NFL players interested in pursuing spots on the 2028 U.S. Olympic flag football team can take part in flag football acclimation camps starting in early 2027.
Scott Hallenbeck, CEO and Executive Director of USA Football, called the camps the “first step toward interested NFL players joining our national team pathway.”
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“These camps provide players with a chance to learn the flag discipline’s strategy, rules and nuance as they compete to earn their place alongside the best flag athletes in the world,” Hallenbeck said in a press release. “We’re fortunate to already have elite flag football athletes who have set a gold standard culture and won six consecutive world championships. Our selection process will draw from a combination of these flag football stars, former and active NFL players and elite talent transfer athletes from other sports.”
USA Football will decide the 10-man roster for the sport’s Olympic debut closer to the Games. It might or might not include NFL players.
The U.S. men’s national team — with zero NFL players — won a sixth consecutive world title earlier this month in Germany in the last world tournament before the LA Games.
More than 200 NFL players representing 25-plus countries have expressed interest in Olympic flag football, according to the NFL.
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The NFL stipulated last year that no more than one player per NFL team can play at the Olympics, in addition to each NFL team’s designated international player.
The U.S., Italy and Canada already have spots in the six-team Olympic men’s field, while the U.S., Canada and Mexico have the first three women’s spots.
The last three men’s teams and women’s teams to qualify will be decided at the Olympic Q-Series stops in June 2028 in Montreal and Orlando.
The NFL said there will be processes similar to the acclimation camps for other nations.
The NFL, in announcing there will be no Pro Bowl competition in 2027, said that there will be flag football events “highlighting multiple levels of the sport” at its weekend honoring the selected Pro Bowl players and Super Bowl week in Los Angeles. That includes a showcase of the professional flag league the NFL is creating in partnership with TMRW Sports.
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