Football: 2025 & 2026 Districts & Groups

Boone, Iowa – Following Wednesday morning’s Zoom meeting of the IHSAA Board of Control, district and group assignments for the 2025 and 2026 football seasons are now available. Districts and Class 5A groups are effective for a two-year cycle.

This will be the second cycle with a socioeconomic factor added for football classifications. Approved in 2023 by the State Board of Education, the classification adjustment will reduce 40 percent of a school’s free or reduced lunch (FRL) count from their annual enrollment to determine their final classification number. Classifications, districts and groups, football classification formats, and Class 5A success model information is below.

2025 & 2026 ASSIGNMENTS

 

2025 & 2026 FORMAT & PLAYOFF QUALIFYING

Eight-Player

• Teams: 69
• Districts: 10
• Teams Per District: 6 or 7
• Playoff Qualifiers: 32
• Automatic Qualifiers: 30, top three per district
• At-Large Berths: 2, 17-point differential in district
• Regular Season Games (Per Team): 8
• District Games (Per Team): 5 or 6
• Non-District Games (Per Team): 2 or 3

Classification Adjustment

• A football classification amendment was approved by the IHSAA’s Board of Control, a vote of member schools, and approved in 2023 by the Iowa State Board of Education.

• The proposed amendment to the Articles of Incorporation will add a socioeconomic factor to football classifications, implementing a formula for free and reduced lunch percentages and school enrollments to determine new final classification numbers.
• The classification adjustment will reduce 40 percent of a school’s free or reduced lunch (FRL) count from their annual enrollment to determine their final classification number.
  Example: 
  A school’s BEDS enrollment (9-11) for the upcoming school year is 1,000. The district’s FRL percentage is 37%.
  • 1,000 – 0.40 x 370
  • 1,000 – 148
  • IHSAA classification number: 852

More Information…

• Week 1 of the 2025 football season is scheduled to begin Thursday, Aug. 28.
• Member schools will receive priority lists for non-district opponents.
• Varsity football schedules will continue to be compiled and created by the IHSAA for this two-year cycle.
• Teams in 2A, 1A, A, and 8P will be permitted to play a ninth regular season contest should they not qualify for the postseason.
• Schedules for the 2025 and 2026 seasons will be released as soon as possible.

Class 5A Success Model Schedule

The success model used for Class 5A was designed with the intent of adding competitive games to regular season scheduling of the largest-school class. It measures a football program’s: a) Four years (2021-22, 23-24) of Ratings Percentage Index; b) Five years (2020-24) of playoff success.

The model used ranking within the RPI and ranking of “points” in playoff success (5 for championship, 4 for runner-up, 3 for semifinal appearance, 2 for quarterfinal appearance, and 1 for playoff appearance. Teams are tiered by their ranking within the model.

New in 2025-26, tiers have expanded from six teams to 12 teams, as group teams will all play each other during the regular season.

• Tier 1 is teams ranked #1-12
• Tier 2 is teams ranked #13-24
• Tier 3 is teams ranked #25-36

In the group format, there are no district champions or group champions. All 16 playoff qualifying spots will still be considered at-large through RPI