Elf Staff Exodus
If you walk into the European League of Football (ELF) headquarters these days, don’t expect the buzz of a growing sports league. No, the scene looks more like an office during the Corona lockdown: empty chairs, abandoned coffee mugs, and a ghostly silence where there should be playbooks and planning. Except this time, it’s not a virus clearing the desks — it’s the staff themselves heading for the exits.
The Domino Effect of Departures
It started with whispers but has turned into a full-blown exodus:
- Patrick Esume, the face and co-founder of the league, officially stepped down as Commissioner at the end of the 2025 season. His announcement came during the playoffs, but he held the post until the final whistle of the year.
- Malte Scholz, long-time referee chief, has retired from officiating on the field, keeping only an administrative role.
- And perhaps most damning: the entire Statistics Team has quit. Not just one or two interns — the whole department.
- Nils Rosjat – Head of Statistics
- Andreas Tholen – Data Management
- Martin Harder – Statistics Data Engineer
- The social media lead (Maxi Zimmer, @maxzi.me) has gone as well, leaving fans and teams with more burger posts than football content.
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They resigned due to “fundamental differences with the management and its current course.” That’s corporate-speak for: we don’t trust how this league is being run.
Olaf Baack, Head of the Medical Commission, also announced his resignation. His statement was heartfelt but telling:
“With a heavy heart I hereby resign from my position as Head of the Medical Commission of the ELF. Due to recent developments, I am unable to continue in this role. I sincerely hope this is only temporary, because I loved every second of working for the health and safety of the players …”
He praised colleagues and highlighted achievements like new safety protocols, the annual medical congress, and the introduction of the Head Injury Spotter — but ultimately, the “developments of recent times” made it impossible to continue. That’s polite doctor-speak for: things have gone seriously wrong in management.
And at the end it’s also interesting what he didn’t say … a lot of “thank you” but no word about Zeljko Karajica!
For me that is more than obvious… saying a lot without saying it.
Numbers Don’t Lie — But They Walked Away
Let’s pause here. The statistics team isn’t some background noise. These are the people who feed the league its credibility: player stats, records, data integrity. When they decide to leave because the management’s way of doing business clashes with their professional standards, it says more than any press release ever could.
It’s one thing to lose a commissioner (happens). It’s another to lose your refereeing backbone (still survivable). But when the ones holding the numbers — the foundation of competition — slam the door shut, you’ve got a systemic problem. A league without numbers is just a bunch of guys running into each other.
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Meanwhile, in Rival Territory…
As if the staff departures weren’t enough, the European Football Alliance (EFA) now boasts 11 teams — clubs that decided they’d rather take their chances elsewhere than stick with the ELF circus. Each departure chips away at whatever stability the league had left.
The Karajica Show
At the center of all this stands Zeljko Karajica, Managing Director and now seemingly the last man standing in the ELF’s leadership circle. Commissioner gone, operations gone, statistics gone, social media gone — what’s left? Karajica and his… creative financial practices.
Because let’s not sugarcoat it: the common theme in every exit, every whispered report, every public statement is that people simply can’t (or won’t) work with him. The accusations? That he shifts money around within his family network, delays payments, and leaves collaborators hanging. Staff and teams aren’t resigning out of boredom — they’re walking out because they feel cheated.
So here we are: the ELF has gone from a bold pan-European football dream to an echo chamber where Zeljko Karajica is practically alone, running a league that looks more like a family business than a professional sports organization.
Final Whistle
The office lights are still on, but the desks are empty. The ELF doesn’t need an external crisis to bring it down — its own management style is doing the job just fine. When your statisticians, your commissioner, your social media team, and half your franchises abandon ship, maybe the problem isn’t the storm outside. Maybe the captain’s been steering the boat straight into the rocks all along.
