The PIAA approved girls’ flag football as a state-sanctioned sport during a third and final reading in Mechanicsburg on Wednesday, September 18.
The sport will begin in the 2025-26 school year with more than 100 high schools across the state planning to field a team.
“We’re thrilled that we can offer another opportunity for girls to participate in interscholastic athletics,” PIAA president Frank Majikes wrote in a release. “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, Eagles, and Steelers for their support and efforts for girls’ flag football.”
The Philadelphia Eagles launched a girls’ flag football league in 2022 with 16 schools from the Philadelphia Public and Catholic Leagues. In 2023, the league expanded to 38 teams and now has 65 schools and more than 1,600 girls participating.
As part of a collaborative approach to get girls’ flag football sanctioned, the Eagles and Pittsburgh 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 is not just an important day for the Eagles and Steelers, but for the sport of football and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Jeffrey Lurie, Eagles’ owner wrote. “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. The sport’s organic growth is a credit to the participants, administrators, coaches, officials, and parents who helped raise the profile of girls’ flag football. We thank the PIAA for their leadership in recognizing a sport that has the power to unlock new pathways and opportunities for girls of all ages in every community.”
In May, the Abington Senior High School girls’ flag football team captured their second Suburban One League title after going a perfect 9-0 in 2023 as a participant in the Philadelphia Eagles-sponsored league.
Archbishop Wood captured the Eagles Girls Flag League of Pennsylvania Championship in 2024.
The full announcement can be found below:
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