EFA playoff chances

Welcome back to the Huddle!

The weekend's games are officially in the books, the dust has settled, and it's time to look back, not just at the scoreboard, but at how we're doing here at r/eurohuddle.

Whether you spent your weekend watching the EFA, AFLE local domestic leagues, or national team matchups, we want to hear from you. This is our weekly open floor to discuss the state of European American Football and the state of our community.

1. The On-Field Product

• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: What stood out to you this weekend? (Broadcast quality, officiating, stadium atmospheres, game competitiveness).
• League Operations: How are the different leagues handling schedules, stats tracking, and media coverage?
• Surprises: Which team or league blew expectations out of the water (or fell completely flat)?

2. The Community

We want to make this subreddit the absolute best hub for European football. Help us grow and improve:

• Content: What kind of posts did you enjoy the most this week? What are we lacking? (e.g., more tactical breakdowns, meme threads, transfer news).
• Match Threads: How did the game thread feel? Were they easy to find and engage with?
• Flairs: Do you have any suggestions for new user/team flairs or any other things?

Keep it constructive, respect your fellow fans, and let's build something great together.

Go get that Monday coffee, and let's huddle up!

After all the great news about the "only real league in Europe" (wording from the president and the commissioner) , here's the next story.

It looks like they've closed some sections and reorganized the categories in others, which has led to price reductions in some cases.

Based on the current situation, I'd estimate that there are only about 10,000 tickets available for purchase.

At this point, I'd like to extend my warmest congratulations to the AFLE politely ask whether the 12 million will be spent soon?

And yes i know that the EFA will probably have the same bad attendance at there Big4 Weekend / Championship Game. But hey they are not a real league ;)

Unfortunately, I could only find an old screenshot of the previous layout in a Facebook group, which is why the image quality is poor.

As I wrote somewhere the American commentator on the Nordic-Paris broadcast, was a wonderful listen.
The vocabulary and colour he added to the experience was great.
Now, I’m not trying to throw shade at the other commentators, it not their fault, but the listen is just a little bland and we always talk about how to improve the product. Well, this is how.

Hi Charlie, in yesterday‘s game chat there was a discussion about playoff tiebreaker rules as the EFA race could go down to four teams ending with 3-7 with a 2-2 between them.

Your official statement in the chat was that EFA „follows NFL rules“ and I am curious where to find evidence of that as the EFA homepage does not show ANY EFA rules and regulations (*duh*)

The NFL rules in the case of three or more teams tied are rather extensive and it seems that „points (..) in ALL games“ has priority above „points (..) in COMMON (head-to-head) games“ which is not what the fans in the chat thought it was the case for EFA

TLDR: Where is a link to the official EFA rules and regulations regarding playoff tiebreakers please?

Here are the NFL rules (#2, #4 and #7 are not applicable for EFA):

1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games among the clubs).
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
5. Strength of victory.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
9. Best net points in common games.

I just watched the Raiders @ Galaxy game and couldn't help but notice the handshake between coaches Fatah and Kösling. It looked pretty emotional. Is there some backstory, or did I miss something?

There are signs of life in European Football, but maybe not where you expect it:

What you see is just the left side of the sold out main stands at „Ried Gladiators“ in their Austrian 3rd level („Division2“) Championship Game against the „Mostviertel Dukes“

The winner moves up to Austria‘s Division 1, which is the league below the AFL

I've got 5 tickets in the stands for the Frankfurt game to give.

I planned to give them to family members and friends but they couldn't make it. So if you want them you can have em for free

Nordic Storm (6-1) at Paris Musketeers (3-4)

Kickoff: Saturday, 3pm CEST (9am ET)

Broadcast: Free at YouTube, Verdens Gang, Molotov.tv

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Raiders Tirol (0-7) at Frankfurt Galaxy (3-4)

Kickoff: Saturday 3:15pm (9:15 ET)

Broadcast: Free at YouTube, HR TV, HR Mediathek, Sportdigital+, Verdens Gang

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Munich Ravens (7-0) at Prague Lions (2-5)

Kickoff: Sunday 1pm CEST (7am ET)

Broadcast: Free at YouTube, BR Mediathek, Sportdigital, Verdens Gang

This might be interesting for some of you.

It arrived in my "not often used" GMX email account yesterday.

All 8 Teams active this week, possibly 3 Close Games, including a Sneak peek at the likely gold bowl

That‘s a bold move by the new King of the Alps, GM/HC Mr Shuan Fatah, immediately after the former Raiders GM was released.

While Kenjatte Allen went 0-10 in the AFL and suffered a league high 31(!) sacks his QBR actually was actually decent with a QBR of 133. Such a rating at a 0-10 record actually is impressive me thinks.

The Frankfurt game just got interesting.

(Source? Who needs a source? Trust me bro is my source)

Within 24 hours, both the President and the Commissioner of the AFLE publicly denied that the rival EFA exists as a league at all. The specific line was that there’s only one real league, and that the EFA is merely an interest group.

