YORKTON - It will be a busy 2024 for Football Canada.
To begin with the national organization has announced the re-launch of a National Men’s team.
The team, which will be chosen in the coming months will play Mexico with the winner earning a place in the World Championships scheduled for 2025.
“The last time we had a national team on the field was 2011 for the World Championships staged in Austria,” said Jim Mullin, President of Football Canada and IFAF General Secretary, in a recent interview with Yorkton This Week.
The new edition of a national team has Football Canada, in collaboration with the TC International Football Team Society, to see a Canadian men’s national tackle team return to the IFAF 2025 world senior men’s championship.
The revival of the team comes after a strategic partnership and over two years of meticulous planning, which in a recent Football Canada article Mullin described as an essential step for a country where the sport has its origins. He shared his enthusiasm, stating, “The founding nation of football Canada, has been absent from the world men’s championship for far too long. Our return is a proud moment that aligns with our Strategic Plan’s objectives and reinforces our presence in international football.”
In the same release Daniel Woloshin, the dedicated President of the TC International Football Team Society, which will be backing the team, conveyed his excitement about leading the charge back into the global arena.
“I am thrilled to spearhead Canada’s return to the IFAF World Championships,” Woloshin expressed. “Our athletes and organizations are among the world’s best, and it’s time we demonstrate this by competing for the global title once again.”
The road to Germany begins with an all-important continental qualification game against Mexico slated for January 2025. The victor of this match will carry the banner for North America in the championship.
The IFAF World Championship has been held every four years since 1999. Canada’s Sr. Men’s National Team competed at the 2011 World Championship in Vienna, Austria. Canada went head-to-head against the United States in the gold medal game, but fell 50-7 claiming a silver medal.
Then in June Canada will be hosting the U20 World Junior Championship in Edmonton where Head Coach Warren Craney, will hope to take the Canadian team to its third straight championship.
The championship resumes after a hiatus caused by the global pandemic, with the last championship held in Mexico City 2018, where Canada won gold over Mexico in front of an IFAF record crowd of more than 35,000.
The roster of teams headed to Edmonton include host Canada, the USA, Asian champion Japan, European champion Austria, Oceania champion Australia, Panama the highest ranked team in South America, South American qualifier Brazil, and one spot yet to be determined.
And of course efforts are focused on readying Canadian teams with an eye on the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, where flag football will make its debut.
Mullin said there is significant effort being made in terms “of the development flag” to ensure Canada is among what is expected to be a rather small field attending the 2028 Games.
Qualifying will not be easy as flag football is hugely competitive internationally.
An estimated 20 million individuals in over 100 countries actively participate in flag football.
The sport of flag football is also evolving quickly.
“The flag game is changing at a breakneck speed right now,” Mullin told YTW, adding in the 5-on-5 version “. . . what you can do with Xs and Os can be really different than what happens in the tackle game.”
It’s a case where flag has been around a rather short time and has emerged without a pro league or collegiate game to push it, yet it is growing and changing quickly, said Mullin.
“There’s been significant change for playing a very short period of time,” he said.
In the coming year, 65 national representative teams will compete in IFAF continental flag football competitions, building momentum towards the largest-ever IFAF World Flag Football Championships set to take place in Lahti, Finland, in August 2024. This event promises to be a spectacular showcase of talent and sportsmanship on the global stage.
“It’s a bit of a long road,” offered Mullin.
But the rewards for football are likely to be substantial with Mullin expecting interest in the sport – especially flag – to see a definite jump leading up to, and post the Games.
