Building Women’s (American) Flag Football
By Dr. Russ Crawford
Team France at the 2025 IFAF European Continental Championship, held in Choisy-le-Roi, France. Photo: Constance Milojevic.
Flag football is building towards inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Games after being a part of the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama in 2022 and Chengdu, China in 2025.
In Fall 2025, the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) held their continental championships series to winnow down the number of teams worldwide to the twelve top competitors who will compete in IFAF's World Flag Football Championship in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 2026.
The connection between American flag football and French athletes was on display as the Women’s Team France took fourth place in the September 2025 IFAF European Continental Championship. Excitement around the September 25-27, 2025 tournament was a good indication of the growth of women’s flag football.
French Women Placed Fourth In American Flag Football
Team France got off to a quick start on the first day of competition of the IFAF European Women’s Flag Football Championship in Choisy-le-Roi, France. The home team easily handled Sweden, 40-13, and defeated Norway, 60-6.
Team France center Lucie Vinot (18). Photo: Constance Milojevic
On the second day of competition, France outpaced Italy, 48-6, and Poland, 56-12. In that day’s closest match, the French Women’s National Team got revenge against the Spanish, who defeated them 28-22 in the Round of 16 at the 2024 World Championships; at the Euros, France overcame Spain by 11 points, 33-22.
The French women had the backing of large homefield crowds at the Parc Interdépartmental de Choisy Paris-Val-de-Marne, who came equipped with Les Tricolores, drums, and a great deal of enthusiasm.
The team tallied up a clean win sheet across their first five games, then faced off against Great Britain for the championship title. The rivalry between the two countries dates back to at least 1066, when William the Conqueror and his Normans from France conquered England, and every international sports competition writes yet another chapter into this thousand-year-old saga.
Title hopes were dashed, however, as Team France fell six points short, losing to their cross-Channel rivals, 21-27. With their dreams diminished, the French women then lost another heartbreaker in a rematch with the Spaniards, who took the bronze medal after a tough 41-40 game.
But podium finishes don’t tell the whole story. France had an outstanding tournament, just seven points removed from an undefeated streak, and punched above their weight. In IFAF’s 2024 rankings, France placed 6th in Europe, so their fourth-place tournament finish perhaps exceeded the expectations of the rankers, if not the team itself.
In her post-game interview, center Lucie Vinot was understandably disappointed, but focused on the future.
“I haven’t enough words to describe how we feel as a team. We are so proud of our work. We are so grateful for the support of the public; it was incredible. It was a tough game, both last ones. We can just stay on the positive things. We want to go to the World Championships, because we worked a lot this year. We have so much support from the federation (Fédération Française de Football Américain), with the team, with the coaching staff. So now we are qualified for the World Championship next year, and it was the first goal, so now it will be the next goal for the next year.”
IFAF President Pierre Trochet, who in his younger days played tackle football for the Sabres de Châteauxroux, was very pleased with the championships, which were the third continental championships that IFAF held in the leadup to the 2026 World Championships. “It was spectacular!” He told IFAF’s Catherine Inkster in an interview at the close of games
“I think we have had the best European Championship we have ever had, in terms of toughness of games and competitiveness. We had a packed stadium at the end, great highlights, and two great champions.”
Team France center Lucie Vinot (18). Photo: Constance Milojevic
In June 2025, IFAFh held their first African continental championship, in which Nigeria qualified for Düsseldorf. Following that, Mexico defeated Canada, and the United States beat host team Panama to qualify, along with 5th place Brazil, for the worlds. The combined Asia-Oceania championships were held in Ningbo, China starting on Friday October 24.
With another year under their flag belts, it will be interesting to see how Team France fares against the expanded field. The French placed second in the first IFAF Women’s World Flag Football Championships in 2002. They won it all in 2006, and placed third in 2008. Their fourth-place finish in the 2025 Euros follows a championship title in 2007, two second place finishes in 2013 and 2015, and two fourth places in 2023 and this year.
Watch the game replays via IFAF TV.
Russ Crawford is a professor of History at Ohio Northern University. He has written two books on football history. The University of Nebraska Press published his Le Football: A History of American Football in France in 2016 and his Women’s American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Field in 2022.