Europe will crown a new champion in at least two of the three 2026 IFAF European Youth Flag Football Championships categories when the final knockout rounds and medal games take place at the fifth annual tournament on Saturday.

The sport’s stars of tomorrow are competing in Lido delle Nazioni near Ferrara, Italy, and will contest the semifinals at Po Delta Park before the gold medal games at the Stadio Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini di Comacchio.

In the U17 Girls competition, second place finishers last year Germany avenged their title game loss to Italy with a 38-13 quarterfinal win over the hosts and defending champions. They now face Group A winner Czechia in the semifinals, with Great Britain who topped Group B and Spain also battling for a place in the final, which will bring the curtain down on the tournament at 6pm CET. Only Czechia and Great Britain remain unbeaten after two days of action.

Reigning Boys U17 champion Spain overcame France 42-25 in the quarterfinals and will now face Finland who beat Team Euro Youth by a single point to advance to the final four. Battling for the other place in Saturday’s 4.45pm CET gold medal game will be the host nation Italy, narrow 34-29 winners over Austria, and two-time champion and 2025 runner up Israel, who edged Great Britain 40-36. All four semifinalists won their respective groups on Thursday.

The gold medal games action on Saturday will feature a Mixed U15 final between Austria and Team Euro Youth at 3.30pm CET. The Austrians got the better of Czechia in a 48-47 quarterfinal shootout then topped Spain 32-23. Reigning champion Germany was denied a chance of a second straight gold medal as they fell 36-35 to TEY.

Results and Saturday’s schedule are available on IFAF Play, which charts every game live with real-time scores, statistics, standings, schedules, and updated tournament brackets. https://ifaf.play.sport/tournaments/eyc26

Games from Fields 1 & 2 and the three medal games are streamed live on the official IFAF YouTube

Photo: Giulio Bussi