Home field advantage. Is it a blessing or a curse? An expectant host nation crowd and a local fanbase can inspire victory, or it can bring pressure that turns the dreams of even the best teams in sport into nightmares. This summer, Germany will hope it is the former.
The men and women of the German national teams will aim to repay those home supporters in Düsseldorf cheering them on from August 13-16 by winning 2026 IFAF World Flag gold medals and securing LA28 Olympic Games qualification.
IFAF competition historically does not favor the host nation. At the 11 previous IFAF World Championships, only three men’s teams (Austria 2002, Canada 2008, USA 2016) and one women’s team (Canada 2010) have tasted glory on home soil. Factor in IFAF continental championships and The World Games and the ratio is a total of eight home victories to 31 occasions when a visiting nation has departed with the gold medal. It is ten years since a home nation won when USA claimed the men’s crown in Miami and the last nation to win in front of its own crowd was China’s women at the 2025 Asia-Oceania continentals.
But let’s not write Germany off!
Just three years ago, quarterback Ben Klever and his favorite receiver and gold medal game four-touchdown MVP Fabian Achenbach were crowned European champions and ranked third in the world, while Germany’s women won the bronze medal at those 2023 Euros.
These are two teams that are poised to bounce back after failing to live up to expectations at the 2024 IFAF World Championships in Finland and last summer’s Euro Flag tournament in France. The women are ranked ninth in the world and the men eleventh.
In Opposition in Düsseldorf
Germany’s women will face the ultimate test against world number one and reigning champion of The World Games and the 2025 Americas Flag continental championships Mexico in Group A. The host nation will take on another Top 10 ranked nation in Italy, who knocked them out of the world championships two years ago, and surprise qualifier from this year’s Euros Slovenia in Group A.
In Group C the men will face a Mexican team ranked third in the world, bronze medalist at the 2024 world championships Switzerland and fifth-placed Americas qualifier Brazil.
Players to Watch
Women: Kyra Fischer, hybrid
Men: Ben Klever, quarterback
IFAF World Championships Pedigree
Germany has twice finished as runners-up in the men’s competition, winning silver at the inaugural IFAF Flag Football World Championships in 2002, losing 6-0 to Austria. Two years later they were edged 26-24 again by Austria in the championship game.
In 2024 the men finished second in Group C behind Great Britain and lost to Italy in the Round of 16 before finishing 12thoverall. The women topped group C and were also eliminated at the first knockout stage by Italy before finishing in 9thplace.
The Coaches
Jona Winkel is the head coach of German’s women’s team who having coached tackle football in Germany in the GFL and the United States, is focused entirely on flag football with the aim of Germany qualifying for the Olympics. He started two university flag football programs in Germany and in 2021 was hired as the offensive coordinator for the German women flag football team and one year later was promoted to head coach. Since November 2023 he has overseen all national team coaches for Germany’s flag football program.
Said Salazar-Deciga is the head coach of Germany’s men's flag football national teams. He started playing flag football at the age of five, and since then football — both flag and tackle — which has shaped his entire life.
He earned a scholarship, completed his university degree and master’s, and later made the decision to dedicate himself full-time to flag football. Said represented his native Mexico in three different international competitions: the 2016 and 2021 IFAF World Championships and The World Games in 2022. He then moved to Europe to grow the sport, serving as defensive coordinator for France at the last world championships.
In Preparation
This week both teams will travel to Mexico for a five-day training camp from February 24 to March 1 and will participate with their full 20-player preliminary roster.
This central part of early season preparation serves as a targeted stress test under challenging conditions, in particular training at high altitude, which provides additional athletic stimuli and places high demands on load management and recovery. The focus is on intensive training sessions and the further development of tactical procedures.
“This is an ideal opportunity for us to train under the best possible conditions early in the year,” said women’s head coach Winkel. “The training camp will certainly be very directive for us, and we want to take full advantage of this opportunity from the beginning to achieve maximum development.”
Photo: Ian Humes
