The Flag Football World Championship, which ended with record participation in Lahti, Finland, is barely over, and the Youth from 06 – 08 September in Belgrade, Serbia for three European championship titles.
The classes U17 boys, U17 girls and U15 mixed are contested. Last year, the German youth teams took part in the Youth Flag European Championships in Grosseto, Italy for the first time, and the U17 girls made an immediate impression with an excellent fourth place.
The U17 girls are fighting for the title in a group of seven teams, while the U17 boys are divided into two groups of five teams each. The largest field of participants is the U15 mixed teams with 11 teams, which are divided into a group of six and a group of five.
All three teams want to compete for medals, as Frank Grimm, Head Coach of the U15 Mixed Team and employee of the Olympic Training Center Hesse explains:
“We are looking forward to the matches in the U15 Mixed Group A with Finland, Spain and Slovakia, as well as a rematch against Italy on the first day of the European Championship tournament. Our goal is to reach one of the first two group places in order to play for a medal. A big thank you goes to the AFVD, who made the intensive preparation possible together with our U17 national teams. The excitement is palpable, as we had to make difficult decisions for the squad and our offense and defense coordinators were faced with the challenge of selecting the best possible mixed squad for our game system. Even though some young talents had to stay at home, they are firmly connected by our team spirit through their passion and the shared dream of achieving great things.”
The tournament will be held at the Kovilovo Resort in Belgrade, which is considered the best sports complex in Serbia and has already hosted top teams from all over Europe as well as the Serbian national teams in men’s and women’s sports.
Serbia’s U17 boys have won the silver medal at the 2023 European Championships. Great Britain, Italy and Israel are the defending champions of the IFAF European Flag Football Championship after winning gold medals in 2023 at the three-day tournament that featured more than 400 young athletes from 12 nations.
“Europe has the highest number of nations competing for a continental champion, so youth development plays a key role in the future success of the teams in our tournaments.”
said Gregor MurthIFAF Director for Europe.
These players are our future and having diverse tournament hosts across the continent is vital to the development of our sport.”
