The decision was made by the IFAF Managing Committee, following a bidding process which lasted from November 1 to 15.

Exact dates for the event are due to be announced at a later date, but the IFAF have confirmed it will be held in the last week of October.

"We in IFAF are very proud about the decisions being made towards developing our sport, especially when they involve new modalities of football and affect new locations and regions," said Marco Cobar, a member of the IFAF Managing Committee.

"We are sure that having this event in Costa Rica will have a very strong and positive impact in the Central American region.

"It will be proof that inclusion and globalisation is the way to go."

Beach flag football is a relative newcomer to the official IFAF competition calendar.

To date, competitions in the discipline have been organised at the 2014 Asian Beach Games in Phuket in Thailand and at the 2014 European Championship of American football in Italian city Grosseto.

Flag football is a version of American football where the basic rules of the game are similar to those of the mainstream game, but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end a down.

The IFAF was officially formed in 1998, before becoming a provisionary member of SportAccord in 2003, and a full member in 2005.

Currently, the IFAF is composed of 103 member nations on six continents - North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

All possess national federations dedicated solely to American football.