The Legnano Frogs established in 1977, are an

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

team from the city of Legnano, in the

Metropolitan City of Milan The Metropolitan City of Milan ( it, città metropolitana di Milano; lmo, label= Milanese, cittaa metropolitana de Milan ) is a metropolitan city (not to be confused with the metropolitan area) in the Lombardy region, Italy. It is the second ...

, in Lombardy, Italy. It has black and silver as its social colors, while it has a frog as a symbol, hence the name of the team. In 2023, The Frogs will be back playing at the top level of the

Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL) is the top level American football league in Italy established in 1980. History In the 1970's teams formed and played in Italy. In 1980 the first official American football league in Italy was established and crow ...

IFL. Among the most successful American football teams in Italy, they were European champions in 1989 (with two participations in the

Eurobowl The Eurobowl was the championship final game of a tournament style playoff to determine the champion of all of the American football leagues in Europe. The tournament featured the top or champion clubs from each countries top league that was cal ...

), won six

titles (with 11 participations in the Italian Bowl) and a Coppa Italia Bowl (1993). The youth team has won two Youngbowls (1991, 1992).

History

The team was founded by a group of boys from

Gallarate Gallarate (; Lombard: ''Galaraa'') is a city and ''comune'' of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people. It is the junction of railways to ...

in 1977. They decided to practice this sport after seeing it while vacationing in the United States. The founders organized three small teams, with reference to as many bars in the area. From the spring of 1978 one of these teams, called Frogs (in reference to the 1972 horror film ''

Frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

'') from the Bianchi bar, who had gone there for work, began training with the Pink Panthers of

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

. In Piacenza there were several players from the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

base who taught the children the fundamentals of the sport. From the Pink Panthers, the

Rhinos Milano The Rhinos Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy. The team was founded in 1976 (first team in Italy) and won the Italian championship in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1990 and 2016. The Rhinos play in the Italian Football League (form ...

was formed, one of the most important Italian football teams. From 1978 to 1980, the Frogs played many friendlies, also participating in tournaments organized in NATO bases. Among the games played there was the first official match played between Italian American football teams in preparation for the first championship officially recognized by the federation; played on 24 June 1978 at the Stadio Carlo Speroni in

Busto Arsizio Busto Arsizio (; lmo, label=Bustocco, Büsti Grandi) is an Italian city and ''comune'' in the south-easternmost part of the Province of Varese, in the region of Lombardy, in Northern Italy, north of Milan. The economy of Busto Arsizio is mainly ...

, it was won 36–0 by the Rhinos Milano over the Gallarate Frogs. In 1981, the first official championship was organized by the Italian American Football Association, consisting of five teams: the Frogs, the Rhinos Milano, the

Jaguars Turin The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the ...

, the

Rams Milano In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Eagles Ferrara. In 1984 the team moved to

and changed its name to Busto Arsizio Frogs. In 1984 the Frogs beat an American team for the first time, the Derby Rangers of the NATO Naval Air Station in

Tirrenia Tirrenia is a frazione (parish) of Pisa, Italy with a population of 3,112 inhabitants. Immersed in the pine forest of the "Litorale Pisano" and in the coast of Ligurian Sea (even if the name of the village refers to Tyrrhenian Sea, in Italian ''Ma ...

, 7–0. In 1987 the Frogs were close to being absorbed by the

Milano Seamen The Seamen Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy that competes in the Italian Football League. The team will join the European League of Football for the 2023 season. History 80s The Seamen Milano were founded by Sergio Ga ...

. However, it was decided by president Ulrico Lucarelli to move the team to Legnano and merge with the local

Legnano Vikings Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is an Italian town and '' comune'' in the north-westernmost part of the Province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Legnano is located in the ...

instead. On this occasion the team changed its name to Legnano Frogs. In 2001 the team moved to Milan and changed its name to Milano Frogs, while in 2002 they merged with the Kings Gallarate, moving the headquarters to Gallarate and changing its name to Gallarate Frogs. In 2003 the team returned to Legnano and changed its name back to Legnano Frogs. In 2004 the Blue Storms

Gorla Minore Gorla Minore is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about southeast of Varese. As of 31 December 2018, it had a population of 8,364 and an area of .All demog ...

was formed from a corporate split and the Legnano Frogs did not participate in the championships. Following the 2008 federal demerger, they enrolled in the NFLI, later merging into the FIF; in these seasons the team has always taken part in the top league of their home federation, reaching the semi-final on two occasions. In November 2010 they announced that they had applied for affiliation with FIDAF and signed up for the LENAF championship, in which they played from the year following 2016 (but never managed to reach the playoffs). In 2017 they suspended their operations to carry out a major restructuring and did not participate in the championships. In 2018 they returned to participate in the Second Division championship, the second level of the Italian American football championship. In 2023, After a long absence, the Frogs will be back playing in the top level of the

IFL.

Name

Frogs: 1977–1983; *

Frogs: 1983–1986; * Legnano Frogs: 1987–2000; *

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

o Frogs: 2001–2002; * Gallarate Frogs: 2002–2003; * Legnano Frogs: from 2003.

Honours

* Italian Bowl ** Champions: (6) 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...

** Champions: (1) 1993 * Youngbowl ** Champions: (2) 1991, 1992 *

** Champions: (1) 1989

National tournaments