IFAF describes as a "logo slick" featuring the LA28, IFAF and NFL marks. Its function is to create a consistent appearance for joint promotional activities, regardless of whether they appear at an international NFL game, an IFAF tournament or an Olympic digital platform. Such a move shows that the partners do not treat the Olympic tournament as a one-off addition to the Games program, but as a project being built through continuous presence before 2028. In sports marketing, repeated use of a recognizable identity across different events is precisely one of the key ways of creating a connection between a new discipline and a broader audience.
World Championship in Düsseldorf has already opened the Olympic race
The signing of the agreement took place immediately after a tournament that carried the highest competitive stakes in the history of flag football so far. The IFAF World Championship was held in Düsseldorf from August 13 to 16, 2026, with 16 national teams competing in each of the men's and women's competitions. According to IFAF and Olympics.com, the competition was the first official Olympic qualifying event for flag football. Because the United States, as host of LA28, had already secured a place in both tournaments, the two best remaining national teams in each competition earned direct quotas for Los Angeles.
In the men's competition, the United States won the world championship title with a 46:26 victory over Italy. Italy secured an Olympic quota as the finalist, while Canada claimed the second available quota with a 34:26 victory over Mexico in the bronze-medal match. Thus, according to IFAF's official announcement after the championship ended, the United States, Italy and Canada are already confirmed for the men's LA28 tournament. The U.S. team meanwhile continued the dominance that marked the previous period, although during the championship it also suffered a historic defeat to American Samoa, ending its long unbeaten run.
The women's tournament brought an even greater shift in the balance of power. Canada defeated the United States 27:20 in the final and won its third world title, its first since 2014, while Mexico beat Great Britain 20:19 in the third-place match. Because the United States already had the host quota, Canada and Mexico took the two qualifying places available in Düsseldorf. In the women's competition, the United States, Canada and Mexico have therefore already qualified for Los Angeles 2028. IFAF also reported that 42 percent of the matches at the championship finished with a margin of no more than one possession, while the event attracted around 20,000 visitors over four days and, according to the federation's estimate, had a potential television reach of 180 million people.
Six national teams per tournament and only 120 Olympic places
The Olympic format will be significantly more compact than the World Championship. According to official information from LA28 and the NFL, Los Angeles will host men's and women's tournaments with six national teams each, and each team will have a roster of 10 athletes. That means a total of 120 Olympic places in flag football, 60 in the men's and 60 in the women's competition. Five players per side are on the field at the same time, which is one of the main differences compared with traditional American football with its much larger playing roster.
LA28 describes the discipline as a fast, explosive and non-contact variant of American football. A game is played in two 20-minute halves, with the offense attempting to move the ball toward the end zone on a 70-yard-long field. A defensive player stops the play by removing a flag attached to the belt of the player carrying the ball instead of tackling the opponent. As a result, acceleration, changes of direction, passing accuracy, reading the game and tactical play design are at the forefront. The smaller number of players, limited need for protective equipment and absence of traditional tackling are precisely what make the discipline easier to organize in schools, clubs and recreational programs than standard tackle football.
The official LA28 website states that the Olympic tournaments will be played at Exposition Park Stadium in Los Angeles. In the program of the Games, which will run from July 14 to 30, 2028, flag football gets its own major stage in a city strongly associated with professional sports and the American entertainment industry. For IFAF and the NFL, this is a particularly important combination: Olympic status provides access to an audience that may not follow the NFL, while Los Angeles simultaneously enables a strong connection between the sport and the commercial and media ecosystem of the United States.
NFL stars can compete, but Olympic places are not guaranteed
One element that could further increase global interest is the possibility of active NFL players competing. NFL clubs approved the participation of their players in the 2028 Olympic Games in May 2025, and the league was given a mandate to work with the NFL Players Association, IFAF and Olympic bodies to develop the rules for their participation. This removed a major institutional obstacle that had previously created uncertainty over whether the best-known professional American football players would even be able to be part of the Olympic tournament.
However, NFL approval does not mean that any star will automatically receive an Olympic place. According to rules published by the NFL and Olympics.com, final national-team rosters are confirmed by national Olympic committees based on proposals from their national federations, and athletes must meet the relevant eligibility criteria. In addition, flag football has its own technique, rhythm and tactical demands, so a reputation from tackle football alone does not guarantee a place among only ten players on an Olympic team. The limited number of places could further intensify competition between established flag football national-team players and NFL professionals who want to try to earn a place.
