ELF Europe

The history of European American Football dates back at least to the First World War and the tours by American Servicemen. From 1972 onwards there have been attempts by the National Football League (NFL) and other Professional American Football Leagues to establish Professional American Football in Europe. The latest is the most successful yet – European League of Football. There are also numerous leagues all over Europe played by Europeans.

There have been European Championships (for National Teams) since 1983 and likewise the Eurobowl (for Club Champions) since 1986. Regional Champions Leagues such as the Atlantic Cup which Irish teams entered have also been competed for since the 1980s. The first National Leagues were in Italy (1977), Germany (1979) and Finland (1980) and there are now either teams or leagues everywhere even including such small countries as Luxembourg and Iceland, except Greece and a few small countries.

European American Football (Irish Clubs & Ireland)

Ireland National Team

Irish teams played a series of matches against English, Scottish and Welsh teams from 1990s until 2000, and the Nations Cup, between Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales was held from 1996-1999. In 2002 Ireland rejoined the European circuit, with the Dublin Rebels playing in the Charleroi Trophy in Belgium, an unofficial Championship for amateur Western European Champions, such as the Irish, Belgian & Dutch Leagues. From 2005-2006 Irish teams returned to playing British teams, and then in 2009 the first Atlantic Cup, an official tournament for the Champions of amateur Western European Leagues was held. Belgian, Dutch, Irish and sometimes either a Luxembourg representative or a team from the French third level competed for this European Tier 3 Trophy until 2016, when the Belgian & Dutch entrants made the step up to EFL (Tier 2) level. From 2014-present a series of matches involving Irish teams and teams from the Atlantic Fringe, such as Scotland and Iberia, have been played

Irish Club Internationals

The Dublin Celts, the first American Football team in Ireland, formed in 1984, played matches against British opposition in 1985 & 1986 due to lack of kitted opposition in Ireland. In 1986 the first Shamrock Bowl was played and the Irish American Football League was started the following year, with the Shamrock Bowl Champions winning the right to represent Ireland in the Eurobowl, the European Champions Cup. Britain was expelled from the European Football League in 1992, and Ireland left the organisation at the same time as it could not afford to play games in continental Europe. From 2014-present a series of Internationals between Ireland and Belgium and Netherlands have been played. 

Ireland and Irish Clubs – European Internationals (Seasons)

Irish International Box-Scores

European Football Leagues (Major & AAA – Levels 1-2)

After the US Air Force & Army Leagues, the National Football League set about promoting the NFL in Europe. In 1970 the film M*A*S*H saw the first mainstream exposure of American Football in Europe with its climactic Football game at the end. Immediately following this there were expressions of interest from Europeans about setting up a League, and what followed was the Intercontinental Football League, which was to feature 6 teams, including the Rome Gladiators, owned by Bruno Beneck, the director of the most popular TV Sports Show in Italy, who had successfully introduced Baseball 20 years earlier. The League never got off the ground due to the oil crisis and the spectre of Terrorism, but the IFL continued to promote the game, playing a game in 1972 in Paris featuring NFL players, as well as bringing College teams and Semi-Pro Teams from 1976-1978 to play a best-of-5 European Championship.

TV stations started showing American Football in the late-1970s and early 1980s and the first Leagues sprang up, including the Rome Gladiators in Bruno Beneck’s Italy. By 1986 the National Football League had begun to play Pre-Season games in London, Barcelona, Berlin and Dublin. The European audiences soon wanted more so the World League of American Football, featuring 3 European teams, 6 American and one Canadian, was started in 1991. It lasted two seasons before being shelved by the NFL due to the lack of interest from American fans in a Development League. The American Football League of Europe, which ran from 1994-1995 filled in the gap in Pro Football, with its mix of start-up teams and teams from the European National Leagues bolstered by American imports.

