At its July meeting, the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) Central Board voted to sanction girls flag football and girls wrestling as championship sports beginning with the 2024-25 and 2025-26 classification periods.

“This great news for our girls’ student-athletes,” AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs said. “The growth we have seen in both sports has been amazing in a very short time.”

Girls flag football, beginning its third year in the AHSAA this coming season, was boosted originally by the NFL’s support, especially the Atlanta Falcons.

Currently 76 schools have declared the sport of girls wrestling for the upcoming school year, and 89 have declared girls flag football. The board also approved creating two classifications in each sport, Class 1A-5A and Class 6A-7A. Two girls’ flag tournament championship games will be played this year at the AHSAA Super 7 Championships at 1 and 3 p.m., Dec. 6 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The sports will become the 12th and 13th sanctioned sports championships for girls in the AHSAA beginning in 2024-25. Currently, boys compete in 12 sanctioned sports in the AHSAA.