Between October 23 and 27, the Chinese Rugby and Football Association will host IFAF’s Asia-Oceania Women’s Flag Football Championships at the Fenghua Sports Center in Ningbo, China.
The field of ten women’s teams will be led by Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia, who finished in first through fourth place in the 2023 Women’s Asia-Oceania Flag Football Championship.
Japan will be joined in Group A by Thailand, Indonesia, and for the first time in IFAF women’s competition, Hong Kong and China. A newcomer to IFAF competition, China has an estimated 500,000 players now, and hopes to reach one million by 2027.
Malaysia is part of Group B that also contains South Korea, the Philippines, India, and another newcomer, Jordan.
Australia, New Zealand, and first-time competitor American Samoa make up Group C. Australia lost 47-29 to Japan in the 2023 Asia-Oceania Championship, while New Zealand defeated Malaysia 2013 to place third.
The teams from Groups A and B will play a round robin format, and the top two teams in each group will play in the semifinals, with the champion qualifying for the IFAF World Women’s Championship in Düsseldorf, Germany in August of 2016. The champion of the Oceania Group C, will also qualify for Düsseldorf, while the runners-up from Asia and Oceania will play for the remaining slot to the World Championship.
Those qualifiers will join Nigeria from the African Continental Championship, along with Mexico, Canada, the United States, Panama, and Brazil from the Americas Championship. The field for the World Championships is completed by Great Britain, Austria, Spain, France, Germany, and Slovenia from the European Continental Championship.
A rematch of Japan versus China will lead off the schedule for the IFAF Asia-Oceania Championship Friday October 24 at 8:00AM local time (2 am CET, 8 pm Oct. 23 ET). China pulled off an upset of third ranked Japan at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China 28-22, and will be trying to duplicate that victory, once again in front of a home field crowd.
All games can be live streamed on AFI via IFAF TV