The U.S. men’s and women’s flag football teams swept the world championship titles for a third consecutive time, four years before the sport makes its Olympic debut in Los Angeles.
The U.S. men beat Austria 53-21 in Friday’s final on a field overlooked by three ski jumping hills in Lahti, Finland. They won each of their seven games this week by at least 25 points.
The American men have won five consecutive world titles dating to 2014.
The U.S. roster included quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette, plus Ja’Deion High, who formerly caught passes from Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech, and former West Virginia cornerback Mike Daniels.
“We knew the type of team we had,” Doucette said after the final on the host broadcast. “Defensively, we were outstanding, and we were missing that in the past, and this tournament showed the offense gonna score, but defense could finally get some stops.”
The U.S. women, led by quarterback Vanita Krouch, topped Mexico 31-18 for their third consecutive world title. Mexico beat the U.S. in the final of the 2022 World Games, a quadrennial multi-sport competition.
“It feels freaking amazing,” said Krouch, a former SMU basketball player more than 20 years ago who also works as an elementary school physical education teacher. “Our culture from day one has always been a we, not me.”
Last October, the IOC approved an LA 2028 proposal to add several sports, including flag football, to its Olympic program.
Recent IOC reforms allow Olympic hosts to propose adding sports solely for their edition of the Games.
The NFL helped lead the push for flag football’s 2028 Olympic inclusion, but it has not yet been decided whether active NFL players will be eligible to be selected for teams.
“I know there’s a lot of talk about it,” Doucette said when asked about the 2028 Olympics. “We already showed what we can do. We’re still going to have the same type of hunger every year, year after year. I mean, this is our sport. We feel like we are the pros. Whoever wants to come up for competition, we’re looking forward to it.”
In international flag football, teams have five players at a time on a 50-yard field that is narrower than a traditional football field. There are two halves that are 20 minutes each.
Darrell Doucette LAUNCHED this 🚀
— NFL (@NFL) August 30, 2024
📺: IFAF Flag Football World Championships on https://t.co/Zxc6Eo176d and https://t.co/oH85bo49mK pic.twitter.com/Z5pOAAaVYG