How long is a flag football game?
I · Intermediate · The game · 1 of 9A game is two halves of 20 minutes with a two-minute break. The clock runs almost all the time. Only in the last two minutes of each half does it stop for incomplete passes and plays that go out of bounds. Each team has two timeouts a half, and the offence has 25 seconds to start each play.
How it works
- Forty minutes: "divided into 2 halves of 20 minutes each, with a 2 minute intermission".
- Running clock: for most of each half the clock stops only for timeouts, injuries and at the referee's discretion.
- The referee's notification: at two minutes left in a half the clock stops and both teams are told.
- Last two minutes: the clock then stops for an incomplete pass, a player out of bounds, a first down, a penalty and a score.
- Restart: on the next snap.
- Thirty points: if one team leads by 30 or more at the notification, the clock keeps running to the end of the half.
- Play clock: the ball must be snapped within 25 seconds of the referee's whistle.
- Timeouts: two for each team in each half, of up to 60 seconds. Unused ones are lost.
- Injury: an official's timeout. The player must leave for at least one down.
- The half cannot end on a foul: if a penalty is accepted on the last play, one more down is played.
- The start: a coin toss. The winner chooses which half to start with the ball.
The glossary has the half, the play clock, the running clock, the charged team timeout, clock management and the two minute drill.
Tricky cases
A pass falls incomplete with eight minutes left in the half. Does the clock stop?
No. Outside the last two minutes an incomplete pass does not stop the clock.
One team leads by 32 at the two-minute notification and the other then scores to make it 26. Does normal timing come back?
No. Once the status is set at the notification it does not change for the rest of the half.
A team leading late keeps committing delay of game to run the clock down. What can the referee do?
Stop the clock and start it only on a legal snap. Repeated fouls of that kind can be treated as an unfair tactic.
Time runs out during a play on which the defence commits a foul. Is the half over?
Not if the penalty is accepted. The period is extended for one more down.
Why the rule exists
Flag football is built for tournaments with several games a day on one field, so games must finish on time. A running clock does that. Stopping it in the last two minutes gives a trailing team a real chance to come back, and the 30-point rule spares a team that cannot.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Standard game | Two halves of 20 minutes | IFAF Flag Rule 3-2-1 |
| Beach flag | Two halves of 15 minutes, timeouts of 30 seconds | IFAF Flag Rules, Beach Flag |
| National changes | Playing time and the number of timeouts may be altered | IFAF Flag Rules, National Changes |
| Overtime | The game clock does not run and there are no timeouts | IFAF Flag Rule 3-1-3; 3-2-5 |
From the rule book
International Federation of American Football, International Flag Football Rules 2023 (in force from 1 May 2023), Rule 3, Sections 1 to 3, and Rule 7-1-1, with approved rulings 3-2-4, 3-2-6 and 3-3-5. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: IFAF International Flag Football Rules 2023 (PDF).