The women’s tournament at Asia-Oceania Flag 2025 will open with a thriller when reigning champion Japan takes on host China on Field 1 at 8am local time on Friday, October 24 at the Fenghua Sports Center in Ningbo.

Unranked China surprised world number three and 2024 IFAF World Championships bronze medalist Japan at The World Games in Chengdu in August, beating them 28-22 on the way to securing sixth place overall.

The groups for Asia-Oceania Flag 2025 can be found here.

Runners up at the 2023 continental championships, Australia open at the same time against newcomers American Samoa on a day that sees 26 games played across ten time slots.

The men’s tournament begins at 10.30am when third place finisher from two years ago Japan faces newcomer Hong Kong, while another unranked team entering IFAF competition for the first time, host China, meets Asia’s second-ranked men’s team Kuwait.

Thailand begins the defense of its men’s title against Jordan at 4.45pm, while in the Oceania group, beaten finalists in 2023 New Zealand face American Samoa at 9.45am.

IFAF will crown separate Asia and Oceania champions in both the men’s and women’s competitions and they will join 13 nations already qualified for the 2026 IFAF Flag Football World Championships to be played in Dusseldorf next August, along with a third-place finisher. Seven nations from Europe, five from the Americas and one from Africa have secured a berth with three remaining spots available.

The group stages conclude on Saturday afternoon with knockout stages beginning at 3.30pm and continuing into Sunday, a day which sees 30 games played over 11 time slots. Oceania’s men’s and women’ tournaments conclude when traditional rivals Australia and New Zealand face off at 6pm (women) and 7.15pm (men) on Sunday.

The Asia men’s and women’s champions will be crowned at 10.30am on Sunday with the winners joining the Oceania champions decided during their group stages in qualifying for the world championships. The losing finalists will play off for the third available place in Germany at 3.30pm.

The overall Asia-Oceania gold medal games will bring down the curtain in Ningbo when the Asia and Oceania winners meet at 4.45pm in the women’s tournament and at 6pm in the men’s competition.