The Israeli men’s flag football team, August 2024. Credit: Courtesy American Football in Israel.
Israel’s men’s and women’s flag football teams are kicking off their quest for a spot at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, at this week’s International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Flag Football World Championships (FFWC) in Lahti, Finland.
The Israel’s under U17 boys’ national flag football team at the 2023 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) European Junior Flag Football Championships in Grossetto, Italy. Credit: Courtesy.
Over the weekend, Israel’s under U17 boys’ national flag football team won gold at the 2023 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) European Junior Flag Football Championships at the Fattoria La Principina in Grossetto, Italy. More than 400 young athletes from 12 nations competed during the three-day tournament, at the U17 and U15 levels.
Israel’s flag football team. Credit: American Football in Israel.
The biannual tournament was originally scheduled to take place in Denmark in 2020 but was postponed due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
This past weekend 21 teams from all over Europe arrived in Jerusalem to compete for the 2019 Flag Football European Championship. Denmark took the gold for the men while Spain won the women’s crown. On today’s Israel Uncensored with Josh Hasten, American Football in Israel (AFI) president Steve Leibowitz says that the biggest winner in the competition is the city of Jerusalem, hosting the largest ever delegation (over 400 players) for a specific sport in an internationally recognized tournament. While the Israeli men’s team finished fourth and the women finished sixth, Israel already has its sights on the 2020 world championship in Copenhagen.