Tournament
The inaugural IFAF Junior World Championship will kick off on Saturday, June 27 2009, at Canton's historic Fawcett Stadium, home of the NFL's annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
Games between the world's eight best 19-and-under national junior teams will be played on Wednesday, July 1 and Saturday, July 4, before the Championship Game is contested on Sunday, July 5.
Click on the countries highlighted on the interactive map above to discover more about football in those nations and about the teams that will be heading to Canton.
Joining host nation the United States as an automatic qualifier will be Canada. The Canadians will hold the No. 1 seed once all eight qualifiers are finalized and placed in the tournament bracket, with the U.S. claiming the No. 2 seed.
Japan will fly the flag for Asia, while representing Europe are Germany, Sweden and France who finished first, second and third, respectively, at the 2008 European Junior Championship to qualify. Rounding out the tournament field, New Zealand will represent Oceania after defeating Australia in its regional qualifying game, while Mexico will be the third Pan-American team following its win against Panama.