For the promotional partnership, however, the possibility of NFL players participating has enormous value even before the final rosters are known. The NFL can use its clubs, international games, digital channels and the Super Bowl to explain the Olympic format to audiences and introduce national-team players from different countries. IFAF retains the sporting and international competition structure, while the IOC links the story to Olympic qualification and the Games. Such a division of roles allows the sport to be presented simultaneously as an independent international discipline and as part of the broader American football family.
Olympic status is the result of the 2023 decision
Flag football was officially added to the Los Angeles 2028 program by a decision of the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai on October 16, 2023. The IOC then accepted the LA28 organizers' proposal for five additional sports: baseball/softball, T20 cricket, flag football, lacrosse sixes and squash. For flag football and squash, this will be an Olympic debut, while the other disciplines are returning in various forms after previous appearances at the Games. In explaining the decision, the IOC emphasized the proposed sports' connection with American sporting culture, their international reach, the possibility of using existing venues and criteria such as gender equality.
The inclusion was particularly important for the long-term strategy of IFAF and the NFL, which had been building a joint project aimed at the global development of flag football even before the IOC's final decision. Olympic status changed the level of investment by national federations because the sport gained a clear peak in its competitive cycle and a qualification system that had not previously existed. Ahead of the World Championship in Düsseldorf, IFAF emphasized that national Olympic committees and public sports structures in various countries were launching high-performance programs specifically because of LA28. This is expanding the international scene beyond the traditionally strongest national teams and increasing pressure on the existing favorites.
At the same time, the IOC's 2023 decision applies to the program of the Los Angeles 2028 Games, so an Olympic debut in itself does not automatically mean the discipline will have a permanent place at all future Games. That is precisely why IFAF and the NFL have a strong interest in ensuring that the Los Angeles appearance is convincing from a sporting perspective, widely followed and globally relevant. The new partnership with the IOC can also be viewed in that context: the more countries, athletes and fans the sport manages to involve by 2028, the stronger its international base will be after the end of the first Olympic cycle.
Qualification continues after the first four quotas have been claimed
The 2026 World Championship awarded two direct quotas in each of the men's and women's competitions, in addition to the host places for the United States. This means that half of the participants in each Olympic tournament are already known: the United States, Italy and Canada among the men, and the United States, Canada and Mexico among the women. The remaining three places in each competition will be determined through the continuation of the qualification system, which includes continental championships in 2027 and a final Olympic qualification phase in 2028, under the system approved by the IOC and IFAF.
It is important to distinguish a national-team quota from the final roster of athletes. National Olympic committees have exclusive authority to represent their countries at the Olympic Games, so the fact that a national team has secured a place does not mean that the same players who competed in Düsseldorf have automatically secured a trip to Los Angeles. Over the next two years, additional national-team camps, roster selections and, in some countries, possible competition from professional American football players are expected. That combination of sporting development and growing media attention will be one of the main stories leading up to LA28.
For the three organizations that have now formalized their joint promotion, timing is therefore crucial. IFAF brings the competition network and national federations, the IOC the Olympic platform and the global framework of the Games, and the NFL media power, professional stars and events with audiences numbering in the millions. Düsseldorf showed that flag football can already produce closely contested international games and new national-team hierarchies; the next challenge will be to turn that sporting content into sustained audience interest. Less than two years remain until the first Olympic opening whistle, and the joint agreement between IFAF, the IOC and the NFL is expected to be one of the main instruments through which that interest will be built.
Sources:
- International Federation of American Football (IFAF) – official announcement on the agreement between IFAF, the IOC and the NFL, its promotional scope and shared visual identity (link)
- International Federation of American Football (IFAF) – results of the 2026 World Championship, medal winners, Olympic quotas and data on the event in Düsseldorf (link)
- International Federation of American Football (IFAF) – official qualification system for the Olympic flag football tournament in Los Angeles 2028 (link)
- LA28 – official description of the Olympic flag football format, game duration, number of national teams and competition venue (link)
- NFL – clubs' decision on the possibility of active NFL players participating in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and the framework for selecting national-team rosters (link)
- International Olympic Committee – decision of the 141st IOC Session to include flag football and four other additional sports in the LA28 program (link)
- LA28 – official schedule and dates of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, including the period during which the Games will be held (link)