PRESS RELEASE

The ninth location of the European League of Football has been determined: Vienna! The Vienna Vikings will start in the 2022 season. This means that in addition to Germany, Spain, and Poland, Austria also has a team in the continental league whose premiere season is about to reach its climax. On Sunday (2.45 p.m.) the Hamburg Sea Devils and Frankfurt Galaxy will meet in the MERKUR SPIEL-Arena in Düsseldorf in a championship game. 

“We are very happy to have won a European metropolis and sports-loving city like Vienna for the European League of Football. At the same time, we are one step further with our international expansion. Football is arousing ever greater interest in Austria too and we are proud to present our league to the fans there, to be able.”

Managing Director Zeljko Karajica. 

Commissioner Patrick Esume is convinced that the Vienna Vikings will play a key role in the European League of Football from the start:

“The Vikings are a grown organization with great youth work. You have a well-rehearsed, very talented team and have dominated football in Austria for the past two decades. No question about it, Vienna is an attractive location, but it should also be valued highly from a sporting point of view.”

Patrick Esume

The “Vikings” from the capital of the Alpine republic won the Austrian Bowl 15 times, most recently in 2020. They also demonstrated their class internationally, winning the Eurobowl five times. The Vienna Vikings want to build on these successes as early as the 2022 season, the second series in the still-young history of the European League of Football. 

In the first series, which ended on Sunday with the final between Hamburg and Frankfurt, eight teams from three nations started: In addition to the finalists, the German franchises Berlin Thunder, Cologne Centurions, Leipzig Kings, and Stuttgart Surge as well as the Barcelona Dragons from Spain and the Panthers Wroclaw from Poland in the race. With the Vienna Vikings, there is also a strong rival, which will be officially presented at the Championship Games in Düsseldorf. 

Those responsible around managing director Zeljko Karajica and commissioner Patrick Esume are in final talks with other potential franchises:

“What is certain is that we will bring at least twelve teams to the start. But it looks very good that more will be added and 14, maybe even 16 participants will compete in the 2022 season.”

Patrick Esume