Less than four years before the Los Angeles 2028 Games, where the discipline will make its Olympic debut as an additional sport, the flag football world championships began Tuesday August 27 in Lahti, Finland, breaking records. The opposite would have been worrying. The American Federation of American Football (IFAF) announces the participation of 54 men's and women's teams, from 31 countries, an unprecedented number of more than 600 players. Over the past five years, registration for the flag football world championships has increased by 41%. Organized at the Pajulahti Olympic Training Center, the opening ceremony of the world championships was marked by an athletes' speech delivered by the Mexican Diana Flores, world ambassador of flag football, and the Finns Essi Sastamoinen and Micky Kyei. IFAF President, Frenchman Pierre Trochet, then declared the event officially open. The IFAF currently lists more than 20 million players in around a hundred countries.
