7v7 flag football rules, from rec leagues to high school

USA Football publishes the USA Flag 7s rulebook as the 5s rulebook adjusted for two more players. Version 2026.2 of the two books matches line for line except the team size, so the field stays 25 x 70 yards with 10-yard end zones and the rush stays at 2 blitzers. IFAF plays Flag 7 on 7 under the same rules as its 5v5 game, with the field widened to 30 yards and rosters of up to 20.

• Quarterback: cannot run the ball directly across the line. In USA Football rules the quarterback may carry it after a second handoff back or after catching a pass.
• Running game: handoffs and backward passes behind the line are legal and multiple handoffs are allowed. In USA Football rules the center cannot take a handoff.
• No-run zone: 5 yards before the end zone, where every play must be a pass, even with a handoff.
• Rush: up to 2 blitzers, at least 7 yards back at the snap, with a raised hand. After a handoff, every defender may cross the line.
• Pass clock: 7 seconds from the snap until a handoff or pass.
• Equipment: flag belts with pop sockets and 2 flags, and a mouth guard on the field.

USA Football groups players as Youth (13 and under), Junior (14 to 17) and Adult (18 and older), and recommends a running clock for ages 5 to 12. Many local rec leagues write their own 7v7 rules from one of these books, so ask yours for its rule sheet.

The NFHS published its first flag football rules book for the 2025-26 season, written for both boys and girls. It plays four 12-minute periods and scores a touchdown as 6 points. A first down comes from reaching the zone to gain, the next 20- or 40-yard line, rather than a line to gain. For 2026-27 the NFHS standardized that every team starts with 7 players, allowed a team out of substitutes to continue with no fewer than 5, raised timeouts from two to three per half, and added a fourth field size.

The field options are 300 x 120 feet, 360 x 120 feet, 360 x 160 feet and, new for 2026-27, 300 x 160 feet, chosen by state adoption. The NFHS field diagrams show 30-foot end zones. The 2026-27 points of emphasis are screen blocking, flag belts and flag pulls, and kicking.

Because each state adopts the book on its own terms, read your state association's adoption before the season. California is a good example. The CIF 2026 adoption uses a 240 x 120 foot field with two 10-yard end zones, allows a 120 x 120 foot field for tournaments, has no kickoffs, place kicks or field goals, places every player receiving a snap 2 yards behind the line, and requires 2 flags that disconnect from the belt.

State-by-state status lives on the girls high school flag football by state page, and headgear rules on flag football headgear rules by state.

The Under the Lights 7v7 rules (updated 3-20-2026) put 6 players on offense against 7 on defense. The offense starts at the 40 with 3 downs to gain 15 yards and no fourth down. There are no running plays, no handoffs and no blitzing, and the quarterback has 4 seconds to throw. The field is 53 yards long with 10-yard end zones. Players wear a soft-shell helmet and a mouth guard (quarterbacks are exempt from both), and a touchdown is 7 points.

Those rules defer to NFHS football rules for anything they do not cover. If your team plays in a passing league in the spring and flag in the fall, coach the two rulebooks as separate games.

The NFHS book lists screen blocking as a 2026-27 point of emphasis, so read your state's adopted rule on it before you teach route spacing near the line.

Every play in the Flag50 playbook is built without blocking: the center always runs a route, and no player blocks.

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USA Football stops the league clock only for timeouts and injuries, and runs it continuously once a team leads by 30 points. The CIF runs the clock continuously when the margin passes 27 points in the fourth quarter, and lets non-varsity games shorten to 10-minute quarters. For extra points and tiebreakers by rulebook, read the flag football scoring rules guide.