Nigeria’s men’s and women’s flag football teams will still have a chance of competing in the qualifying event for the 2028 Olympic Games despite withdrawing from this year’s International Federation of American Football Flag Football World Championships in Düsseldorf over visa issues.
The tournament marks the start of the journey to the inaugural Olympic flag football competition, with 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams set to battle for the world titles and four direct quota spots for the LA28 Olympic Games.
However, Nigeria’s withdrawal was announced on Monday in a joint statement from the International Federation of American Football, the National Sports Commission and the Nigerian Federation of American Football.
“Over the past 10 days, IFAF, together with its event partners and the relevant authorities, has made significant efforts behind the scenes to explore every possible avenue to enable the teams to travel to Germany. Regrettably, all parties were informed this morning (Monday) that the visas would not be issued in time for the Championships,” the statement read.
“Our thoughts are first and foremost with the athletes and team staff, who have worked hard to earn their place at these Championships as the inaugural IFAF African Flag Football Champions. They were looking forward to proudly representing Nigeria and making their debut appearance on the world stage.”
