Canada has also developed the Canada national football junior team which is an elite developmental program which participates in the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Under-19 World Championship planned to be held every 2 years. This tournament was previously known as the IFAF Junior World Cup. Canada won the 2012 Under-19 championship, upsetting the favourite and host team, the United States, to give the US national team its only loss to date in international competition.
Unlike the US national team, active professional players are allowed to participate, and a handful of Canadian Football League players participated on the national squad, although the fact that the CFL's season overlapped with the 2011 World Championship prevented most of the best non-import players in that league from participating.