Italian Football League
 | |
| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1980 The first league was established in Italy |
| CEO | Enrico Mambelli[1][2] |
| No. of teams | Max 12 |
| Country |  Italy |
| Most recent champion(s) | Parma Panthers |
| Official website | AFI Italy |
Italian Football League (IFL) is the top level American football league in Italy.
In 1980 the first American football league in Italy was established and crowned a champion. The Italian league (Series A) in the early 1980's was one of the first leagues in Europe to sign professional import players and coaches from the USA. The league had good popularity in the early years especially the late 1980's and early 1990's with reported attendance of 30,000 fans for a Series A league final championship game in that time period. American Football in Italy has had ups and downs since that time but has always had a competitive league with different lower levels playing below the Italian Football League (IFL).
History[]
The new IFL was founded in 2008, taking over previous league's significance called (National Football League Italy). The league was born as a result of the escape of several of the best clubs of the old championship organized by the Italian federation, such as Milano Rhinos, Parma Panthers, Bologna Doves and Bolzano Giants. However some of the historic Italian clubs have not joined the new league and continue to participate in different tournaments organized by other federations. This is the case of Legnano Frogs, Torino Giaguari, etc. In the following years a lot of teams moved to the (the federation the IFL belongs to) and most of the biggest teams are now part of the IFL that is the First Division or in the other two divisions.
IFL teams[]
- (2008–present)
- Bergamo Lions (2008–10, 2012, 2014–present)
- (2008–09, 2011–12) (now in III Division)
- (2009–present)
- (2008–present)
- Catania Elephants (2008–12) (now in II Division)
- (2014–present)
- (2016–present)
- (2009–present)
- (2012) (now in II Division)
- Milano Rhinos (2008–2018, 2020–present)
- Milano Seamen (2011–present)
- (2014–present ♦)
- (2008 †)
- (2008) (now in II Division)
- Parma Panthers (2008–present)
- (2009–13) (now in II Division)
- (2015–2018)
- (2014–present)
† defunct
♦ due to league expansion the Napoli team can play the 2015 IFL season and is not relegated to the second division
‡ Roma Grizzlies won the second division championship and earned the right to play the 2015 IFL season[3]
Italian Bowl[]
From 2008 to 2014 the championship game was named Italian Super Bowl
| Date | Winner | Opponent | Result | Location | Television |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 19, 2008 | Bergamo Lions | 56–54 | Stadio Comunale, San Giovanni in Marignano | ||
| June 29, 2009 | 35–21 | , Milano Marittima | |||
| June 29, 2010 | Panthers Parma | Elephants Catania | 56–26 | Stadio Breda, Sesto San Giovanni | RAI Sport 1, Dahlia TV, Sportitalia |
| July 9, 2011 | Panthers Parma | 76–62 | Stadio XXV Aprile, Parma | RAI Sport 1, Dahlia TV, Sportitalia | |
| July 7, 2012 | Panthers Parma | Elephants Catania | 61–43 | Stadio Franco Ossola, Varese | RAI Sport 1, Eurosport 2, Sportitalia |
| July 6, 2013 | Panthers Parma | Milano Seamen | 51–28 | Stadio Paolo Mazza, Ferrara | RAI Sport 1, Eurosport 2 |
| July 6, 2014 | Milano Seamen | Panthers Parma | 33–3 | Stadio Paolo Mazza, Ferrara | RAI Sport 1, Eurosport 2, Sportitalia, |
| July 4, 2015 | Milano Seamen | Panthers Parma | 24–14 | Velodromo Vigorelli, Milan | Sportitalia |
| July 9, 2016 | Rhinos Milano | 44–18 | Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Cesena | ||
| July 8, 2017 | Milano Seamen | Rhinos Milano | 37–29 | Stadio Romeo Menti, Vicenza | |
| July 7, 2018 | Milano Seamen | 28–14 | Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma | ||
| July 6, 2019 | Milano Seamen | 62–28 | Stadio Breda, Sesto San Giovanni | ||
| July 17, 2021 | Panthers Parma | Milano Seamen | 40–34 (OT) | Stadio Leonardo Garilli, Piacenza |
MVP Italian Bowl[]
Until 2014 the championship game was called Superbowl italiano.
- 2008 MVP Reggie Green
(RB, ) - 2009 MVP Reggie Green (RB, )
- 2010 MVP Greg Hay (RB, Panthers Parma)
- 2011 MVP Tanyon Bissell (WR, Panthers Parma), MVP Ita Tommaso Monardi
(QB, Panthers Parma), MVP Def Michele Canali (DL, Panthers Parma) - 2012 MVP Kevin Grayson (WR, Panthers Parma)
- 2013 MVP Alessandro Malpeli Avalli (RB, Panthers Parma), MVP Usa Ryan Christian (RB, Panthers Parma), MVP Def Simone Bernardoni (DL, Panthers Parma)
- 2014 MVP Mattia Binda (RB, Milano Seamen), MVP Usa Jonathan Dally (QB, Milano Seamen), MVP def Andrea Zini (DB, Milano Seamen).
- 2015 MVP Stefano Di Tunisi (WR, Milano Seamen)
- 2016 MVP Nick Ricciardulli (RB, Rhinos Milano)
References[]
- ^ [1] Archived 2015-02-12 at the Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20150315023625/http://www.ifleague.it/news/2757-enrico-mambelli-presidente
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "I Grizzlies sbranano gli Elephants - Sport Locale - iltempo". Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2014-10-28.
External links[]
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- American football in Italy
- American football leagues in Europe
- 2008 establishments in Italy
- Sports leagues established in 2008
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- Italian sport stubs