The two main roles have not yet been filled, with the Vienna Vikings hosting the Paris Musketeers in the semi-finals and Stuttgart Surge awaiting defending champions Rhein Fire. But it is already clear that the 2024 Championship Game on September 22 at FC Schalke 04's VELTINS-Arena in Gelsenkirchen will be the record game in the history of the European League of Football (ELF). More than 35,000 tickets have already been sold.

"We are heading full steam ahead for the highlight of the season and the anticipation is growing from day to day. It will be a huge football party for the whole family, in a beautiful stadium with a great atmosphere, the like of which has never been experienced at a European football match before. This also applies to the program surrounding the Championship Game, which is sure to delight fans young and old," says ELF Managing Director Zeljko Karajica.

"I already get goosebumps when I think about the final. The two best teams in Europe will meet and I'm convinced that they will deliver a close, thrilling duel at the highest level and that the people in the stands will really cheer them on. It will be a game that the boys on and around the court will never forget," said league commissioner Patrick Esume.

The previous attendance record in the ELF has stood since June 11, 2023, when 32,500 spectators witnessed the duel between the Sea Devils and Rhein Fire in Hamburg's Volksparkstadion, who later won the Championship Game against Stuttgart Surge in front of 31,500 spectators in the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena in Duisburg. A new record will be set in Gelsenkirchen on September 22.

To break the 17-year-old record for a European football game, more than 48,125 spectators would have to come to the VELTINS-Arena. That's how many fans were counted at the 2007 NFL Europe final between Frankfurt Galaxy and the Sea Devils, which the Hamburg team won. Back then, Patrick Esume was part of the Sea Devils' coaching staff on the touchline.

Get your tickets for the 2024 Championship Game here!