GB women miss first chance at Olympic flag football spot, get second shot Sunday

Two Olympic spots for both men and women in flag football are being decided at this weekend's World Championships in Germany, ahead of the sport's Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028. Great Britain's women finished their group as winners and beat Panama 26-20 in the quarter-finals to reach a semi-final against the United States.

A win would have guaranteed GB a place at LA28, and they built a strong first-half lead of 21-7 thanks to touchdowns from Grace Conway, Angelica Tait and Emily Kemp. However, defending champions USA fought back to win the semi-final 27-21. In the other semi-final, Canada beat Mexico 20-6 to reach their first final since 2014.

Because the USA have already qualified automatically as host nation, the winner of Sunday's bronze-medal game between GB and Mexico will claim the other available Olympic berth. That match kicks off at 11:30 BST in Dusseldorf.

GB currently sit third in the world rankings, having won the last two European Championships. Mexico are ranked number one despite losing the last two World Championship finals to the USA, having beaten the Americans in the 2022 and 2025 World Games finals. The next chance for other nations to qualify for the Olympics will not come for another two years.

In the men's competition, Great Britain lost their opening ranking game 50-35 to Switzerland before claiming their first tournament win, beating Austria 28-20. They will play Brazil on Sunday to decide 13th and 14th place. The men's final will see the USA face Italy, while Canada and Mexico meet in the bronze-medal match.