The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) approved the rapidly growing sport the 2025-26 school year

Pennsylvania made flag football an officially sanctioned girls' high school sport Wednesday amid a push from the commonwealth's NFL teams to encourage more female athletes to get on the field. The approval from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association -- the statewide body that governs high school athletics in the commonwealth -- makes flag football an official sport for girls in the nation's fifth-most populous state starting in the 2025-26 school year.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) announced today that high school girls’ flag football will be an officially sanctioned sport in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The PIAA Board of Directors held a meeting in Mechanicsburg today where they reviewed and designated high school girls’ flag football as a state-sanctioned sport.