The Road to Chengdu has brought the world’s top-ranked women’s flag football national teams to China where eight nations will battle for gold at The World Games from August 14-17.
Reigning champion Mexico defends an inaugural title won three years ago in Birmingham, Alabama, when a dominant offensive display saw them score almost at will, while a shutdown defense allowed an average of only six points per game.
The world number one ranked United States arrives looking to capture the sole trophy missing from a litany of triumphs on the world and continental stages and avenge a 49-6 defeat to Mexico back in 2022.
Eight nations all have their sights set on the World Games crown as their quest for glory begins on Thursday at 9am local time (3am CET / 9pm Wednesday US EST). Two days of group action will be followed by quarterfinal and semifinal clashes on Saturday to determine which nations will meet to be crowned The World Games Champions on Sunday.
All games will be streamed live at The World Games Live and the full schedule and score updates are available at the official website of The World Games.
In Group B, Mexico will face the continental title holders from both Asia-Oceania and Europe in Japan, Great Britain along with Italy. USA will take on Austria, Canada and host nation China in Group A. Games will be played to sold out crowds at the Chengdu No. 7 High School Eastern Campus Athletics Field.
| Group A | Group B |
| United States | Mexico |
| Austria | Japan |
| Canada | Italy |
| China | Great Britain |
A North American rivalry clash between USA and Canada gets the tournament underway, followed by China’s international competition debut against fourth place finisher from the summer’s world championships Austria. The champions of Europe, Great Britain, face Italy before the silver and bronze medalists from the 2024 IFAF world championships, Mexico and Japan, face each other.
A look at the teams:
United States
Back in 2022, USA saw off the challenge of Panama, Austria and France to win Group A, which they followed up with victories over Brazil in the quarterfinals and Austria in the semis. That one blot on the copybook against Mexico in the final at legion Field has since been eclipsed by back-to-back titles, winning continental and world crowns in the two years that followed, with Mexico beaten to the gold medal on both occasions. They don’t like to call it revenge for 2022, but there remains some unfinished business to address.
“It’s certainly motivation,” says defensive back Deliah Autry who was a member of the 2022 U.S. squad. “I think it’s a mixture of a mutual respect between the two teams, but I think that we’re all very passionate and intense teams and come game time the high fives and hellos off the field are put aside when we play each other. We’re able to flip the switch and go from being friends to having a respectful rivalry and back again.”
Player to Watch: WR Isabella Geraci
Head Coach: Saaid Mortazavi, 3rd Year
World Ranking: 1st
Form (last 5 games): W vs MEX / W vs AUT / W vs SPA / W vs FIN / W vs IRE
2024 World Championships: 1st
2023 Americas Continentals: 1st
2022 The World Games: 2nd
2021 World Championships: 1st
Mexico
Led by an icon of the sport in quarterback Diana Flores, there is no ambiguity when it comes to Mexico’s mindset heading into The World games.
“The plan for the Mexican team is to win our second World Games gold medal by advancing through the group stage undefeated,” said veteran Silvia Contreras.
Head coach Fernando Alfaro added:
“The World Games will be a tough competition because the teams are strong in our group. It is complicated because Japan has grown a lot in flag football and Great Britain and Italy are teams that have really raised their level a lot. They are going to be great rivals.”
Player to Watch: QB Diana Flores
Head Coach: Fernando Alfaro, 1st Year
World Ranking: 2nd
Form (last 5 games): L vs USA / W vs JPN / W vs CAN / W vs ISR / W vs CAN
2024 World Championships: 2nd
2023 Americas Continentals: 2nd
2022 The World Games: 1st
2021 World Championships: 2nd
Japan
Japan arrives in Chengdu under a new head coach in Takuro Ikawa. Despite winning the bronze medal in Finland at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships with a thrilling narrow win over Austria and a continental gold twelve months earlier, there is still room for improvement.
“We want to challenge the world’s best teams,” explained coach Ikawa. “No matter who the opponent is, we will focus on what we have to do and do our best. We aim to win the first game in front of us and make sure we complete in every game.”
Player to Watch: QB Chihiro Iwata
Head Coach: Takuro Ikawa, 1st Year
World Ranking: 3rd
Form (last 5 games): W vs AUT / L vs MEX / W vs GBR / W vs AUS / L vs GER
2024 World Championships: 3rd
2023 Asia-Oceania Continentals: 1st
2022 The World Games: =5th
2021 World Championships: 5th
Austria
Nobody has won more gold medals in European continental competition than Austria, who were crowned champions four consecutive times from 2009 to 2015. Their last medal success came at the IFAF world championships when a 26-13 win over Brazil claimed bronze in Israel.
