Nigeria is targeting the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games after its men’s and women’s teams were both victorious at the inaugural African Flag Football Championship.
The sport is a non-contact variant of American football, where players need to pull a flag off the person with the ball instead of tackling their opponent to the ground.
Flag football will make its Olympic debut at LA 2028 and, as African champions, both Nigerian sides have earned direct qualification for next year’s Flag Football World Championships.
Oluwaseye Obatolu, the vice president of the Nigeria American Football Association (Nafa), described the nation’s triumphs in Egypt on Saturday as “deeply symbolic”.
“It was a moment of immense pride to be the first [African] nation, both men and women, to qualify for the World Championships,” Obatolu told BBC Sport Africa.
“Our focus now is clear – we are not just attending the World Championships, we’re going to compete. Our eyes are firmly set on Los Angeles 2028.”
The first African Flag Football Championship, which was organised by the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), featured a total of 11 teams from eight countries across the continent.
