Great Britain, Spain and Austria crowned IFAF European youth flag champions

Great Britain, Spain and Austria captured European titles as the 2026 IFAF European Youth Flag Football Championships came to a dramatic finish at Stadio Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini di Comacchio in Italy.

Great Britain defeated Germany 33-7 to claim the U17 Girls championship, Spain survived a remarkable finish to edge Israel 32-31 for the U17 Boys crown, while Austria outgunned Team Euro Youth 59-40 in the U15 Mixed final.

The three champions emerged from a record field of 33 teams representing 14 nations during three days of competition in Lido delle Nazioni, near Ferrara.

Whitestone powers Great Britain to gold

Great Britain took command early against Germany, building a 27-point advantage on the way to the U17 Girls title.

Quarterback Lydia Whitestone threw five touchdown passes and four extra points, with Aisa Kasenge and Isabelle Olerenshaw catching two touchdowns apiece.

With Great Britain leading 21-0, Caitlin Brown intercepted Germany to shut down a potential scoring drive before halftime. The Germans eventually broke through when quarterback Emma Kimmelmann connected with Ewa Aichholz, but Whitestone immediately answered by finding Hannah Winter for another Great Britain touchdown.

Whitestone was named tournament MVP in the U17 Girls division.

Spain snatches title in final seconds

The U17 Boys final delivered the day’s wildest finish.

Spain fell two scores behind Israel early but fought its way back and trailed by six with only 23 seconds remaining. Facing fourth down, Iván Escudero Gómez fired his third touchdown pass of the second half to Antonio Valverde Ortega, tying the game 31-31.

Escudero Gómez then caught the extra point himself in the corner of the end zone, putting Spain ahead for the first time, 32-31.

Israel still had six seconds. A defensive penalty eventually gave the Israelis one final play from 14 yards out with no time remaining, but Iker Delgado Sanz intercepted the pass in the end zone to seal the championship.

Benjamin Kozadayev threw five touchdown passes for Israel, while Escudero Gómez earned tournament MVP honors.

Austria wins U15 shootout

Points came almost nonstop in the U15 Mixed final as Austria raced out to a 12-0 lead and held off Team Euro Youth 59-40.

Team Euro Youth closed to within six late in the first half, but Austria never surrendered the lead.

Fabio Mikula threw eight touchdown passes for the champions, including four to tournament MVP Paul Barina and two to Timo Pürkfellner.

Egor Shumskikh threw three touchdown passes for Team Euro Youth, while Maksim Karasev added two. Margarita Ratashniuk and Arina Zinchenko each caught two touchdown passes.

The three finals capped a tournament that produced an unusually broad medal spread. Eight different nations or teams collected the nine available medals, with Czechia, Italy and Spain joining the six finalists on the podium.

For European flag football, the record-sized championship offered another glimpse of the young talent developing across the continent with the sport’s 2028 Olympic Games debut in Los Angeles drawing closer.