Pennsylvania High Schools Add Girls Flag Football for 2025-26

MECHANICSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (September 18, 2024) – The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) announced girls flag football will become an officially sanctioned high school sport in the 2025-26 school year.

Girls flag football met the threshold of at least 100 participating teams with 65 from the eastern portion of the state and 36 from western portion, according to a PIAA release.

“We’re thrilled that we can offer another opportunity for girls to participate interscholastic athletics,” said Frank Majikes, PIAA President. “This is the second girls’ sport in two years to be approved. In recognizing the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), we will be initiating development of a girls’ flag football rules book in January 2025. This will allow us to develop our process to host a championship.

“The structural changes to the sport won’t begin until the 2025-26 school year. The PIAA thanks the National Football League, (Philadelphia) Eagles, and (Pittsburgh) Steelers for their support and efforts for girls’ flag football.”

As part of a collaborative approach to get girls’ flag football sanctioned, the Eagles and Steelers worked in tandem over the past three flag seasons to grow the game at the youth level for girls through education, engagement, distribution of equipment, and resources. In July 2023, the PIAA designated girls’ flag football as an emerging sport in Pennsylvania thanks to the efforts of both clubs. This designation served as the next step in the process of
getting girls’ flag football sanctioned and ultimately becoming an official sport in Pennsylvania.

“This is not just an important day for the Eagles and Steelers, but for the sport of football and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Jeffrey Lurie, Chairman & CEO, Philadelphia Eagles. “When we launched our girls’ flag football league in 2022, we set an ambitious five-year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule.”

“We are excited to see such a groundbreaking moment for the future of girls’ flag football,” said Art Rooney II, Steelers President. “It has been great working with the Eagles to accomplish a successful ruling that will now give young girls the chance to compete at a state level. We look forward to seeing how girls’ flag football continues to grow in Pennsylvania and worldwide.”

Pennsylvania will become the 13th state to have girls flag football as an officially sanctioned sport along with Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York and Tennessee.