MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner University is pleased to announce the addition of its 13th varsity sport, women's flag football. Faulkner will conduct a search for its first head coach who will focus on recruiting student-athletes in the 2026-27 school year and preparing the program before beginning play in spring 2028.
Faulkner will be the fifth four-year institution in the state of Alabama to offer the sport as crosstown NCAA DI Alabama State and D3 Huntingdon have each just finished their second seasons. NCAA D2 Spring Hill and West Alabama and NAIA Stillman will begin competition in spring 2027, as will Church of Christ sister school Freed-Hardeman.
The Southern States Athletic Conference has already announced it will begin sponsoring women's flag in 2026-27, and Faulkner will mark the eighth full SSAC member to offer the sport and the tenth flag football program in the league. SSAC institutions Brewton-Parker Christian, Life, Point, Thomas and affiliate member Reinhardt already offer the sport and have been competing in the Sun while incoming SSAC member Andrew and a second affiliate in Milligan have been playing as independents. UT Southern and incoming school member Wesleyan will debut their programs in spring 2027 in time for the first SSAC season and Faulkner will join in the following spring.
Women's flag is an emerging sport in youth and college athletics. The National Football League has been involved in establishing local youth teams, and the state of Alabama first sanctioned it as a high school sport in 2021. With it already being offered as a club sport at many large state universities, the NCAA voted to make it an emerging women's sport earlier this year as the sport will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games.
However, it was the NAIA that got an early jump on the new trend, as its National Administrative Council (NAC) first voted to sponsor it in 2020 as a partnership with the NFL, giving it "emerging" status with a debut season of 2021. The NAC then voted to give it invitational status starting this past spring with a qualification-based postseason invitational tournament. Ottawa (Kan.) took home all five national titles from 2021-25 before the inaugural NAIA Women's Flag Football Invitational was held this month at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Sun Conference member Warner won the first Red Banner to cap off a historic 24-0 season, as the Royals outscored their opponents by an insane mark of 1,268-118. It is the second current NAIA invitational sport along with women's beach volleyball.
Women's flag football teams compete 7-on-7 with an average roster size of 20-25 players. Games consist of four 12-minute quarters on a field 80 feet long by 40 feet wide, with the 40-yard mark acting as midfield. With the object the same as tackle football, teams have four downs to cross a 20-yard section for a first down with an option to punt on third down. After scoring a touchdown, which is six points, teams can run a play for one point from the five-yard line or two points from the ten. A tackle is made by pulling an opponent's flag, and these flags are affixed to player's belts.
Women's flag marks the first sport addition to the Faulkner athletic department since men's and women's cross country in fall 2022.
