A shiny kickoff with the receipts to be determined.
The lights are bright. The hype is high. The continental gridiron is ready to roar—at least that’s the promise. On 4 November 2020 the European League of Football (ELF) officially launched, spearheaded by Patrick Esume and Željko Karajica.
Suddenly, Europe had a league that billed itself as “pro-level,” “pan-European,” and with big ambitions to bring American-football flair to a new continent. Teams, sponsors, broadcasters—on paper it looked like football’s next big frontier.
But behind the glamour lay the question: where is the sustainable model? The revenue sharing, the cost containment, the risk mitigation—all less visible than the new logos.
For the fans and franchises, this was the honeymoon period. The opening kickoff: full of hope, adrenaline, perhaps naïveté. The business side? The meter started ticking.
Teams 2021
- Berlin Thunder (Berlin)
- Hamburg Sea Devils (Hamburg)
- Leipzig Kings (Leipzig)
- Panthers Wrocław (Wrocław)
- Frankfurt Galaxy (Frankfurt)
- Cologne Centurions (Köln)
- Barcelona Dragons (Reus/Spanien)
- Stuttgart Surge (Stuttgart)
Sources & Credits
Photo: Sascha Sonnenberg
- Wikipedia summary: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_League_of_Football
- ELF official site launch archive (ELF press archive)
- Media coverage at the time: e.g., local German and European sports press
