National team head coach LaPolice continues to prepare for world flag football event

By Canadian Press on January 21, 2026.

They’re still over two years away but the 2028 Summer Olympics are on Paul LaPolice’s radar.

The head coach of Canada’s men’s flag football team has already compiled a preliminary practice plan for the Games even though his squad hasn’t yet qualified for the competition. But also on LaPolice’s plate is preparing for this year’s world championship, where the top-three finishers will punch their ticket to Los Angeles and be part of flag football’s Olympic debut.

A total of six men’s teams and six women’s will participate in the L.A. flag football competition.

“We’re worried about the world championship and getting our team better,” LaPolice said during a telephone interview. “But as the head coach, I do have to plan forward … when you’re planning for the Olympics you plan a couple of years ahead and I have to do that.

“But from a game-planning standpoint and football Xs and Os, we’re just focusing on trying to win the world championship.”

Both the NFL and CFL have said they’ll allow their players to participate in Los Angeles but specific details continue to be hammered out. The expectation is pro players won’t be made available until 2027 at the earliest, well past the world championship event, which will be held Aug. 13-16 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

“We believe we have a roster that’s very good right now and can win gold this year,” LaPolice said. “We already have some CFL/NFL components to our roster.

“We have Antony Auclair (former NFL tight end) and quarterback Michael O’Connor (former CFL player) and also many great U Sports football players. I love the players we’ve got, there’s a good group of guys, very intelligent and I’ve had a lot of fun working with these guys and they’re very good football players on the international stage.”

Canada qualified for the world championship by taking the bronze medal at last year’s International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Americas Continental championship in Panama. The Canadians downed host Panama 32-22.

Canada finished the preliminary round with a 3-1 record before losing to Mexico 35-25 in the semifinals.

LaPolice, a longtime CFL coach and former head coach with Winnipeg and Ottawa, took over the national team last May. In LaPolice’s first flag competition the following month, Canada went 4-0 at an exhibition tournament in Los Angeles, which included a 25-21 upset win over the U.S., the Americans’ first international loss in eight years.

“We’re doing some good things but there’s a lot of room for growth,” LaPolice said. “I keep trying to spend time and learn about the game.”

The Canadian men’s team’s 2026 schedule is a busy one.

The program will hold identification camps across Canada and in March take 18 players and six staff members to an Olympic training site in San Diego for a week. A team of 18 to 20 players will be selected sometime in April or May and the Canadians expect to participate in a still unspecified tournament in June.

Following training camps in July and August, Canada will head to the world championship tournament. A challenge LaPolice faces is trying to organize a suitable schedule for players and coaches who all have full-time jobs.

“That’s a different challenge,” said LaPolice, a Grey Cup champion as an assistant coach with Saskatchewan (2007) and Winnipeg (2019). “There’s so much work to be done on a daily basis.

“We’re trying to do this like a CFL team from a professional video-editing system, equipment managers and trying to do it correctly and the right way.”

And then there’s also trying keeping up with an ever-changing flag football landscape.

“Many teams have big, strong-armed quarterbacks … they just throw the ball,” LaPolice said. “The U.S. and Mexico, they use multiple quarterbacks and athletic guys that can run and just force you into things.

“I do think we throw the ball and space the field as well as any team in the world … now I’m trying to learn some of the prevalent flag things from the best teams in the world.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2026.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press