Group F is full of intrigue with teams from four different continents battling for the top two spots that earn a place in the knockout stages at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships.

Ranked seventh in the world and representing the Americas, Panama claimed bronze the last time the flag football world came together in Israel in 2021. Oceania’s New Zealand came painstakingly close to winning continental gold on their first foray into international competition. Europe’s representative is a Czechia team 25^th in the IFAF World Rankings, while Korea will fly Asia’s flag.

Panama finished third in the world in 2021 with a 45-10 victory over Italy having topped Group B with a 4-0 record that included a 50-6 win over a Korea team they will again line up against in Finland. Panama saw off the challenge of European champions Denmark in the quarterfinals but lost the United States in the semis.

The World Games pitched Panama in a tough where they lost to USA and Denmark claimed revenge, then they lost to Austria in the knockout stages. At last summer’s Americas continental tournament Panama posted a 3-3 group record and went on to beat Canada into third place to take home the bronze medal.

New Zealand – nicknamed NZ Mako – produced the shock of the Asia-Oceania tournament at the semifinal stage in one of the most thrilling games witnessed in Kuala Lumpur. A 40-33 win, in a game that saw multiple lead changes, halted the juggernaut that appeared to be heading towards the gold medal, previously unbeaten Japan.

New Zealand had posted a 4-1 group stages record, which included a win over Korea, who will again be one of their opponents in Finland, their only loss coming to Thailand.

In the championship game, despite throwing everything they had remaining in the tank at the quest for gold, NZ Mako were edged 31-25 by a relentless Thailand team. New Zealand had announced their arrival on the continental stage with a warning that the now 12^th-ranked team in the world will pose a threat in Lahti this summer in their first world championship.

Czechia lost to six-time European champions Denmark and then Sweden in the group stages of their continental championship in Ireland last year before beating Poland. Any title aspirations they held were ended by a group loss to eventual champion Germany.

Czechia signed off with a placement game win over Georgia.

Korea finished with a 1-3 group stages record in the world championships in 2021 then lost to Thailand in the first placement round before beating Chile to claim 15^th place. Korea was eighth overall in the Asia-Oceania tournament, with their only win coming over India.