Heidelberg Adding Flag Football

Heidelberg University is adding women's flag football for the 2026 spring season. The NCAA Division III university is located in Tiffin, Ohio, and will start as a club team with the hope of developing into a varsity program by the 2027 spring season. Maddie McLaughlin will help organize the club team in its early stages. McLaughlin is also the women's soccer coach at Heidelberg.

Heidelberg is the first Ohio Athletic Conference school to add flag football at a club or varsity level. Five schools in Ohio are expected to have flag football by the start of the 2026 spring season. Over 80 schools are set to add flag football for the 2026 spring season, in addition to the over 120 club and varsity teams competing in 2025.

In February, the NCAA recommended that flag football join the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, which provides a pathway to becoming a championship sport. All three divisions could end up sponsoring a championship sport in the future but require a minimum of 40 schools at the varsity level. Flag football will also make its Olympic debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.