The 2021 ELF season was the inaugural season of the

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football sports league, league based in Europe, continuing some team names and logos of the former NFL Europe. The ELF played its first season in 2 ...

, a newly formed professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

league based in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It started on June 19, 2021, and ended with the ''ELF Championship Game'' in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Merkur Spiel-Arena Merkur Spiel-Arena (stylized in all caps), previously known as the Esprit Arena (until 2 August 2018), the LTU Arena (until June 2009), and also called the Düsseldorf Arena (during the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest and the UEFA Euro 2024), is a ...

, on September 26, 2021. Frankfurt Galaxy won the title, beating Hamburg Sea Devils 32-30. Map of ELF 2021

Format

The league is divided into two divisions, North and South. Each team plays 10 games during the regular season: twice against their division rivals, and twice against two of the teams from the other division. The top two teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, with the North and South champions qualifying for the Championship Game.

Rules

For the inaugural season, the ELF is mostly using adapted NFL rules, as opposed to adapted NCAA rules which virtually all other European American Football leagues use. There is a limit of two "Americans" (a category which also includes some other non-European nationalities) per down but people who are dual citizens of the U.S. and an EU-member country are not counted towards that limit in keeping with the

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of associati ...

. Unlike in most other European American football leagues there is

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

during regular season games that are still tied after regulation, but the overtime rules are based on NCAA rules.

Teams

Coaching changes

Salaries

For its first season, the league pays a salary to American "import" players that generally ranges from €600 (around $700) to €3,000 ($3,500) per month, and provides housing, health insurance and two meals per day to players during the season. Despite claims to the contrary by the league, most "local" players did not get paid during the 2021 season.

Regular season

Standings

Results

Playoffs

Divisional playoffs

South: Frankfurt Galaxy 36, Cologne Centurions 6

North: Hamburg Sea Devils 30, Wrocław Panthers 27

Championship Game

The inaugural

Championship Game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

, between the North and South division champions, was played on September 26, at

. In a game in which the lead changed more than once, Frankfurt, not confident enough of the quality of their placekicker, opted for

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion, two-point convert, or two-point attempt is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that ...

s after every single touchdown (only one out of five being successful), and not attempting a single

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

. Meanwhile, Hamburg's kicker Phillip Friis Andersen, who led the league in successful attempts during the regular season and won "Special Teams Player of the year", missed 2 FG attempts, including one from 61 yards on the last play, that could have won the game for Hamburg. The Championship

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

trophy was won by Frankfurt QB Jakeb Sullivan, who passed for 324 yards, with 4 TD and no interceptions, and added another rushing TD.

Hamburg Sea Devils 30, Frankfurt Galaxy 32

All-Star Game

The inaugural All-Star Game was held one week after the end of the season, on October 3 (the Day of German Unity), at

Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark The Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the western part of the Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Prenzlauer Berg in the Boroughs and localities of Berlin, borough of Pankow in Berlin. The sp ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. It featured a selection of the best players from the ELF, playing against the

United States Federation of American Football United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

All-Stars. Earlier, the league had advertised the game as the ELF all-stars playing against the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

Attendance

Games without fans are not counted in averages or games played. All teams started the season with capacity restrictions, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Awards

MVP of the Week

Honors for the season

On 1. October 2021 the "ELF Honors" were presented at RCADIA Hotel in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. The following players received the awards mentioned below: * Most Valuable Player:

Madre London Madre London (born January 27, 1996) is an American football running back for the Danube Dragons in the Austrian Football League. He played college football at Michigan State and Tennessee. High school career London originally attended Bryant ...

, Running back, Cologne Centurions * Offensive Player of the Year: Jakeb Sullivan, Quarterback, Frankfurt Galaxy * Defensive Player of the Year: Kyle Kitchens, Defensive End, Leipzig Kings * Special Teams Player of the Year: Phillip Friis Andersen, Kicker / Punter, Hamburg Sea Devils * Rookie of the Year: Louis Geyer, Wide Receiver, Stuttgart Surge * Coach of the Year: Thomas Kösling, Head coach, Frankfurt Galaxy * Offensive Rookie of the Year: Gerald Ameln, Running back, Frankfurt Galaxy * Defensive Rookie of the Year: Marcel Dabo, Cornerback, Stuttgart Surge * Assistant Coach of the Year: Kendral Ellison, Defensive Coordinator, Hamburg Sea Devils * Man of Honor: Jan Weinreich, Quarterback, Cologne Centurions

Statistical leaders

Signees to other professional leagues

The following players invited to the NFL's International Combine, assigned to NFL's International Player Pathway Program (IPPP), signed or drafted by

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...

team or signed with

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

team following their involvement with The ELF in 2021:

NFL

CFL

The following players signed with a CFL team: The following players got drafted in the CFL's Global draft:

USFL

Broadcasting

Notes

References

{{2021 European League of Football season by team

ELF An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

European League of Football seasons