After the crowning finale of the 2024 season in the European League of Football with the triumph of defending champions Rhein Fire over the Vienna Vikings in Gelsenkirchen, the managers and teams of the “Champions League” of European football are already turning their focus to the coming year - and the euphoria is unabated: For the Championship Game 2025, which will take place in cooperation with German soccer runners-up VfB Stuttgart on September 7 in the MHP Arena, the 7500 ticket mark has already been broken in advance sales.

"We are absolutely overwhelmed by this number. The 2024 final was only three weeks ago, we're seven months away from the start of the fifth ELF season and we're already getting a feel for what to expect next late summer. With more than 40,000 spectators in the stadium and 25,000 fans at the Power Party, we set an ELF record in Gelsenkirchen and set a benchmark for football in Europe. Now the preparations for Stuttgart begin with the aim and great motivation to surpass that in the MHP Arena," says League Managing Director Zeljko Karajica. 

"When I think back to the atmosphere surrounding the Championship Game in the Veltins Arena, I still get goosebumps. I stood on the pitch, looked around and thought: 'Hey, this looks like a small Super Bowl. We started 2021 with the ELF to further develop the best sport in the world on our continent in all areas and have already achieved a lot in this short period of time. Now we are looking forward with great anticipation to the 2025 season with the highlight in the beautiful MHP Arena in Stuttgart," says League Commissioner Patrick Esume.

ELF is ready for a new record

In Gelsenkirchen, 41,364 spectators witnessed the commanding success of the first back-to-back champions Rhein Fire against the Vienna Vikings, who had been unbeaten in the season up to that point. This pulverized the previous record of 32,500 spectators at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion on 11 June 2023 for the clash between the Sea Devils and Rhein Fire. In cooperation with VfB Stuttgart, a new record is set to be broken on September 7, 2025 in the “living room” of the traditional soccer club. 

To break the 17-year-old record for a European football match, more than 48,125 spectators would have to come to the MHP Arena. That was the number of fans counted at the 2007 NFL Europe final between host Frankfurt Galaxy and the Sea Devils.

 “Stuttgart and the entire region can already look forward to the 2025 Championship Game of the European League of Football in our MHP Arena. We have succeeded in bringing a highly attractive top international sporting event to the sports city of Stuttgart and - even better - to our MHP Arena. This fits in very well with the great football enthusiasm in our region and in the largest sports arena in Baden-Württemberg,” says Rouven Kasper, Director of Marketing and Sales at VfB Stuttgart.

Get your tickets for the 2025 Championship Game here!