The United States assembled a loaded roster for one of the final major flag football tournaments before the sport makes its Olympic debut.
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USA Football selected 12 players for the 2026 U.S. Women's National Team that competed at the IFAF Flag Football World Championship in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Among the biggest names was wide receiver Isabella "Izzy" Geraci, the North Ridgeville, Ohio, native who has emerged as one of the sport's top receivers.
The roster also featured 17-year-old quarterback Akemi Higa, along with Maci Joncich and Ashlea Klam, two college standouts set to be part of Cal Poly's inaugural NCAA Division I women's flag football program.
The complete 12-player roster included Geraci, Higa, Joncich, Klam, Deliah Autry-Jones, Laneah Bryan, NyKeeta Christopher, Kennedy Foster, Madison Fulford, Loryn Goodwin, Brooklin Hill and Kendra Meredith.
The Americans entered the tournament as three-time defending world champions after defeating Mexico 31-18 for the 2024 championship.
This time, however, their streak ended. Team USA reached the championship game before falling 27-20 to Canada. The Americans still have something considerably bigger waiting down the road.
Flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and the United States automatically qualifies as the host country.
With the sport growing rapidly at the high school and college levels, the competition for those future Olympic roster spots figures to get pretty interesting.
And several members of this group just gave themselves a two-year head start.
