With qualification for the 2026 IFAF Flag Football World Championships assured, 16 women’s national teams from five continents will converge on Dusseldorf from August 14-16 with the IFAF World Flag gold medal the ultimate prize.

They include the defending world champions, two-time winners at The World Games, recently crowned continental champions, emerging forces and two nations new to the global stage. Previously all IFAF member federations competed in an arena that is now reserved for 16 elite teams that earned the right to compete at IFAF World Flag 2026.

Africa (1 nation)

Nigeria leads Africa’s challenge having won the first-ever IFAF Africa Flag continental championships this summer. Nigeria triumphed in Cairo with a 26-12 victory over Morocco.

“This is a great achievement for us and I’m proud of every woman out here,” said Nigeria quarterback Anuoluwapo Bello, who threw four touchdowns in the win. “We showed what we are made of and in the second half we were able to get ahead and win the game.”

Americas (5 nations)

Three-time world champion (2004, 2008, 2012) Mexico heads to Dusseldorf having won two titles this summer with a pair of victories over nemesis the United States. First a Diana Flores to Victoria Chavez touchdown pass as time expired defended Mexico’s crown at The World Games in China, then USA was beaten in the semifinals of the IFAF Americas Flag tournament in Panama. Mexico won IFAF Americas gold with a final victory over Canada.

Canada took the silver medal at the IFAF Americas Flag continental championships having beaten Mexico during the group stages and won bronze at The World Games.

It feels incredible,” said Canada quarterback Sara Parker. “We are constantly trying to prove that we belong in the top three and are fighting really hard to win that gold medal. I’m super proud of us and we deserve this.”

Canada were world champions in 2010 and 2014 and boast silver and bronze medal finishes.

The United States had to settle for the silver medal at The World Games and bronze at the Americas but are the defending world champions having beaten Mexico 31-18 in 2024 in Finland. USA will look to bounce back and claim a fourth straight title.

World champions back in 2016 and the last team to win the title before USA’s domination, Panama pushed USA all the way in the third-place game of the Americas Flag and were on level terms late in the game before having to settle for a fourth overall finish.

Brazil claimed the final qualification spot from the Americas. IFAF NFL Flag Football Ambassador Gabi Bankhardt said: “It is amazing because we are going through changes and his was a challenging tournament for us. We’re changing our culture with different ways of playing with much more aggression on defense.

“There is a lot of pressure now for us to get results because flag football will be at the Olympics. We’re not happy to be in fifth place because we wanted more, but we are happy to be going to Germany.”

Asia-Oceania (3 nations)

Asia will have two representatives in Dusseldorf after China upset world number three-ranked Japan 25-22 to win the Asia tournament and then defeated Australia 36-29 in the combined Asia-Oceania gold medal game.

“We are so excited, we are the champion,” said China quarterback Haolin Feng. “It was not easy. We go to the World Championships next year and we are looking forward to being the final champions.”

China also made their mark at The World Games having beaten Japan and pushed Europe’s top ranked team Austria to within two points in a 47-45 defeat.

Bronze medalist at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships, Japan beat American Samoa 42-12 in the Bronze Medal Game at the Asia-Oceania flag tournament to book their ticket to Dusseldorf.

Australia will fly the flag for Oceania having finished top of the three-nation group ahead of New Zealand and American Samoa. Silver medalists on the continental stage in 2023, Australia also took the overall Asia-Oceania second place this summer, narrowly losing 36-29 to China.

“We worked really well as a team to be able to achieve the goal today,” said wide receiver Amelie Prosser-Shaw after Australia clinched the Oceania title. “Ultimately our aim was to come away with as many wins as we could but also learn a lot. We’re a very new and young team and we’re really starting to come together as a whole, support each other and trust each other on both sides of the ball.

“I think that’s the most important thing, especially looking forward now we’ve qualified for Germany next year.”

Europe (7 nations)

Germany qualified automatically as hosts of IFAF World Flag 2026 and will be joined by six other European nations including the reigning two-time European champion and a world stage newcomer.

Great Britain was the only team that won every game in the women’s continental championships in 2025, successfully defending the Euro Flag title won in 2023 with a thrilling overtime victory by a single point against Austria.

“I’m pretty speechless and very proud of the team,” said quarterback Jess Allen, who made her international debut at The World Games in August where GB finished fifth, a place behind Austria. “We’ve worked so hard for this, we deserve this. We had a slow start, but our offense managed to pull it back and our defense got some really great stops.”

Austria went home with the silver medal, just as they did at the 2024 IFAF world championships, while they lost to Canada in the bronze medal game at The World Games. Austria will pose a threat in Dusseldorf and look to improve on three bronze medal finishes since hosting the first ever world championships back in 2002.

Spain and France fought for the bronze medal at IFAF Euro Flag 2025 knowing they had both qualified for the world championships and it was Spain who edged a shootout 41-40. The 2019 European champions finished third overall in a game that saw a touchdown scored on every possession expect the final drive when Spain’s Sabrina Marques Resende came up with an interception as time ran out to seal victory.

“It was a tough game but now we are looking forward to the world championships next year,” said France center Lucie Vinot. “We are so grateful for the support that we had from the French people.”

France were world champions in 2006 and have twice finished as in third place, while Spain seeks a first medal on the world stage,

Slovenia lost the fifth-place playoff to Germany, but their finish was to enough to qualify for the IFAF world championships having been the surprise package of Euro Flag 2025 finishing with a 3-1 group stages record.

Italy completes the line up from Europe having finished seventh at Euro Flag 2025 and also competed at The World Games where they were unable to claim a group stages win against three of the world’s top five teams in Mexico, Japan and Great Britain.