How the flag football world rankings work
IFAF ranks national flag football teams, men and women separately, with a version of the Elo rating used in chess: beating a highly rated team is worth more than beating a weak one. Points come only from official IFAF tournaments (World Championships, continental championships, The World Games), not friendlies.
Each year's ranking uses three years of tournaments: the latest at full value, the one before at half, the oldest dropped.
On top of the match results, teams get placing points: 1200 for winning the World Championships down to 200 for eighth; 700 for winning a continental championship or The World Games.
Step by step
- Starting rating. Teams that played earlier tournaments start from a weighted rating between 1500 and 1100, by past success; a new team starts at 1000.
- Each game: take the opponent's rating and add 400 for a win, subtract 400 for a loss, add 0 for a draw.
- Average: add these up over the tournament and divide by the number of games.
- Add the team's own starting rating.
- Add placing points:
| Place | World Championships | Continental championships, The World Games |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1200 | 700 |
| 2 | 900 | 500 |
| 3 | 750 | 300 |
| 4 | 600 | 150 |
| 5 | 500 | |
| 6 | 400 | |
| 7 | 300 | |
| 8 | 200 |
- No-shows: a team that skips the year's IFAF championship loses 400 points.
A worked example
Made up to show the arithmetic. A team starting at 1300 plays three games at a continental championship: it beats a 1400 team (1400 + 400 = 1800), beats a 1100 team (1500) and loses to a 1450 team (1050). Average: 4350 ÷ 3 = 1450. Add its own 1300: 2750. It finishes second: + 500 = 3,250 for the tournament.
Variations
| Ranking | Covered here |
|---|---|
| Men's and women's flag football | Yes (method as announced in 2024) |
| Tackle American football | No |