Showtime Flag Football League has unveiled its official 2026/27 calendar, setting the stage for another landmark season as the league continues to lead the growth and professionalisation of flag football in Africa.
The Showtime Flag Football League Season XV will run from 20 September 2026 to 2 May 2027, with a packed calendar featuring 18 regular-season game weeks, a series of 5v5 Coed Cup competitions, playoffs, awards, and the highly anticipated Showtime Bowl XV.
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The new season calendar underlines the scale and structure that Showtime has brought to professional flag football, with the competition running across more than seven months and providing players, teams and fans with a full sporting calendar to follow.
The campaign officially gets underway on 20 September 2026 with Regular Season Game Week 1, before Game Week 2 follows on 27 September and Game Week 3 on 4 October.
The league will also introduce its 5v5 Coed Cup competitions during the regular season, beginning with the first Swiss-stage Cup on 11 October 2026, followed by another Cup event on 8 November and a third on 6 December.
The regular-season race continues through the end of 2026 before the league takes its scheduled Christmas Break from 20 December to 16 January.
The second half of the campaign resumes with Regular Season Game Week 11 on 17 January 2027, with the race continuing through Game Week 18 on 21 March 2027.
But while the regular-season championship race will command attention, the Cup competition will also build toward its knockout stages.
The 5v5 Coed Cup Top 8 knockout stage is scheduled for 31 January 2027, followed by the semi-finals on 28 February and the Cup Final on 25 April 2027.
Another important date on the calendar is 24 March 2027, when Showtime will hold its Wildcard/Playoffs Bracket Draw, giving teams and fans a clearer picture of the road to the postseason.
That will be followed by the Regular Season Awards Night on 27 March, celebrating the outstanding individual and team performances from the regular-season campaign.
The postseason then begins with Wildcard Week on 4 April, before Playoffs Round 1 on 11 April and Playoffs Round 2 on 18 April.
Everything ultimately leads to 2 May 2027, when the league will stage the SHOWTIME BOWL XV, the championship event that will bring Season XV to its conclusion.
The calendar also includes two important transfer-window dates. The first transfer window closes on 26 September 2026, while the next transfer window opens on 30 November 2026 and closes on 16 January 2027.
The announcement comes as Showtime continues to establish itself as a trailblazer in African flag football. From building the continent’s first professional flag football stadium at Showtime Arena in Lagos to developing a structured professional competition and expanding its fan experience, the league has continued to push the boundaries of what flag football can become in Africa.
Season XV promises to build on that foundation.
With regular-season battles, Cup competitions, player performances, awards, playoffs and the eventual crowning of a Showtime Bowl champion, the 2026/27 calendar provides supporters with months of competitive action and storylines.
The timing is also significant for the sport globally, with flag football preparing for its historic Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028. As international attention around the sport continues to grow, Showtime’s continued investment in professional competition and infrastructure places Nigeria at the centre of an increasingly important African flag football story.
And with its new website also set to launch on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, fans will have a new digital home through which to follow the league, its teams, players, fixtures, statistics, news and results.
The road to Showtime Bowl XV has now been officially mapped out.
From the opening whistle on 20 September 2026 to the championship showdown on 2 May 2027, Season XV promises to be another defining chapter in Showtime’s mission to build the future of professional flag football in Africa.
The calendar is set. The teams are preparing. The stage is ready.
Season XV is coming.
