Zeljko Karajica: “We are overwhelmed”
The European League of Football has its first champion! Frankfurt Galaxy prevailed on Sunday in a high-class final against the Hamburg Sea Devils (32:30). More than 20,000 visitors were there in the MERKUR SPIEL-Arena in Düsseldorf – but that wasn’t enough, the TV quota also made managing director Zeljko Karajica and commissioner Patrick Esume very happy: in the group of 14 to 49-year-olds, the Live broadcast at Pro Sieben MAXX a market share of up to 4.2 percent. A total of 530,000 spectators watched the peak. Best value of the premiere season.
“We are overwhelmed, this value is outstanding. The European League of Football has arrived in the hearts of fans, the league is being enthusiastically received. The fans in the stadium celebrated a huge football party, the people in front of the TV were well entertained and saw a high-quality broadcast. That makes us very proud on the one hand, but on the other hand, it is also a clear mandate to continue to work hard and develop.”
Zeljko Karajica
Commissioner Patrick Esume joined this appeal:
“We look back on the first season with great satisfaction. The European League of Football is the best sporting league in Europe, there is no doubt about that. This final clearly demonstrated that. Despite the restrictions due to the corona pandemic, all 43 games took place in front of spectators in the stadiums, and we sold more than 100,000 tickets in total. We see this as confirmation that the time was ripe for a professionalized continental league.”
In the run-up to the Championship Games between Frankfurt and Hamburg, three new locations were announced. In addition to Galaxy and the Sea Devils, Berlin Thunder, the Cologne Centurions, the Leipzig Kings, and Stuttgart Surge, Düsseldorf Rhein Fire will complement the German faction. Master SWARCO Raiders Tirol and runner-up Vienna Vikings will join them from Austria, the Polish representative Panthers Wroclaw and the Barcelona Dragons from Spain are preparing for their second season.
Before that, on Sunday (5 p.m.) in the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in Berlin, the grand finale of the first series is about to begin: The All-Stars of the European League of Football, chosen by the fans, meet a US selection:
“I can only recommend all football fans to come to the capital and celebrate the end of the first season with us. The best guys will be on the field, and before the game, there will be another fan huddle with various attractions on the forecourt of the stadium.”
Patrick Esume.
Tickets for the All-Star-Game: https://www.ticketmaster.de/event/european-league-of-football allstar-game-tickets / 425267