“If you are fourth in the World Championships, your goal is to get a medal from The World Games,” says head coach Robert Riedl, who took charge in 2014 after his nation’s disappointing challenge at the Euros in Ireland a year earlier. “Now it’s our second year with players who have been successful who will only get better.”
Player to Watch: QB Saskia Stribrny
Head Coach: Robert Riedl, 2nd Year
World Ranking: 4th
Form (last 5 games): L vs JPN / L vs USA / W vs ITA / W vs BRZ / W vs SPA
2024 World Championships: 4th
2023 Europe Continentals: 7th
2022 The World Games: 4th
2021 World Championships: 3rd
Canada
There will be a new look about the Canadian women’s national team. The 2023 IFAF continental championship and the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships saw the Canadians field a team drawn predominantly from the prior year’s national club champion from Quebec. Now, Canada will field a true national team sourced from coast to coast across all provinces.
“The World Games is probably going to be the closest you can get to that multi-games, multi-sport Olympics-type experience,” says Football Canada High Performance Director Katie Miyazaki, who was an assistant coach for Canada’s women’s wheelchair basketball team at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and head coach at two Canada Games.
Player to Watch: QB Sara Parker
Head Coach: Rachel Lessard, 1st Year
World Ranking: 6th
Form (last 5 games): W vs ESP / W vs GBR / L vs MEX / W vs PAN / L vs MEX
2024 World Championships: 5th
2023 Americas Continentals: 3rd
2022 The World Games: N/A
2021 World Championships: N/A
Great Britain
Reigning European champions Great Britain compete at The World Games for the first time under head coach Jack Reed who has stepped up from the offensive coordinator role. GB lost a heartbreaker at last summer’s IFAF world championships to one of their group opponents Japan, suffering a knockout round defeat when a pass fell incomplete on the last play of the game.
“We have a tremendous staff with diverse backgrounds and a desire to push each other to develop all aspects of the program,” says Reed. “We are focused on fielding the most competitive team possible for the major competitions in 2025, but equally as important is the foundation we are building to keep the GB women’s team ranked in the top five for years to come.”
Player to Watch: QB Jess Allen
Head Coach: Jack Reed, 1st Year
World Ranking: 5th
Form (last 5 games): W vs ITA / L vs CAN / L vs JPN / W vs SUI / W vs PAN
2024 World Championships: 7th
2023 European Continentals: 1st
2022 The World Games: N/A
2021 World Championships: N/A
Italy
Italy returns to The World Games targeting an improvement over an eighth-place finish at the 2024 world championships and a positive turnaround they hope leads to gradual success and ultimately a place at the 2028 Olympic Games.
“At the World Games in Birmingham, we won our first game against Brazil—something quite unexpected—so there’s nothing to suggest we won’t achieve a good result again,” said defensive back Giada Zocca, a veteran of that 2022 team. “We’re going to give it our all—200%. I believe we might finally get rid of a few chips from our shoulders.”
Player to Watch: DB / WR Giada Zocca
Head Coach: Tommaso Monardi, 1st Year
World Ranking: 10th
Form (last 5 games): L vs GBR / L vs ESP / L vs AUT / W vs GER / W vs DEN
2024 World Championships: 8th
2023 Europe Continentals: 5th
2022 The World Games: =5th
2021 World Championships: 8th
China
A newcomer on the international stage, thrown into the competitive arena at the very highest level of flag football competition, China is facing a baptism of fire.
China’s team has been compiled through first identifying potential squad members through social media and tournaments and then the official selection process saw players evaluated comprehensively based on physical tests, special technical skills, and game performance. They were selected from the provinces of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Guangxi with diverse sporting backgrounds in rugby, handball, hockey, football, track and field, karate, and wrestling.
“It is truly an honor to represent my country,” says quarterback Haolin Feng. “I’ll give my all to represent China with pride. As a quarterback, my strength is making quick in-game adjustments to defensive reads. I focus on building chemistry with teammates through communication in practice.”
Player to Watch: QB HaoLin Feng
Coaches: Ruibin Guo, Xie Dingyichen, Patrick Alley, 1st Year
World Ranking: Not currently ranked
Form (last 5 games): No previous tournament experience
2024 World Championships: N/A
2023 Asia-Oceania Continentals: N/A
2022 The World Games: N/A
2021 World Championships: N/A