The World League returned in 1995 as a 6-team Europe-only League and was renamed the NFL Europe League in 1998. After initial success, attendances dwindled – the fans wanted an NFL franchise – so in 2007 the NFL folded the League and focused on promoting the NFL in Europe through the NFL International Series – starting with one NFL Regular Season game a year played in London, growing to 4-per-year by 2020, with the stated intention of putting a team in London permanently by 2022.

The World League returned in 1995 as a 6-team Europe-only League and was renamed the NFL Europe League in 1998. After initial success, attendances dwindled – the fans wanted an NFL franchise – so in 2007 the NFL folded the League and focused on promoting the NFL in Europe through the NFL International Series – starting with one NFL Regular Season game a year played in London, growing to 4-per-year by 2020, with the stated intention of putting a team in London permanently by 2022.

About European Football Leagues

The First attempts at creating a European American Football League were in the 1970s following the hit film M*A*S*H and its climactic ending featuring an American Football game which intrigued European audiences.

Following on from this a couple of failed start-ups led in 1991 to the National Football League (NFL) creating the World League of American Football (WLAF) as a Development League. After two years with teams in USA, Canada and Europe it was shelved and returned in 1995 as a Europe-only league which itself was shelved in 2007 in order to promote the NFL itself in Europe through the International Series of NFL regular season games in London.

Following a number of low-key European Leagues, based primarily in Central and Eastern Europe between 2007 and 2019, the European League of Football in 2021 became the latest big-time Professional Football League in Europe, retaining the rights to the old WLAF / NFLE team names.

United States Armed Forces in Europe Leagues

Among the earliest verifiable American Football Leagues or Associations in Europe are the American Expeditionary Force Football League of WWI which was played in France at the conclusion of the War. There was a European Theater of Operations Football Championship (WWII) in Northern Ireland in 1942, which spread to England and Wales in 1943-1944. Following WWII, the United States found itself almost immediately in a War with Communist Russia, and American Football Leagues were set up in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain & Greece (The United States Air Force in Europe – USAFE – Football League & United States ARmy EURope Football League – USAREUR) which ran right to the end of the Cold War.  One USAREUR League, the Northern Italian League, became the genesis of a National League in Italy featuring Homegrown teams.

Cold War Europe (USAFE and USAREUR)

After World War II and as the Cold War set in, the United States Air Force in Europe set up a Football Championship with three Conferences: United Kingdom, Continental (France and Germany) and Mediteranean (Italy, Spain and Greece) Sports Conferences. There was also a smaller USAREUR (United States Army in Europe) Football League. The USAFE Championship wound down in 1993 due to the end of the Cold War.

World Wars in Europe (AEF and ETO)

The American Expeditionary Force (France WWI) and European Theater of Operations (Britain and Northern Ireland WWII) United States Army and Navy Units played Football Leagues during World War I and II in France, Britain, Northern Ireland, and North Africa.

European Football Internationals

There have been European Championships (for National Teams) since 1983 and likewise the Eurobowl (for Club Champions) since 1986. Regional Champions Leagues such as the Atlantic Cup which Irish teams entered have also been competed for since the 1980s. The first National Leagues were in Italy (1977), Germany (1979) and Finland (1980) and there are now either teams or leagues everywhere even including such small countries as Luxembourg and Iceland, except Greece and a few small countries.

European Championships

The First European Championships for European National teams took place in 1983, there have also been tours by European teams to USA and American and Canadian teams to Europe. The first American Football European Championships were held in 1983, at Vince Lombardi Stadium, Castelgiorgio, Italy. Italy beat Finland 18-6 in the Final.

International Friendlies

Eurobowl and Regional Cups

There have been European Championships (for National Teams) since 1983 and likewise the Eurobowl (for Club Champions) since 1986. Regional Champions Leagues such as the Atlantic Cup which Irish teams entered have also been competed for since the 1980s. The first National Leagues were in Italy (1977), Germany (1979) and Finland (1980) and there are now either teams or leagues everywhere even including such small countries as Luxembourg and Iceland, except Greece and a few small countries.

