What is flag football? New Olympic sport added for LA 2028 Games explained

The International Olympic Committee have approved the sport of flag football for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Under IOC rules, each host city can request the inclusion of several sports for their edition of the Games.

On Friday, it was confirmed that the American sport of flag football would be present in the Games five years from now.

Other sports approved were cricket – making its return to the schedule for the first time since 1900 - lacrosse, squash and baseball-softball.

Here’s all you need to know about flag football.

Flag football is a variant of American football and has never appeared at an Olympic Games.

It is a no-contact sport and ‘tackles’ are made by removing one of three ‘flags’ attached to the ball-carrier’s waist, with one on each side and another on the back.

Play starts at a team’s own five-yard line with the centre snapping the ball back to the quarterback, who can either pass the ball forward to try and find a receiver, or hand off to a running back.

The play is over when either a flag is removed, the player carrying the ball goes out of bounds, or a forward pass hits the ground.

Each team will have four attempts – otherwise know as downs – to reach the halfway line. If they are successful in that, they have another four downs to reach the endzone to score a touchdown.

A match will consist of two twenty-minute halves.

In both halves, the clock will run down until a two-minute warning and stops when there is either a ball-carrier going out of bounds, a forward pass hits the floor or a turnover.

If the score is tied after 40 minutes, sudden-death overtime begins.

There are five players on each team and squads can be as big as 12.