Girls’ flag football is quickly becoming popular in high schools across the country. The sport has grown from just 11,000 high school girls to almost 70,000 in recent years. With help of college programs and professional sports teams, flag football has begun to reach colleges as an established and competitive part of athletics. The Indiana High School Athletic Association is even recognizing it as an official sport.
The increased popularity of girls’ flag football has grown over 60 percent from 2019. It now reaches 474,000 players nationwide. In the 2024-2025 season alone, there have been roughly 69,000 new participants. In the U.S., Florida leads the country with 360 schools across the state who have their own teams. There are 5,000 participants in Georgia, and Alabama schools have even held state championships.
Many programs supporting the sport are funded by the NFL. For Indiana, the first one hundred high school girls’ flag football teams are being funded by the Colts. The Colts even put together the High School Girls’ Flag Football Pilot League, which includes eight teams from Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, New Haven, Westfield, and South Bend.
In addition to the Pilot League, there are also clinics being sponsored by Gatorade. The whole production is supported by USA football. Additionally, the pro-football team helped send 11 flag football teams reach national championships in Las Vegas and Orlando in the span of multiple years.
In support of flag football becoming a national sport, over 100 colleges have started offering scholarships for students. There are estimates that 2,000 scholarship opportunities will be available for high school students nationally by 2028. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has been making this possible and already 17 of their schools have varsity level teams for flag football. Indiana Wesleyan and Marian University are some of the NAIA schools in Indiana, but there are multiple schools all over the country.
Girls’ flag football has been recognized, as of 2026, as an emerging women’s sport in the NCAA. In just seven years it has rapidly grown into a sport that is accessible to everyone. Along with the help of professional football teams and other organizations, the sport is projected to grow continually. It is also set to become a part of the Olympics in 2028.