The International Federation of American Football will hold three Continental Flag Football Championships this year, kicking off in the United States in July before Ireland and Malaysia serve as hosts in their respective regions.

The United States Performance Center (USPC) in Charlotte, N.C. and the University of North Carolina Charlotte will welcome the best men’s and women’s flag football teams from North, Central and South America to the 2023 IFAF Americas Continental Flag Football Championship from July 5-7.

The three IFAF championships will determine which teams will travel to Lahti, Finland, next year for the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships, which will be the biggest edition of international flag football as part of IFAF’s reinforced global competition structure. The European championship will be played in Limerick, Ireland in August, and the Asian event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October.

The 2023 Americas Continental Championship will feature the most successful flag programs of the past two years. The United States men’s and women’s flag national teams are reigning world champions from the 2021 IFAF World Championships played at the Kraft Family Sports Complex in Jerusalem, Israel. The U.S. men’s team and Mexico women’s team are The World Games 2022 gold medalists. They will be joined in Charlotte, N.C. by the national teams of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Chile.  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 Americas Director Javier L’Episcopo said: “Flag football’s accessibility and inclusiveness contribute to it being one of the world’s fastest growing sports; it also helps to have elite athletes and ambassadors. We’re grateful to all our teams and their governing bodies for supporting and growing the game. The Americas Continental Championship is another opportunity for them to shine and represent the sport we love.”

The July tournament will feature some of the sport’s most recognizable athletes, including Mexico quarterback Diana Flores, who is a Global Flag Football Ambassador for the NFL and IFAF and starred in the NFL’s ‘Run With It’ Super Bowl commercial earlier this year. 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.

“We are delighted that USA Football will host the 2023 Americas Continental Championship, one of the pinnacle events in an expanding international calendar that speaks to the growing competitiveness of flag football around the world,” said IFAF President Pierre Trochet. “Nowhere is that more true than in the Americas. This event promises to be an amazing showcase of the depth of talent right across the region, from north to south, building on flag football’s ever-expanding popularity and propelling the game to even greater heights.”

Last June, flag football debuted at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Ala., marking the sport’s first time featured on a multi-sport, global stage. Earlier this year, the NFL conducted its Pro Bowl Games in a flag football format for the first time, showcasing the short format, inclusive and non-contact discipline to a global audience of millions.

“We are excited to have elite athletes from across the Americas converge on the United States,” said USA Football CEO and Executive Director Scott Hallenbeck. “Flag football’s draw as a popular global sport has helped mold world-class teams in North and South America. USA Football is proud to partner with the USPC to host the 2023 Americas Continental Flag Football Championship and to continue raising the bar for flag football by constructing the U.S. national teams and elevating the game’s standard.”