The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is shaping the qualification pathway for flag soccer’s Olympic debut on the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and hopes are excessive that U.S. groups will obtain automated entry as hosts, federation president Pierre Trochet mentioned Monday.
Speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) throughout an official go to three years forward of the LA Olympics, Trochet mentioned IFAF is in energetic discussions with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to finalize the qualifying course of, which can embody six males’s and 6 girls’s groups.
“We will have the official version of the qualification program by the end of the year,” Trochet mentioned. “We’re already considering a scenario where the world’s best might go through a first qualifying stage in 2026.”
He added {that a} second section, doubtless in 2027, would contain top-performing continental groups, forming the ultimate group of qualifiers.
“We have a clear and precise idea of what we’ll propose,” he mentioned.
The rising Olympic sport – a fast-paced, noncontact model of conventional American soccer – gained momentum after the NFL permitted participation by its gamers within the Games.
Trochet mentioned the federation stays optimistic that U.S. squads, given their standing as hosts and pioneers of flag soccer, might be granted direct entry into the match.
“Our board has made this proposal, and we hope it will be favorably received by those who need to approve our qualification pathway,” he mentioned.
Trochet mentioned the federation has additionally been working to finalize flag soccer’s place within the Olympic schedule, noting they’d secured a prime-time slot with the lads’s closing set for Friday, July 21 – a date he mentioned “links culturally to the tradition of university games on Friday nights.”
“The women’s final will have its own moment on Saturday evening at the heart of an important day, all at the end of the first week of the Games,” Trochet added.
Elsewhere, the federation is specializing in the worldwide development of the game.
“A few weeks ago, we concluded the first African Championship in Cairo, Egypt,” he mentioned. “Throughout the summer, we will transition to the European Championships in Paris, the Americas Championship in Panama, and then the Asia-Oceania Championships in China in October.”
Trochet mentioned efforts to bolster the game within the United States are considerably totally different. Alongside the NFL, the federation is working to assist youth flag soccer, practice coaches, and certify officers.
“In the United States, flag football is experiencing phenomenal growth,” he mentioned, including that the federation can also be working with the NFL to have flag soccer acknowledged as a aggressive collegiate sport within the U.S.
“Our ambition is to move faster than the 10 years usually required for this process,” he mentioned.
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