That’s almost certainly not a coincidence. The two of them must have coordinated this. What’s striking is that Tomsula’s comments stand in stark contrast to what he was saying just weeks earlier, when he was preaching a future unification.

What I’m wondering, and I know some people here actually work for these leagues, is what this new messaging is meant to achieve. To me it sounds like a rhetorical move with very little substance behind it, and the actual purpose isn’t clear to me.

Does anyone know more?

As promised, our pre-game press packs are available for you…. I can’t upload a pdf here, so head to our schedule, scroll down to Week 10 and select one of our 3 games for this weekend!

https://efafootball.com/schedule/

🫡 I hope to see you all on our YouTube live chat over the weekend, I’ll be giving away more merch too!

I want your honest opinion. No bashing the EFA, AFLE or even the ELF.
The most of us are in a bubble, shocked like myself that there are people who maybe only watched the SuperBowl and never went to a local game for example.

Since the Vikings joined the ELF I was so hyped that we get international games, rivalries, fanbases, explore new teams and see new players all over Europe.
But since the first years it only goes downwards. New “franchises”, split leagues, players leaving.. so on and so on..

So money and fan wise, is there really an option for it? Is the marketing failing? Are the owners bad at decision making? Should we just try to enjoy the games as long as we can?

This was reported, among other places, by the Rheinische Post in their article:
https://rp-online.de/sport/football/rhein-fire/rhein-fire-halbfinale-in-der-afle-haengt-am-spielplan-des-msv-duisburg_aid-151500265

and also on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/sport.rp/posts/pfbid0ziSLE8h2mGZnYkzvcjxtFeNycCaaGcS5ZmgXdsSYggc7GKKetdARBvwxo3GctCN6l

If the Vikings are feeling generous, they'll reschedule the two semifinals between Rhein Fire and the other team to Sunday, August 30th.

MSV Duisburg plays on Saturday at 2:00 PM CEST, and the semifinal on Sunday starts at 3:10 PM CEST, according to the AFLE website.

Based on last year's experience with the ELF Semifinals Vikings against the Nordic Storm, where First Vienna FC 1894 had played men's and women's soccer matches the day before, it's clear that this isn't enough to host a football game day.

Nothing worked at the Vikings' event, from the entrance to the Wi-Fi, which was needed for the beverage vendors' cash registers, meaning no drinks could be served (not even for cash, because the tax authorities had to have online access to the cash register and print a receipt for the customer).

There is no sugarcoating around it: Another disastrous week ahead.

- Rhein (vs Vikings): THE GAME OF THE REGULAR SEASON? Seems the fans don‘t care. Sales in Duisburg have been lame so far given „The game“ of „The League“. Will it be a new season record for Rhein? Yes! Will it still be below the WORST numbers they had in 2025? Most likely yes. Financially a punch into the gut of a franchise in need of money.

- Wroçlav (vs Firenze): GA only, hard to judge. As so far the attendance there was ok I do expect the same for this slaughter fest but maybe the fans thin out as they learned about the humiliation the team received at Rhein

- Lights (vs London): GA only but the alarm bells are flashing red. Why? The most expensive(!) tickets they sell go for…. ….12€. This price just seems to be a desperation move to get anything going. There‘s the story they claimed to have had 2600 in their first (or second?) game while people who were actually there claimed it was 100. Expect similar lies here. Trust your eyes, not the number they will give you

- Berlin (vs Alpine): How low can you go? Berlin: „Yes!“. They OFFICIALLY announced to not offer one single seating ticket for the rest of the season and just offer STANDING ROOM ONLY. Just to be clear: We are talking about ground level standing as there is no stance. Price: €12. Attendance prediction: 150 (157 if you include the Referees)

This will be an ok week for Frankfurt and Prague but Paris will probably disappoint:

EFA:

- Paris (vs Nordic) : Unfortunately they are playing in the „wrong“ stadium again which always translated into poor attendance. The only indication are the individual seats in the middle block and these are selling VERY slow, the rest are GA (general admission) so are a black box

- Frankfurt (vs Tirol): Not shabby, Frankfurt seems to have a good stable core of fans. According to current sales it should be 5000+ again

- Prague (vs Munich): I see two sides: VIP area is not selling well while the regular seats are slightly above the level of last week so far. I sense that in the end the number will be above of lasts week‘s. Would be surprised if not because there‘s still time (they play on Sunday)

The Raiders Tirol and GM Football, Ulz Däuber, have mutually agreed to part ways at the end of the current EFA season. Ulz will continue to oversee organizational and administrative duties until the end of the season, while Head Coach Shuan Fatah will take over sole responsibility for future recruiting and scouting.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Da2KX0mltBV/?hl=en

https://www.raiders-tirol.com/football/raiders-tirol-und-ulz-daeuber-einigen-sich-auf-trennung-zum-saisonende/