Finland awarded hosting rights to 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships

PARIS, FRANCE; 10 AUGUST 2022

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) has announced that Lahti, Finland, will stage the next edition of the Flag Football World Championships in 2024.

The event will take place at the Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center between August 25 and 30, 2024, bringing together the top men’s and women’s teams in one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.

It follows the debut of flag football at The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama last month, which saw Mexico’s women’s team take home an historic victory over the USA, with Italy and Panama also represented among the men’s and women’s medalists.

Teams had qualified for the Games via the previous IFAF Flag Football World Championships, which were held in Jerusalem, Israel in December 2021, attracting record participation from across four continents.

The Lahti tournament in 2024 will serve as the climax of the biggest-ever international cycle of flag football competition, including full continental representation for the first time.

IFAF made the hosting announcement on the sidelines of the 2022 IFAF Women’s World Championship in tackle football, which took place in Vantaa, also in Finland, staged in partnership with the American Football Association of Finland (SAJL).

IFAF President Pierre Trochet was on hand to watch defending champions the United States women’s national team take victory over surprise finalists Great Britain in the gold medal game on Sunday 7^th August.

IFAF President, Pierre Trochet, said: «We are delighted to entrust Finland and SAJL with the hosting rights to the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships, which will be the most important edition of the tournament to-date as we focus on leveraging the significant momentum and growth opportunities of this youthful, global, highly accessible and inclusive discipline of our sport.

«Finland has consistently proven an outstanding partner for IFAF events. The country’s innovative vision, youthful spirit and passion for sport – especially women’s sport – are a great match for everything we are trying to achieve with flag football. We are proud of all our work and investment to develop a sustainable global competition structure for flag football, of which this tournament will be the pinnacle.

«We offer our thanks to Roope Nornen, President of SAJL, and all his local stakeholders, especially at Pajulahti, for sharing our ambition and commitment to deliver a groundbreaking event befitting the extraordinary trajectory of flag football worldwide.»

All games in the 2024 World Championship will take place at Pajulahti, the only official Olympic and Paralympic training center in Finland. The complex is located in Lahti, 90 minutes north of Helsinki.