- Teams From Across Africa Will Feature in First-Ever IFAF Continental Championships in Region from June 20-21
- NFL Africa to Host Football Development Events in Egypt Alongside IFAF Championships
The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is delighted to announce Egypt as the host nation for the inaugural 2025 IFAF African Flag Football Championships – AFRICA FLAG 2025.
AFRICA FLAG 2025 will take place from June 20-21 in Cairo, Egypt, welcoming elite men’s and women’s national teams from across Africa for the first time at an IFAF Continental Championships. As participation in flag football continues to grow rapidly throughout the continent, this inaugural event offers a pathway to qualification for the 2026 IFAF Flag Football World Championships and represents a significant milestone on the journey towards flag football’s historic Olympic debut at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.
“With the announcement of the first ever IFAF Continental Championships in Africa, we are taking another step in the global development of our sport,” said IFAF President Pierre Trochet. “Looking ahead to flag football’s historic Olympic debut at LA28, our Continental Championships provide a fantastic platform to further accelerate the sport’s regional growth at grassroots and elite levels. Egypt will be a great host, and we are certain AFRICA FLAG 2025 will play its part in inspiring new athletes and fans across a continent that has already produced a rich heritage of American football talent.”
Hosted in partnership with the National Football League and Egyptian Federation of American Football (EFAF), various youth football development events will take place in Cairo in conjunction with the upcoming Championships — expanding the league’s NFL Africa program to Egypt for the first time, creating more opportunities for young athletes from across the continent to play American football.
In collaboration with IFAF and EFAF, U12 teams of boys and girls from Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria will compete in a multi-day NFL Flag Continental Championship, facing off in the championship game on June 23. NFL Flag is the official flag football program of the NFL — working to bring the non-contact version of American football to young athletes worldwide.
The NFL will also host a football talent identification event with prospects from across Africa. Athletes will showcase their skills and abilities with the potential to advance on through the NFL Academy Europe-Africa program in Loughborough, U.K. or the International Player Pathway (IPP) program — two core pillars of the NFL’s global football development initiatives.
A number of current NFL players will join these events in Egypt, including New York Giants’ Bobby Okereke (Nigeria), Minnesota Vikings’ Brian Asamoah II (Ghana) and NFL free agent Dieter Eiselen (South Africa). Okereke, Asamoah II and Eiselen are supporting football operations for national federations in the lead up to and during the Championships, as well as NFL Africa’s youth football programming.
“I’m excited and inspired to lead the NFL’s efforts in Africa and to again expand our programming to a fifth country: Egypt — an innovative market for sport, with astonishing talent,” said two-time Super Bowl Champion and NFL Africa Lead Osi Umenyiora. “Back-to-back days of NFL Africa events alongside the IFAF Continental Championships in Egypt helps showcase the aspirational pathways for talented young athletes across the continent, as we look ahead together to flag football in the LA Olympic Games in 2028. It will be a great weekend of football, and one that will create a powerful legacy as we introduce more and more young athletes to our game.”
AFRICA FLAG 2025 will reinforce the acceleration of flag football’s growth across the continent. At the record-breaking 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships, Cameroon made history as the first African nation to compete on the global stage. Since 2023 participation in flag football has surged with Egypt and Nigeria seeing increases of 149% and 85%, respectively. In Nigeria, the national federation’s outreach program has already engaged more than 13,000 young people, highlighting the sport’s expanding reach and appeal.
IFAF and the NFL are working hand-in-hand to develop and grow flag football across the continent, collaborating to create meaningful educational pathways for coaches and officials delivering flag across Africa. This commitment was reaffirmed at the recent three-day flag football coach education and officiating clinic in Ghana (April 11-13). The clinic welcomed new and experienced coaches and officials from 10 African countries — Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda — enabling further long-term engagement and participation in the sport in the region.
As part of the NFL Africa program, the league has also undertaken NFL Flag development, talent identification camps and fan events across Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria since 2022.
“We are extremely proud to be hosting the first ever AFRICA FLAG 2025 in Cairo and to be writing Egypt into flag football’s history books,” said EFAF Founder Ali Rafeek. “Hosting this tournament allows us to put a spotlight on our talented athletes and to show the next generation what’s possible in this sport — whether you’re picking up a football for the first time or dreaming of the Olympics.”
“AFRICA FLAG 2025 is a huge moment for the continued growth of flag football across our continent,” said Egyptian Women’s National Team Quarterback Amira Nader. “It’s an opportunity to showcase the incredible talent and passion rising throughout Africa and take a meaningful step towards making history at LA28. As the first-ever Continental Championships, this event will inspire the next generation to pick up a football and believe anything is possible.”
IFAF continues to reinforce structured and competitive pathways for flag football, with the Continental Championships as an important stepping stone in the journey towards the 2026 IFAF Flag Football World Championships. The record-breaking 2024 edition of the IFAF Flag Football World Championships was the culmination of IFAF’s biggest-ever international cycle of flag football competition and brought together elite athletes representing 31 nations from five continents at the most competitive and thrilling tournament to date. Flag football is played by 20 million athletes in more than 100 countries, and with an ever-expanding African presence, these events will serve as key milestones on the road to LA28.
Details regarding AFRICA FLAG 2025’s participating nations as well as the 2025 Continental Championships for other regions will be announced in the coming weeks, offering teams from around the world more opportunities to compete and prepare for the journey toward LA28.
Africa Fact: Africans pioneered basic arithmetic 25,000 years ago. The Ishango bone is a tool handle with notches carved into it found in the Ishango region of Zaïre (now called Congo) near Lake Edward. The bone tool was originally thought to have been over 8,000 years old, but a more sensitive recent dating has given dates of 25,000 years old. On the tool are 3 rows of notches. Row 1 shows three notches carved next to six, four carved next to eight, ten carved next to two fives and finally a seven. The 3 and 6, 4 and 8, and 10 and 5, represent the process of doubling. Row 2 shows eleven notches carved next to twenty-one notches, and nineteen notches carved next to nine notches. This represents 10 + 1, 20 + 1, 20 – 1 and 10 – 1. Finally, Row 3 shows eleven notches, thirteen notches, seventeen notches and nineteen notches. 11, 13, 17 and 19 are the prime numbers between 10 and 20.
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