IFAF World Championships 2015: Dates, Format and Event Schedule

The International Federation of American Football is getting set to host the fifth-ever World Championship starting Thursday, July 9, with the United States eyeing a third-straight title. 

For the first time in tournament history, the United States will host the world championship, which will be played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, commonly known as the site of the NFL preseason Hall of Fame Game every August. 

But this time around, only seven countries (not eight) will be competing for the global belt after Canada surprisingly withdrew in late April.

Shannon Donovan, the director of football operations for Canada, explained his side's withdrawal in a statement, according to AmericanFootballInternational.com's Roger Kelly: 

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A number of factors contributed to Canada’s absence at the Worlds…. (o)ur player identification camps have produced a number of players, however, we suffered from a shortage of offensive linemen. It is significant financial and time commitment for the players as it includes three weeks away from work.

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Although Canada was ultimately blitzed, 50-7, by the United States in the 2011 final in Vienna, Austria, it proved to be strong enough to advance to the tournament's final showdown. 

This year's festivities will now take on a slightly altered round-robin format. As a result of Canada's withdrawal, "teams that would have been scheduled to play Canada within the tournament format will receive byes," according to AFI's John McKeon.

When: July 9-18

Where: Canton, Ohio

Live Stream: ESPN3

Schedule

The IFAF World Championship is played in a round-robin style, and things will get going Thursday at noon ET when two clubs from the Eastern Hemisphere clash. Below is a rundown of the daily schedules and implications each contest will have on future matchups.  

Game	Matchup	Time
Game 1	Australia vs. South Korea	12 p.m. ET
Game 2	France vs. Brazil	3:30 p.m. ET
Game 3	USA vs. Mexico	7 p.m. ET
Bye	Japan	N/A

Game	Matchup	Time
Game 4	Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2	12 p.m. ET
Game 5	Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2	3:30 p.m. ET
Game 6	Winner Game 3 vs. Japan	7 p.m. ET
Bye	Loser Game 3	N/A

Game	Matchup	Time
Game 7	Loser Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4	12 p.m. ET
Game 8	Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 6	3:30 p.m. ET
Game 9	Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6	7 pm. ET
Bye	Loser Game 4	N/A

Game	Matchup	Time
5th-Place Game	Loser Game 4 vs. Winner Game 7	12 p.m. ET
Bronze-Medal Game	Loser Game 8 vs. Loser Game 9	3:30 p.m. ET
Gold-Medal Game	Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9	7 p.m. ET

The Favorite

The top-ranked United States squad will take the field looking to own a majority share of IFAF world titles. At present, the United States and Japan share that designation with two championships apiece.

Japan won the 1999 and 2003 tournaments in Italy and Germany, while the U.S. has asserted its dominance over the past eight years with wins in Japan and Austria. The United States' 2007 title over Japan came in double-overtime, with the red, white and blue emerging victorious, 23-20. 

With the No. 2 seed officially withdrawn, the rest of the field is comprised of third-seeded Japan, fourth-seeded Mexico, fifth-seeded France, sixth-seeded Australia, seventh-seeded South Korea and eighth-seeded Brazil.   

The United States will be heavily favored entering IFAF play, with one notable name on the team's roster.  

Dylan Favre—the nephew of legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre—is one of two signal-callers on the USA roster. The other is former Mount Union quarterback Kevin Burke. 

Jim Lytle/Associated Press

Favre's playing career has hardly panned out to this point, though, as Bleacher Report's Jeff Pearlman explained in an October 2014 feature detailing the ups and downs that have come to define Dylan.

"Dylan is a good player," Tennessee-Martin quarterback Jarod Neal said, according to Pearlman. "But he's spastic. He's always moving around a lot, running a lot. He's got his uncle in him. That gunslinger mentality. He's anything but prototypical."

With those tendencies in mind, Burke may prove to be the steadier option under center. According to Mount Union's athletic department, Burke's senior season was decorated in a variety of ways:  

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Burke finished this past season with 4,412 yards and 52 touchdowns passing along with 599 yards and 10 touchdowns rushing.  His 5,011 combined yards of total offense was a new Mount Union single season record as he was awarded the Ohio Athletic Conference Bob Packard Offensive Back of the Year award for a second time in three seasons.  He also is the first player ever to earn the Gagliardi Trophy as national player of the year twice (2013, 2014) and was a Capital One Academic All-American this past year.

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The rest of the United States' roster is laced with relative unknowns, but notoriety aside, recent history suggests the Americans should be entering this year's proceedings with plenty of confidence and a golden opportunity to cement their place atop the world leaderboard.