Last week from Friday 13.10. until Sunday 15 October, the 13th edition of the European Champions League in the non-contact version of American football was held in the organization of the club Morski vukovi Split and Health Life Academy. Flag football.
During three days, 30 clubs from Europe competed for the title of the best team of the Old Continent. The champions and vice-champions of Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, and so on, along with representatives from Croatia, of course, competed in the sport that, as of this week, received the highest recognition by being included in the Olympic program in Los Angeles in 2028.
It was possible to enter the competition only with an invitation, which depends on the scoring of each country during the previous editions of the Champions League, so some countries had two or exceptionally three representatives at the tournament. The first day and half of the second day were reserved for the group stage, and the rest of the second day and the final day for the quarterfinals and/or the fight for placement.
In the end, the title of European champions in the men’s competition was won by the German team of Walldorf Wanderers, mostly made up of national team members. The Germans also won the title of European champions two months earlier in Limerick, Ireland, and this medal is a confirmation of the quality of their work in the past period. In the final, they beat Sphinx de Pau from France.
In the women’s category, the Austrian De La Salle Saints won the first place in the final, ahead of the French team Fenris Dijon. The match turned around after a brief rain, in which the Austrians managed better and first turned the score around, and then kept the advantage in the last seconds.
Unfortunately, Croatia was not represented in the women’s competition, and the six-time Croatian champions Morski vukovi took 13th place in the final ranking of the men’s competition. A couple of injuries affected the final ranking, but this result is a great prelude to continuing work in 2024.
Namely, as the core of the Split team is also the main part of the Croatian flag football national team, we are expecting an interesting next year in which the world championship will be held in Finland.
The first goal is placement, and then a good result considering the final goal, which is the Olympic Games in 2028. By organizing this competition for the second year in a row, Croatia joined Austria, Denmark and Italy as the only countries that have hosted twice.
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