Football League of the Giant Contradictions continues to struggle
The European League of Football aims to revive the sport following the model of the old NFL Europe. However, there are significant challenges. These include lack of competitiveness, unprofessional structures, and dilapidated football stadiums. The league boss is not discouraged.
One might imagine this in the Bundesliga. There, for instance, Holstein Kiel or 1. FC Heidenheim might be trailing 0:7 against Bayern Munich at halftime - and give up. We don't stand a chance anyway, so let's quit. That's what happened a few weeks ago in the European League of Football (ELF), which aims to professionalize football and tap into the sport's vast potential beyond the USA. The Barcelona Dragons didn't continue playing when they were down 0:54 against the Munich Ravens. Patrick Esume was furious.
"This cannot happen, there's no excuse for it," says the commissioner. In their rematch last Sunday, the Dragons at least didn't leave the field - but they lost 0:90. For a sport that sells the dream of every team being a champion in the National Football League (NFL), this is disastrous. "It's running massively wrong when you have such a discrepancy within a league," says Esume. "It's about trying to transition American football from an amateur to a professional level."
The league is in its fourth year, aiming to produce high-quality sports. It wants to move into big stadiums and benefit from the boom that Esume describes as "a Cinderella story" for football in Germany. Millions have a favorite team - but in the NFL. In the ELF, the Hamburg Sea Devils were recently kicked out of Hannover 96's stadium because the pitch was colorful and completely destroyed after the game.
The Final? At Schalke
Patrick Esume remains optimistic: "The trend is your friend." He believes flag football will become an Olympic sport, and the NFL will come to Germany. "We're moving into bigger stadiums, it's all going in the right direction. But it's bumpy." He hasn't found the handbook "How to professionalize European football after 30 or 40 years of amateur league" yet.
So, it's trial and error. "Rhein Fire, Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin - they're all very professional," says Esume. "Then you have Madrid - highly professional. But four hours away, you have a team like Barcelona that's far behind." Several of the 17 franchises from nine countries regularly draw more than 10,000 spectators.
Esume, as a TV expert and podcaster ("Football Bromance"), is the enthusiastic voice of his sport in Germany. He's not discouraged: "Sometimes you take a step to the side or one or two back, that's okay, as long as the path is fundamentally forward." The league final will be played on September 22 in Gelsenkirchen - in Schalke 04's arena. Best with paint that's easy to remove.
Despite the challenges, such as lack of competitiveness and unprofessional structures, Patrick Esume remains optimistic about the European League of Football (ELF). He believes that flag football has the potential to become an Olympic sport and hopes that the NFL will eventually come to Germany.
In the ELF, there's a significant disparity in the level of professionalism between teams, with some like Rhein Fire and Stuttgart being well-established and others, like Barcelona, lagging behind.
