INDIANAPOLIS, IN — The first rules publication for high school flag football – the nation’s fastest-growing emerging sport – is now available for purchase from the NFHS. The 2025-26 NFHS Flag Football Rules Book, and rules publications for six other fall sports, are available through the NFHS order fulfillment site at www.NFHS.com.

Other 2025-26 rules publications are now available for the sports of football, volleyball, field hockey, swimming and diving, soccer and spirit.

The NFHS Flag Football Rules Committee met earlier this year to develop the first national rules for high school flag football. The 11-member committee was chaired by Tyler Cerimeli, director of athletics and officials with the Arizona Interscholastic Association, and directed by Bob Colgate, NFHS director of sports and sports medicine and editor of the NFHS Flag Football Rules Book.

Two of the key elements of the first NFHS Flag Football Rules Book are the number of players on a team and the size of the field. The first book features rules governing the 7-on-7 player game, and provides three options for size of the field, one of which is a regulation 11-player high school football field.

In addition to determining one of the three options for the playing field, there are 18 other rules to be determined by state adoption, including the establishment of rules regarding place kicking for field goals and trys (points after touchdowns). States utilizing NFHS flag football rules also will have the option, among others, to determine the number of game officials, authorize the use of goals, authorize the use of a kicking tee, authorize the use of hash marks and determine the style of flag to be used and the measurements of the flag, although the flag cannot be below the minimum outlined in Rule 1-5-1f NOTE.

While the rules for flag football closely follow NFHS football rules, the rules regarding obtaining a first down are different. Instead of advancing the ball to the line to gain, a first down is awarded in flag football when a team advances the ball to the zone to gain. Following is the language in Rule 5-3 in the NFHS Flag Football Rules Book:

“The zone to gain is the next 20- or 40-yard line in advance of the ball’s foremost point when a new series of downs is awarded.

“When a new series of downs is awarded, the penalties for all fouls (including nonplayer and unsportsmanlike) committed prior to the ready-for-play shall be administered before the zone to gain is established. The zone to gain then remains fixed until the series ends and a new zone to gain is established.”

NFHS flag football rules that mirror traditional high school football rules include four 12-minute periods and point values of six points for a touchdown and three points for a field goal, if kicking rules are adopted by the state association.

While the NFHS Flag Football Rules Book was written for both boys and girls competition, the growth of the girls game the past several years drove the urgency for national playing rules.

Currently, for the 2025-26 season, 16 state associations have sanctioned girls flag football and 18 states are involved in independent/pilot programs at some level. States that have sanctioned the sport for girls include NFHS member associations in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington State associations with independent/pilot programs include District of Columbia, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin.

And the number of participants in girls flag football more than doubled from 2022-23 to 2023-24. A total of 42,955 girls participated in flag football in 2023-24 compared to 20,875 the previous year – a 105 percent increase. The popularity of flag football – for boys and girls – has been growing at the youth levels for the past 10 years,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the NFHS. “In 2023, about 500,000 girls ages 6-17 played flag football – a 63 percent increase since 2019. At a higher level of competition, more universities are beginning to offer flag football for girls, which will certainly enhance the appeal for girls playing the sport at the high school level. And internationally, the sport received a huge boost with the addition of flag football as an Olympic sport for men and women at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“The NFHS looks forward to being involved with the continued growth of flag football in schools nationwide, particularly now with playing rules specifically for the high school game, as more opportunities for participation unfold in all 50 states,” Niehoff concluded.

Flag football is the 18th sport for which the NFHS writes national playing rules and the first new sport offering since boys lacrosse (2000) and girls lacrosse (2016), and the first writing of new rules since publication of the NFHS Spirit Rules Book in 1990.

The NFHS – the pre-eminent sports rules-writing organization – began rules-writing in the 1930s with football (1932) and basketball (1936). In addition to football, flag football, basketball, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and spirit, the NFHS writes playing rules in baseball, cross country, field hockey, girls gymnastics, ice hockey, softball, soccer, swimming and diving, track and field, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

The 2025-26 Flag Football Rules Book and all fall sports rules publications are now available at www.NFHS.com.

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Online link to article: https://www.nfhs.org/articles/first-nfhs-flag-football-rules-book-other-fall-sports-rules-publications-now-available/