Pressure is something that comes with the territory for the world’s elite flag football nations. There is pressure to win not only a medal at IFAF World Flag this summer but added pressure to also punch one of two golden tickets that will secure qualification for the LA28 Olympic Games.

For Jona Winkel, it might be reasonable to assume that the head coach of Germany’s women's team carries the additional burden of a host nation expecting home field advantage to pay dividends. On top of that, as director of coaching, Winkel is charged with overseeing flag football for the American Football Verband Deutschland (AFVD), making the men’s success also his concern.

If there is pressure, it doesn’t show.

“That is certainly something that depends on the way you frame it,” says Winkel of the expectations of a home nation. “We want to make sure we’re only going to get supported by that; want to get elevated by that for sure. There's the shorter travel, which can be an advantage. One of our teams plays there, but it's not like we practice there.”

In 2023 the German men’s team was crowned European champions and the women claimed the bronze medal having narrowly failed to overcome a disastrous start to a semifinal against Spain that cost them a shot at a gold medal. Expectations were high for the IFAF World Championships in Finland, but the women finished ninth and the men 12^th. At Euro Flag 2025, neither team was in medal contention. Now they have reset with clear goals.

“As a competitive team, whenever you step on the field, whenever you start a tournament, you want to win every single game,” says Winkel. “The whole tournament? Yes. Are we the favorite to land a qualification spot for Olympics? I don't think so. But we definitely think there's a shot for us.

“A lot of things have to fall into place. It's never going to be easy, of course. But our expectation or high-level goal certainly is to qualify (for LA28) to get in the top three. But definitely first of all, make it out of the group stage, make the quarterfinals and then roll from there.

“When I started being head coach in 2022, I had this five-year plan how to get ready for ‘27, because back then I believed ‘27 has got to be the year where we are at our peak to make sure we qualify for the Olympics.”

Inevitably new players are drafted in by nations seeking improvement and Germany has regularly recruited handball, basketball, track and field and soccer athletes, and on the men’s side has explored its long-established and successful tackle football talent pool.

There is also the question in the longer term that is a hot topic for discussion for the United States and Canada in particular of available NFL players for the men’s team. Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown represented Germany at youth level and speaks fluent German, as does his brother Equanimeous, a receiver with the Packers.

“We are looking into it already,” Winkel admits. “And I feel like are mostly in a lucky spot because we do have one or two or three (NFL) players that might make a difference, but it's not going to be 10 of them like the Americans might face.

“So, for us it's more like that one piece or two pieces that might get us over the hump, which is really exciting. At the same time, they cannot play competitively before ‘28. From my understanding, if we make it to the qualifying tournament, they will be eligible.”

To trigger improvements capable of steering both teams towards more immediate goals, Germany’s squads have come together every month since November with practices across weekends and five days spent at a warm weather training camp in Mexico. A friendly against a neighboring European team that did not qualify for the world championships, a day training with other national teams in Vienna and a visit to Panama are all a deliberate part of the buildup.

Having the resources to travel the world in preparation for the most significant tournament in the history of the sport illustrates just how far flag football has progressed since Winkel was first involved.

“Yeah, it's incredible,” he admits. “It’s like night and day. It's been an incredible super-fast ride since then with so many things changing. We slept in the gym hall. Coaches were not paid at all. In the second year I actually did get some gas money, but the first year was no funds whatsoever.

“Since the last two years we are practicing in probably best facility sports facility in Germany at the DFB (German football association) campus. We got a huge grant from the German government for the whole Olympic cycle. That's something we put a lot of work into and it's been totally different. Now we can fly in players to practice with us, which they might not be able to afford otherwise.”

Germany opens its challenge for the world crown and Olympic qualification on August 13 with the women facing the ultimate test against world number one Mexico at 9.15am and the men following them on Field 1 at 10.30am with Mexico also in opposition.