Like all athletes competing this week at Africa Flag 2025, South Africa wide receiver Michael Phiri feels he will be on unfamiliar ground in Cairo.

In addition to being some 8,300 kilometers from his home in Johannesburg, he is preparing to enter IFAF international competition for the first time against opponents whose playing styles and personnel are a mystery. Despite the challenges ahead, he is determined to help his nation win the tournament gold medal and qualify for next year’s IFAF Flag Football World Championships.

“This a jump into the complete unknown for me, and for us as a team,” he says. “I want to show that South Africa, as much as we've been quiet in terms of the international space of American football and sending players to the US, we're still a top competitor.

“We're coming with a South African flavor that the world hasn't seen. My expectation is to go and represent my country well, to show the world that's even though this isn't a sport that's very known in South Africa, it's still a sport where we can excel and dominate.”

Phiri gravitated to flag football having played rugby at university and lined up as a wide receiver and tight end in an 11-man tackle football team. Having family in Atlanta introduced him to the NFL whose Baltimore Ravens are his favorite team.

“I moved from tackle to arena rules football and then I got some experience playing flag and I fell in love with flag football,” he explains. “With the high intensity, the fact that I don't get injured is appealing. Now that I'm playing flag it's just a passion flaming from within me.”

That passion drove Phiri to attend tryouts when news reached him that a South African national team was being formed to take part in the historic first IFAF African continental championships.

Head coach Anthony Shelton, who was charged with selecting the best 12 athletes to represent South Africa, was expecting the nation’s established flag football players to compete for a roster spot.

“I knew who Michael was from his club team, so he was one of the certain players I’d hoped would show up to the tryouts,” says coach Shelton. “For the sake of fairness, we didn't want any suggestion of there being favoritism or anything like that, and there were actually a few players that didn't turn out that I was a little bit disappointed in. But I was very pleased when Michael turned up.”

Phiri took nothing for granted and at one point almost convinced himself that he would not be on the plane to Cairo.

“I've also played basketball for a long time, so I was familiar with the process of trying out and waiting for the results,” he explains. “I felt anxious for the first time in a long time. I'm a very competitive athlete. Everything felt really good until the waiting process, just waiting for the call.

“A few of the players I've met and become friends with, we all texted each other and one was told that he was in the team. I thought that I didn't get in and had almost accepted that, but I was at the gym, and I see coach's number come up on my phone. I just remember dropping the weights instantly. I was beyond joyful and since then connecting with the team and learning all the little details, it's been a fantastic journey.”

Phiri is putting his life temporarily on hold to go in search of gold and glory in Egypt. A university student, he is currently in the middle of exam season, so had to request some flexibility around his studies in order to head to Cairo.

“With the help of the coaches, I've been able to suspend my university activities,” he says. “As soon as they heard I'm traveling to represent South Africa, all of my lectures wished me good luck and everything. My first priority right now is football, and my second priority is keeping up with everything else I’ve got going on.”

Once the historic IFAF Africa Flag tournament is in the books, Phiri has his sights set on the sport’s ultimate prize but is taking nothing for granted.

“I want South Africa to qualify for the Olympics Games,” he explains. “I want to go there as well, but I understand that if I don't give everything when I am on the field, that won’t happen. When you have something to lose it motivates me to be successful.”

Photo: South Africa Gridiron