Surge coach Neuman: "It feels amazing"

The Stuttgart Surge captured their first European League of Football title on Sunday, defeating the Vienna Vikings 24-17 in Stuttgart. In front of a home crowd, the Surge overturned a halftime deficit and secured the championship with a composed second-half performance.

Head coach Jordan Neuman emphasized how close the game had been from start to finish. "You'll have to go back and look and find out exactly what the deciding points were. I mean, this was such a close game so back and forth that really could have gone either way," he said.

Both defenses stood tall in the red zone, with neither team giving up easy points. "I think both defenses did a good job down and made a couple of big plays," Neuman noted. "And then there towards the end, we were able to just make one more and bleed the clock as much as possible to put [Vienna] in a situation where it's really difficult to go that amount of yards in that time."

Watch the ELF Championship Game highlights here!

Vienna had entered the break with a 17-7 lead, but Stuttgart found answers after halftime. Efficient drives, three touchdowns by wide receiver Louis Geyer and a defense that tightened its grip shifted momentum. "Exact points I don't have at the moment," Neuman admitted, "this was an extremely close game that could have gone either way."

The final in Stuttgart added an extra layer of expectation for the home team. "This one was a special one just because the second the stadium was announced for the final, that's all the questions I got … about being in the final, win in the final at home, what would that mean," Neuman explained.

Halfway through the season, however, the team made a conscious decision to block out the noise. "We decided we're going to completely shut it out and I think we did a pretty good job of doing that. And then even today, it's really cool to be here and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, we just try to make it about football."

For Neuman and his players, winning in front of their fans made the title even more meaningful. "It feels amazing. To do it at home makes it even more special. It was a hard fight. It was a tough game. Great team, great coaching staff. We’re obviously very happy."

Watch the first ever ELF Halftime Show here!

The coach also pointed out how much the team had grown during the campaign. "That's why we came this far because, you know we were an okay football team at the start of the year. We weren't a great football team, and we had to figure a lot of things out together. We got better and better throughout the season, and we ended up playing our best football at the end."

Looking ahead, Neuman kept the message simple: "We just rebuild and try to win it back."

With Sunday's win, Stuttgart not only secured their first ELF trophy but also underlined their rise to the top of European football.

Watch the post game press conference here!