The European League of Football held a press conference in Düsseldorf ahead of the first ever Championship Game this Sunday.

In the first half of the press conference, Commissioner Patrick Esume, CEO Zeljko Karajica, D.LIVE General Manager Laura Becker, and D.LIVE Director of Sports Lars Wismer spoke to the media. The second half of the press conference was accompanied by Hamburg Sea Devils Head Coach Andreas Nommensen and quarterback Jadrian Clark alongside Frankfurt Galaxy Head Coach Thomas Kösling and quarterback Jakeb Sullivan.

At 11 a.m. CEST, Jennifer Becks started the press conference with questions directed to Laura Becker and Lars Wismer. Both expressed their excitement over the European League of Championship Game taking place at the Merkur Spiel-Arena.

CEO Karajica revealed that the league will announce some new franchises for the 2022 at the halftime of the Championship Game on Sunday. He went on by revealing that over 20,000 fans will be present at the Championship Game on Sunday.

However, Karajica explained that the league could have done better in a lot of different areas: “At the end of the season, I would say that there are a billion things that could have been different, better, prettier. On the other side, I would have signed the fact that we will play our Championship Game here in Düsseldorf with over 20,000 fans, that we played all 43 games with fans in attendance, that we sold over 100,000 tickets over the season combined […]”.

As Becks directed the questions towards the Championship Game weekend, Karajica talked about the tailgating event which will start at 11 a.m. on Sunday: “The players and coaches will come on stage and will bond with the fans, if that’s not already the case”. He also revealed that at least the winning team will be present at the tailgating site after the game to celebrate with the fans.

Another highlight of the press conference was the official reveal of an NFT-platform on which fans can collect and trade player-cards: “We will be the second sports league worldwide to offer this”, CEO Karajica commented. He further revealed that the Genesis Collection will be launched after the Championship Game on Sunday.

Turning the press conference over to the Championship Game, Commissioner Esume commented on his favorite to win the first ever Championship: “The favorite team in this game is the Frankfurt Galaxy. They were the most constant team over the entire course of the season and even got better each week which is impressive […]”. However, Commissioner Esume explained that a Championship Game has “different rules” and that he expects a close game.

As Commissioner Esume answered questions asked by the press, he commented on the level of play in the European League of Football: “I was surprised. Of course, we worked towards having a competitive balance. And the season showed how close the teams were competitive-wise”. He ended his answer with the following statement: “Concerning the level of play, the European League of Football is clearly the best American football league in Europe. No ifs, no buts.”

The second half of the press conference started with questions directed to Hamburg Sea Devils Head Coach Andreas Nommensen. “The second loss was planned in order to get the team motivated now for the Championship Game”, Nommensen jokingly explained with a laugh.

Frankfurt Galaxy Head Coach Kösling commented on being talked about as the favorite to win the first ever European League of Football Championship Game: “We accept the role of the favorite. But at the end of the day, I don’t care. We want to win a championship and we will try to do that on Sunday”.

Both quarterbacks were active in the press conference as well. Hamburg Sea Devils quarterback Jadrian Clark commented on having the Championship Game as a team goal: “It was the goal all along. […] We’re here now and we want to win on Sunday”. Closer to the end of the press conference, Clark added: “If you’re the underdog, you have nothing to lose. Just let it rip”.

Frankfurt Galaxy quarterback Jakeb Sullivan commented on the level of confidence he and his teammates have towards the game on Sunday: “I have a pretty normal level of confidence. […] That’s the cool thing about our team: it’s trust”. He further added that the largest crowd of fans in his college career was about 5,000 to 6,000 fans and that the Championship Game will be his biggest game ever: “I’ve never played in front of that many fans”.

At the end, everyone present at the press conference looked forward to the Championship Game on Sunday. If you would like to cheer on your favorite team in Düsseldorf on Sunday, visit Ticketmaster and save your tickets for the first ever European League of Football Championship Game.

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