Once seen as a niche American sport, flag football is now surging in popularity across Africa, as top teams gathered in Nairobi for the first NFL Flag Africa Continental Championship from Thursday to Saturday, with eyes set on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The appeal of flag football lies in its simplicity and low barrier to entry, helping schools, clubs, and communities across Africa adopt the fast, non-contact version of American football at a rapid pace.
"Next year there is going to be another continental event. IFAF and the NFL are going to run and that is going to give people more of the opportunity to be able to compete for the Olympics, but this right here is just competition, playing against each other, because you can't just come here once and play and say 'okay, get ready for the Olympics.' That is not going to do. We have to have more competitions and this is a step in the right direction," said Osi Umenyiora, head of NFL Africa.
Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, and South Africa participated in the three-day event, which provided valuable experience for many players competing at this level for the first time.
"Most of the ladies in team Kenya are actually playing this sport for the first time. Players are coming from Handball, coco, from rugby, so we have only trained for two months, only on weekends. It was tough training from morning to evening and having to learn everything. There are a lot of rules. We have a great coach and the federation was so great. So no matter how much we went through all that we still came and performed, so all of us are happy," said Terry Akinyi, Kenya Women's Flag Football player.
After winning the 2025 International Federation of American Football Africa Flag Championship, Nigeria's men's and women's teams will represent Africa next month in Germany, moving one step closer to a coveted spot at the Olympics.
"We were fortunate enough to win last year to represent Africa in Germany. We are not just going to represent Nigeria, we are going to represent Africa as a whole. To give us a chance to go to the Olympics to represent Africa at the Olympics and show the World how much flag football has grown in Africa. I feel like the world has no idea and our job is to go there and bring back the Gold too," said Edidiong Nedy Udombat, Nigeria Men's Flag Football captain.
Flag football's rise in Africa is gaining momentum and with the Olympics ahead, the continent's biggest achievement may still be yet to come.
Kenya hosts inaugural NFL Flag Africa Continental Championship
China on Tuesday released the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for promoting the development of its electronic information manufacturing industry, laying out a comprehensive strategy to enhance global competitiveness of some key sectors.
The plan was jointly released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the National Development and Reform Commission.
The plan provides that by 2030, the operating revenue of the enterprises above a designated scale in China's electronic information manufacturing industry will have exceeded 30 trillion yuan (about 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars), with a number of advanced technologies and products emerging in fields such as integrated circuits, advanced computing and consumer electronics,
The industry will also have world-class enterprises that can compete on the global market by 2030 and its research and development investment intensity is expected to reach 3.5 percent by that time.
"By 2030, China's electronic information manufacturing industry will have played a pivotal role in the global industrial landscape, with a substantial increase in fields where it takes the lead or runs neck and neck with others. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), the industry will continue to promote innovative development in a number of key areas," said Li Hongwei, chief engineer with China Electronic Information Industry Development Research Institute.
The plan lays out 17 tasks around four areas -- consolidating the industry's foundational capacity, boosting the competitiveness of complete electronic equipment and systems, helping the industry foster new growth drivers, and enhancing the industry's capacity for sustainable development.
These tasks include accelerating the innovation and application of smart sensors, consolidating the development foundation of the photonics industry, accelerating the innovative development of consumer electronics, and strengthening the hardware foundation of artificial intelligence, among others.
Li said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's consumer electronics industry will experience deeper integration with AI, helping drive the development of some key technologies and products.
"As AI is more and more deeply integrated into the consumer electronics industry, new product categories such as AI phones, AI computers, AI glasses and AI toys keep emerging. This will accelerate the iterative upgrading of key technologies and products in the field of consumer electronics terminals, including edge-side large models, AI chips and high-bandwidth memory," he said.
China releases plan to enhance global competitiveness of electronic information manufacturing industry
