Japan has a point to prove at the IFAF World Championships.

Two years ago, the women claimed a dramatic bronze medal with a one-point victory over Austria in a high-scoring 41-40 win that went down to the wire. They boast one of the sport’s most dynamic young quarterbacks in Chihiro Iwata who since emerging for the national team has starred at Kansas Wesleyan University as a celebrated passer in the NAIA.

Yet Japan stumbled at The World Games last year, settling for seventh place overall having finished behind Mexico and Great Britain in the group stages before losing to Canada in the quarterfinals. Continental rival China has now emerged and claimed a first-ever competitive win at Japan’s expense at The World Games and again in the semifinals of the Asia-Oceania championships, as Japan took the bronze medal.

Japan’s women have the experience and the pedigree to be among the medals and the LA28 qualifying places in Düsseldorf.

The men’s hopes now rest in the hands of quarterback Takehito Taniguchi, a 23-year-old passer who in his debut tournament led Japan to the final of last year’s Asia-Oceania title game, where they lost to Australia. Japan had advanced to the championship game with a dramatic 40-39 win over host China to win the Asia tournament and book their ticket to this summer’s finals. Taniguchi also leads from under center in tackle football with the Tokyo Gas of the X-League.

Two years earlier Japan had missed out on a chance to play for the continental gold medal having suffered a surprise defeat to New Zealand in the semifinals, but now Japan’s men are a team on the rise having climbed from tenth to seventh place in the IFAF world rankings.

 In Opposition in Düsseldorf

The serpentine system employed to determine the draw for the group stages of IFAF World Flag 2026 means that fifth-ranked in the world Japan’s women slot in with fourth-ranked Canada in Group D. The Canadians knocked them out of contention at The World Games and will provide fierce competition. As two teams look to progress to the knockout stages, Panama will have an eye on one of those places, as will Brazil as the pair complete a trio of Americas opposition for Japan. Brazil was beaten at this stage in the world championships two years ago.

The men find themselves in a tough Group B alongside beaten finalists in last year’s IFAF World Championships and 2025 Euro Flag, world number two Austria. Add in the bronze medalist at Americas Flag Canada and winner of the first IFAF Africa Flag tournament Nigeria, who are something of an unknown quantity and this group becomes a difficult one to predict.

Players to Watch

Women: Chihiro Iwata, quarterback

Men: Takehito Taniguchi, quarterback

IFAF World Championships Pedigree

Success on the world stage has been relatively scarce. Besides the bronze medal won two years ago, Japan’s women were beaten finalists at the third IFAF world championships in Korea in 2006 when they lost to France. In 2024 they lost once in the group stages but rallied to beat Australia and Great Britain in the knockout rounds before losing to Mexico in the semifinals. A more than adequate consolation was that dramatic bronze medal triumph over Austria.

Two years ago in Finland, Japan’s men emerged from the top of their group but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Denmark. A placement loss to Great Britain was followed by a win over Germany to claim 11^th place overall.

Historically, they have only once played for a medal, 22 years ago when host France won 40-23 in the third-place game. Back in 2021, Japan was unable to advance beyond the group stages.

The Coaches

Nobuhara Norikazu will lead Japan’s women’s team as he did as acting head coach at The World Games in China in 2025, and as head coach at the Asia-Oceania continental championships.

An extensive coaching career in tackle football saw him hold the position of defensive coordinator with the Fujitsu Frontiers from 2007 to 2024 having previously been the IBM Big Blue defensive coordinator and offensive passing coordinator. Coach Norikazu has also coached with Hosei University and the Hosei Second High School Tomahawks. He coached with Japan at two IFAF tackle football World Championships in 2011 and 2015.

Japan men’s national team head coach Iwai Ayumu has been involved in the sport in his nation since the IFAF Flag Football World Championship were played for the second time in 2004 when Japan finished in fourth place.

He became head coach for the 2018 FFWC in Panama, making this his ninth year in the position. In China, he played American football for two years with the Shanghai Warriors from 2015-2016 and in Japan, even during his playing career, he coached youth and women’s teams, so has approximately 25 years of coaching experience in total.

In Preparation

Japan is holding tryouts at the end of March, mainly for non-flag football players as they cast an eye over athletes from different sports to discover potential talent to help them compete for medals in Düsseldorf. The squad will meet regularly for training sessions every two weeks during the countdown to IFAF World Flag 2026.