GB women retain European flag football title

Following a dramatic overtime victory over Austria, the women’s team from Great Britain held their resolve to clinch the European Flag Football Championships.

The GB men’s team had a successful weekend in Paris, placing fourth overall and posting their best result since taking home bronze in 2017.

In the semi-finals on Saturday, GB defeated hosts France 27-21 to give them a chance to reclaim the title they previously won in Ireland two years ago.

In the other semi, Austria are ranked fourth in the world, one place ahead of GB, after defeating 2023 runners-up Spain 42-25.

They are four-time European champions, and they took the lead early in the final, going 21-6 before Emily Kemp’s second touchdown cut the lead to 21-13 at half-time.

After Kate Bruinvels’ touchdown, Grace Conway found herself in the end zone thanks to a Marta Mathews interception for the first time.

Austria scored the final score of 27-27, but GB had the opportunity to claim the victory in extra time when Allen’s superb catch set up Kemp’s fourth touchdown pass.

Crucially, Conway added an extra point with the conversion, as Austria went for a two-point conversion before Mathews patted the pass down in the end zone, causing cheery scenes among the GB players and staff.

Allen remarked, “That was such a crazy game.” “Our offense had a slow start, but our defense came out strong and stopped it,” he said. I’m very proud of the team for working so hard on this.

Before falling short in the semi-finals and the bronze medal game on Saturday, GB were already confident of achieving their sixth-place finish in Ireland.

Italy (28-22), France (34-20), and the United Kingdom are both in the top 14 spot in the men’s rankings.

Italy won the competition for the first time by defeating Austria’s 2023 runners-up 27-19 in the final.

Ranking points were also available as teams prepared for flag football’s Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games, and the semi-finalists in each event have all qualified for the next year’s World Championships in Germany.