European Club Championships (Levels 1-2)

The first Eurobowl for European National Champions was played in 1986, governed by the European Football League. The organisation fell apart in 1992, following the expulsion of the United Kingdom, and was replaced by the European Federation of American Football which ran the Eurobowl until 2015 when the German Football League International took over running the sport for one year, being replaced in turn by the Europe Division of the International Federation of American Football, the World Governing Body.

Regional European Leagues (Levels 3-4)

Below the European Football League and Eurobowl Levels are Regional Football Leagues, namely West European, North European, East European and Central European Bowls.

Western Europe

There have been Regional Tournaments in Western Europe since the Four Nations Bowl (England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales) in the 1990s and then the Charleroi Trophy (Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland) in the early 2000s. This was replaced by the Atlantic Cup in 2009, which ran until 2017 when the Belgian & Dutch Champions made the step up to European Football League Level.

Nortrhern Europe

The Scandinavian Cup, played in the 1990s between the winners of the Swedish, Norwegian, Danish & Finnish Leagues, is the oldest of the Northern European Regional Tournaments. It has since been replaced by the Northern European Football League, featuring the British Champions too.

Central Europe

Central European Competitions have included the Challenge Cup (EFAF Era) and more recently the Central European Football League. These competitons have pitted the Champions of – at times – Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey – against each other in two levels as it currently stands.

National Leagues

The earliest National Leagues in Europe were the ones in Italy (1977), Germany (1979) and Finland (1979) and have since grown to include just about every Country in Europe.

European Women’s American Football

British and Atlantic Football

American Football started in Britain in 1983 after TV Station Channel 4 started showing the NFL. Soon afterwards other Atlantic Nations such as Ireland, Brittany and Galicia started playing aswell. This is a Statistical History of British and Atlantic Football Leagues with a particular focus on Irish Connections.

British Gridiron Football Leagues

American Football in Britain was first played in 1984 and at its’ height in the late-1980s had more than 200 affiliated adult teams.

While it suffered a slow retreat in the late 1990s it began to grow again the 2000s, helped in no small part by the NFL (National Football League) playing a series of Regular Season matches there every year.

There are now Adult Mens and Women’s Leagues or Youth, Junior, Cadet and Pee Wee Leagues in either full contact pads and helmets Football or non-contact Flag Football in 11on11, 9on9, 7on7, 6on6 or 5on5 variations.

British National Leagues

British University, Women’s and Youth Leagues

English National and Regional Leagues

From 1988 to 1994 the National Passball League in England played an independent schedule with teams such as the Cannock Chase Giants, a possible reference to the Celtic Archaeology of Staffordshire.

British Flag Football

Celtic National Leagues

There have been Independent Leagues in the Celtic Countries (Regions) of Western Europe since the Thistle American Football League and North West and Welsh Counties American Football League in 1987.

Scottish Gridiron Association

From 1995 to 1998 the Scottish Gridiron Association broke away from the British American Football Association before remerging in 1999.

North West and Welsh Counties American Football League

In 1987 there was an Independent American Football League comprising teams in North Wales and the North West of England

Conf’Ouest (Brittany)

From 1997 to 2005 Conference Ouest in Brittany formed an Independent Association in North West France before again merging with the Federation Francais de Football Americain.

Association Gallega de Football Americano (Galicia)

From 2012 to 2016 it was Galicia, in North West Iberia’s turn to be an Independent Association, before merging again with the Federation Espanola de Football Americano.

Western European Football

This is a Statistical History of Western European Football Leagues with a particular focus on Irish Connections. Leagues covered are Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Catalonia.

Northern European Football

This is a Statistical History of Northern European Football Leagues with a particular focus on Irish Connections. Leagues covered are Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland.

East European Football

This is a Statistical History of East and Central European American Football Leagues. leagues covered are CIS, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Alpe Adria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria.