Host nation Italy enjoyed an impressive start to the 2026 IFAF European Youth Flag Football Championships as the continent’s top flag football athletes at the boys and girls U17 and mixed U15 age groups opened the three-day tournament.
The sport’s stars of tomorrow are competing in Lido delle Nazioni near Ferrara, Italy, from September 24 to 26 at Po Delta Park with a record number of 33 teams representing 14 nations.
Results and schedules 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 medal games are streamed live on the official IFAF YouTube.
Italy’s U17 Boys (2-0) and U15 Mixed team (3-0) have topped their respective groups after the first day of action and advanced to the knockout stages, while the defending European champion U17 Girls opened with a 1-1 start.
In the U17 Boys tournament Spain, Israel, Italy and Finland all posted a perfect 2-0 record. A quartet of 1-1 nations – Great Britain, France, Team Europe Youth and Austria – will face third place teams Germany, Czechia, Serbia and Poland for the right to take on the group winners in the knockout stages.
The U17 Girls head into Friday’s action with all to play for. Czechia (3-0) leads Spain (2-1) and Italy (1-1) in a five-team Group A, while in Group B, Great Britain (2-0) is out in front of Germany (1-1), Austria (1-1) and Finland (0-2).
The knockout bracket for the Mixed U15 competition is set after Germany, Spain and Austria all won their two group games and Italy claimed three victories in the four-team Group D. Friday’s quarterfinals see Germany face Slovakia, Italy take on Team Euro Youth, Austria up against Czechia and Spain play against Ukraine (all games at 11.30am CET).
The gold medal games will be played on Saturday when the action switches to the Stadio Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini di Comacchio with the Boys U17 final (3.30pm) followed by the Mixed U15 final (4.45pm) and the Girls U17 final (6pm).
Photo: Riccardo Foglio
