Group C is one of the more intriguing at the IFAF Flag Football World Championships, featuring teams from three continents, among them the top nation from the Asia-Oceania region, the bronze medalists from Europe and the hosts looking to impress on home soil.

Japan blazed their way to continental gold last year in Malaysia, going unbeaten throughout the tournament and currently sit third in the IFAF World Rankings.

Emerging as a clear star of the team – and one to watch in Finland – was quarterback Chihiro Iwata. The youngster built on her experience at The World Games to methodically carve apart opposing defenses with Yurika Omi one of her favorite receivers.

New Zealand was dispatched in the semifinals and although Australia put up a fight, Japan was irrepressible as Iwata targeted Omi and Yuki Sato for multiple touchdowns in a 47-29 gold medal game victory.

Germany will be eager to challenge Japan in the group stages having settled for a bronze medal at the Euros in Ireland last summer. A catastrophic semifinal first half saw them concede four touchdowns to Spain and a comeback proved elusive, before a convincing 41-14 third place win over France to take bronze.

Finland and Germany meet again in the group stages as they did in the Euros when Germany claimed a win. Finland finished with a 2-3 record and went out of the knockout stages to eventual champions Great Britain.

Historically, Finland has the most impressive pedigree of the Group C quintet at the world championships. Those successes came all the way back in 2004 in a title game loss to Mexico, and Finland added a bronze medal two years later by beating Sweden into third place.

Japan were silver medalists in 2006 and at the last world championships in 2021 were paired with Brazil in the group stages. Brazil topped the group with a 2-0-1 record that included a 20-14 win over Japan who finished second as both nations advanced to the quarterfinals.

While Japan went out of the knockout stages at the first hurdle against the United States, Brazil beat France, but then lost to Mexico in the semifinals, giving them the chance to play for the bronze medal. Austria proved too strong as Brazil had to settle for fourth place. Japan also got the better of Brazil at The World Games in 2022.

Poland is an emerging nation on the flag football scene and comes into the world championships unranked to go up against four teams sitting in the IFAF Top 20 rankings.