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The sport

A short history of flag football

Updated · 2 min read

Flag football started as a way to play football without the hits. Eighty years later it's an Olympic sport, a college sport and the fastest-growing sport for girls in American high schools.

  1. 1940s

    Flag football is usually traced to American soldiers during World War II, who wanted to play football on base without the injuries. Fort Meade, Maryland, is said to have hosted the first games. It's a tradition more than a record: no document from the time has been found.

  2. 1979

    A national college flag football tournament begins at the University of New Orleans.

  3. 1994

    The NFL holds its first youth camp series teaching flag rules, at the New England Patriots' stadium.

  4. 1996

    The start of NFL FLAG, the NFL's youth league. By 2011 it has more than 169,000 players aged 5 to 17 in 49 states.

  5. 2002

    IFAF holds the first Flag Football World Championships for men and women. Austria's men and Sweden's women win.

  6. 2017

    Flag passes tackle as the most-played kind of football for US kids aged 6 to 12.

  7. 2019

    Former NFL safety Izell Reese founds RCX Sports, which now runs NFL FLAG under license from the NFL.

  8. 2020

    The NAIA, the NFL and RCX announce a plan to make women's flag football a college varsity sport.

  9. 2022

    The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama: flag football's first international multi-sport event. The U.S. men beat Italy 46–36; Mexico's women beat the U.S. 39–6.

  10. 2023

    The NFL Pro Bowl switches from tackle to flag. On October 16 the IOC adds flag football to the LA28 Olympic program.

  11. 2025

    NFL owners vote 32–0 to let players try out for LA28. NFHS publishes its first national high-school flag rules. Mexico wins World Games gold again.

  12. 2026

    The NCAA makes women's flag an emerging sport and the NAIA a championship sport. 102,360 girls play in high school. Canada's women and the U.S. men win the world titles. The NFL ends the Pro Bowl Games and announces Premier Flag, a pro league for 2027.

  13. 2028

    Flag football's Olympic debut in Los Angeles, July 15–22.

Names to know

Around the world

IFAF, the world federation, reached 80 members in June 2026. With TMRW Sports it says more than 20 million people play flag football, including more than a million in China; those are the federation's own estimates. In Mexico the game is also called tochito, and Mexico's women have won three world titles and two World Games golds. The U.S. men have won 7 of the 12 men's world championships.

Sources