Bahamas Selects 25 Players for JWC Qualifier - Junior World Championship of American Football, IFAF 2009

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The Bahamas American Football Federation (BAFF) has announced the first 25 players chosen for Team Bahamas that will play in a 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship qualification game to be held in Panama City, Panama, on Jan. 24, 2009.

The 2009 IFAF (International Federation of American Football) Junior World Championship will feature the world's eight best high school-aged (19 and under) national teams from four continents. Games will be played at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio, home of the NFL's annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, from June 27 to July 5 in 2009.

The Bahamas' visit to take on Panama's Junior National Team will be the country's first venture into international competition. The winner will travel to play Mexico on February 14 in Mexico City for the right to join the eight-team field in Canton as the third Pan-American representative. The United States and Canada have already qualified as the other Pan-American nations.

Team Bahamas has filled 25 spots for a potential 75-man roster, 45 of which will travel to Panama, with the majority of players residing in the city of Freeport. Athletes from seven different BAFF teams were chosen and the Freeport Bulldogs and Freeport Warhawks boast six and seven players, respectively.

"It is testament to the growth of the game of American football internationally that we have such a diverse group of countries from across the world who are determined to compete at the highest level of our sport," IFAF President Tommy Wiking said. "Only a few years ago it would have been almost unthinkable that countries such as the Bahamas and Panama would be meeting in Central America in a qualifier of such magnitude."

BAFF became a member of the Pan-American Federation of American Football (PAFAF) in May 2008 and was granted full membership of IFAF in July 2008.

In BAFF's second season in the fall of 2008, eight community-based high school tackle football teams were established and totaled 320 players. The Bahamas also hosted a popular combine presented by Under Armour in August 2008. It featured 159 participants and the region projects that between three to five players will commit to play college football in the United States in 2009.

Four other nations, joining the United States and Canada, have already qualified for the JWC. Three representatives from Europe - Germany, Sweden and France - earned spots as they claimed the three highest places at the 2008 European Junior Championship held in Spain in July. Japan will represent Asia while the Bahamas/Panama/Mexico series of games and a qualifying clash between Australia and New Zealand on Jan. 24, 2009, in the Australian capital Canberra will decide the final two spots.

Team Bahamas Roster: