JORGE CASCUDO OF MIAMI NAMED HEAD COACH OF THE 2022 U.S. MEN'S FLAG FOOTBALL NATIONAL TEAM
INDIANAPOLIS – USA Football, a member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the sport's national governing body, announced today that JORGE CASCUDO of Miami will serve as head coach of the 2022 U.S. Men’s Flag Football National Team.
Cascudo, one of the most accomplished flag coaches in the United States and a legendary flag quarterback on U.S. National Team and professional levels (1996-2018), will lead the U.S. Men’s Flag National Team at The World Games 2022. The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Ala. from July 7-17 and will mark the first time that flag is featured on a multi-sport, global stage. Sixteen (16) flag national teams (eight men’s and eight women’s) across four continents will compete for gold medals at Birmingham’s historic Legion Field.
“I was honored to represent the U.S. Men’s Flag National Team as a player,” said Cascudo, who played quarterback for gold medal-winning U.S. Men’s Flag National Teams in the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Flag World Championships in 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018. “As head coach, I’m excited to lead our country’s best men’s players in one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. We have high expectations for each other and we look forward to playing our best football in Birmingham come July.”
The World Games is an Olympic-style sports event established in 1981 by the International World Games Association, which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The 24 combined members of the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Flag National Teams will be among the 3,600 athletes from more than 100 countries converging on Birmingham this summer to compete in 30-plus events.
Comprised of 71 member nations across six continents, IFAF is a provisional member of the International Olympic Committee. IFAF’s family of member countries has increased more than 75 percent in the past 15 years, up from 40 nations in 2007.
Final rosters for the 2022 U.S. Men’s and Women’s Flag National Teams will be determined by mid-March.
A Miami native, Cascudo most recently coached the 2021 Panama Men’s Flag National Team, which earned the bronze medal at the 2021 IFAF Flag World Championships in Jerusalem, Israel. An alumnus of Miami Senior High School (1990) and Florida Memorial University (1996), Cascudo led Panama to a 4-0 record in group play and scored the championship’s third-highest point total, only trailing the U.S. and Mexico, which earned gold and silver medals, respectively.
In addition to playing for U.S. Men’s Flag National Teams, Cascudo won the 1996 Air-it-Out Flag Football National Championship and played in the United States Flag & Touch Football League (USFTL) for more than 20 years. He won three consecutive USFTL Flag Football National Championships (2013-2015) and was part of the USFTL’s 2013 National Hall of Fame Class.
Cascudo joins CHRIS LANKFORD of Dallas as 2022 U.S. Flag National Team head coaches. Lankford, the head coach of the U.S. Women’s Team, coached the U.S. Women to their first IFAF Flag World Championship gold medal in 2018 and led them to gold again in 2021. He also has coached teams to six USFTL National Championships.
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