Irish Wolfhounds 2024 World Championships Finland

12 Men, 12 Women. 24 athletes with a dream...

The IFAF Flag Football World Championships take place this August 26th-30th in Lahti, Finland at the Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre, and your Irish Wolfhounds Men's and Women's teams are looking to capitalise on their successes at last year's European Championships by taking part in the prestigious international tournament and competing against the world's best athletes in one of the fastest-growing sports worldwide.

The Irish Wolfhounds are an all-island Irish team, made up of players from both the Irish domestic flag football scene and those in the wider Flag community with Irish eligibility. Both the men's and women's squads are fully volunteer-led, with the team's efforts into competitions often being self-funded. The Irish Wolfhounds Flag Football program falls under the wider Irish Wolfhounds National Program, which is governed by American Football Ireland, the sport's National Governing Body.

Last Autumn, the Irish Wolfhounds Men's team got their first taste of international competition since the pandemic, putting forward valiant efforts against some of the world's best teams -- holding an Italian team that put 30+ points on 2022 World Games winners USA to just 14 points, going blow for blow until a last-second touchdown with this year's World Championships hosts Finland, before putting forward an extraordinary final day with wins against Slovakia and Poland.

It was also an historic weekend for the Irish Wolfhounds Women's team, as the European Championships marked the side's first ever competitive games. Earning remarkable in-game experience against world-class programs, the Women's team passion, strength and belief in each other truly sparked a revolution in the Irish flag football community -- since August, multiple clubs around Ireland have opened women's programs, women-only clubs have established, and hundreds of women have taken up Flag football in Ireland. This all led to March 10th's NFL-endorsed We Run The World female-only flag football competition hosted in Dublin, where multiple Irish club's women's teams competed against the best teams in Europe: the rapid increase in competitiveness and quality of our Irish women shone through at this event, with the likes of Belfast Trojans Women, Phoenix Flag Football and South Dublin Panthers Women especially earning wins against international travelling teams.

Both the Men's and Women's flag football scenes have never been more competitive, and it is our goal to give the 12 best Irish Men's and 12 best Irish Women's players the opportunity to represent Ireland and put on the green jersey on a worldwide stage. This does, unfortunately, come at a cost. The price of travel, accommodation and board in Lahti, as well as the price of competition entry to the IFAF World Championships, officials' fees, medics and physios, insurance and other costs amounts to upwards of €45,000. We do not believe in putting a price wall in front of competing in a World Championships to Ireland, so we are asking you -- the Irish Flag Football (and, indeed, the wider sporting) community -- to help us send our athletes to Lahti this August.

12 Men, 12 Women. 24 athletes with a dream... that we can help them achieve, together...