American football at the Summer Olympics
IOC Code	AFB
Governing body	IFAF
Events	1 (men)
Summer Olympics
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 2028 2032 Note: demonstration or exhibition sport years indicated initalics
Medalists

American football was featured in theSummer Olympic Games demonstration programme in1904 and1932.^[1]College football was played at the 1904 Olympics, which was played atFrancis Field,^[2] but was, in reality, college teams playing each other as part of their regular seasons.^[3] The sport was eventually played officially as a demonstration sport only once,in 1932.^[4] Though American football has not been played in the Olympics since then,various American football players have participated in the Olympics.^[5] TheInternational Federation of American Football (IFAF) oversees theIFAF World Championship, which is an international tournament, which itself is held every four years.^[6]

In 2013, theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) gave provisional recognition to the IFAF, setting up a possible vote on its future participation in the Olympics, but in 2015, the IOC rejected the IFAF's application to include American football at the2020 Summer Olympics.^[7][8] The IFAF subsequently launched efforts to instead includeflag football at the Summer Olympics, thenon-contact variant of American football where players pull off flags from the ball carrier instead of tackling them, which the IOC eventually approved in 2023 to include at the2028 Summer Games.^[9]

Saint Louis University andWashington University in St. Louis initially sought to contest an Olympic football championship, but were unable to host it officially. Both teams ended up simply playing their regular seasons from teams around the country, making their status as an official demonstration sport dubious. St. Louis was declared the champion "by default". AsFrancis Field was the main stadium for the1904 Summer Olympics, only those games would have been considered a demonstration for Olympic crowds. Only two games at Francis Field were played that did not involveWashington University: a match betweenPurdue andMissouri, and the first match between twoIndian school teams (Haskell andCarlisle) who were considered powerhouses in college football at the time.^[3][10]

• Note: All games below were played atFrancis Olympic Field

American football was ademonstration sport at the1932 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles, with a single exhibition game held atLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 8.Seniors from three Western universities (Cal,Stanford, andUSC) were matched against those from the East Coast's "Big Three" (Harvard,Yale, andPrinceton).^[11] The West team won by a score of 7–6.^[12][13]

Though American football has not been played in the Olympics since then,various American football players have participated in the Olympics.^[5] The sport has been considered by some as incompatible with the Olympics for several reasons, among them the high-risk of injury, inconvenience in the time period the games are held, and its lack of global popularity.^[14] In 2013, the International Olympic Committee gave provisional recognition to theInternational Federation of American Football (IFAF), setting up a possible vote on its future participation in the Olympics.^[15] In 2015, American Football wasn't included in the 2020 additions with critics voicing the IFAF's lack of effort and surrounding drama around the2015 IFAF World Championship.^[7][8]

Following the IOC's decline of the IFAF's application, the IFAF resubmitted its application, re-earning the provisional recognition for the possible addition in the2024 Summer Olympics, with the earliest vote being as possible as 2017.^[16] It had also been argued that due to roster restrictions, seven-on-seven was the most likely style of play to make it as a medal event in the same vein asrugby sevens, which debuted at the2016 Summer Olympics.^[17] Eventually, American football was not included in the 2024 Olympics.

The IFAF and theNational Football League later backed a proposal to includeflag football, a non-contact variation of the game, as a one-off event at the2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.^[18] Flag football became a viable alternative for its limited contact, low costs, and accessibility to both men and women.^[19][20] The bid was successful and flag football was officially announced as a sport exclusively for the 2028 games in October 2023.^[9] In May 2025, NFL owners unanimously approved the participation of players at the 2028 Summer Olympics, pending negotiations.^[21]

• American football at the World Games
  • American football at the 2005 World Games
  • American football at the 2017 World Games
• IFAF World Championship
• IFAF Women's World Championship

• American football at multi-sport events
• 1904 introductions
• Discontinued sports at the Summer Olympics
• Olympic demonstration sports
• American football at the Summer Olympics

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