Qualifying for NFL Flag Football World Championship in Tokyo begins this weekend with tournaments in Germany and England
YOUNG American football players from across Europe will take their first steps on a road that leads to the NFL Flag Football World Championship in Tokyo, Japan, when they compete in the English and German school finals on Saturday May 17.Ten teams consisting of 11 to 14 year old boys and girls from all over England will battle for supremacy at Saffron Lane, Leicester, while Berlin will play host to a ten-team tournament featuring school and club sides from all over Germany. The tournament winners will move one step closer to this summer's World Championship.
In the English Schools Final, the 10 teams will be split into Northern and Southern Conferences, with the top two in each division meeting in semi finals and then the final. The action at Saffron Lane Stadium begins at 12:00 p.m. The English winners will then meet the Scottish champions in Glasgow, Scotland, on June 13. The successful team from that game will represent the UK in the European School Final to be contested in Scotland ahead of World Bowl XI, which will be played at Glasgow's Hampden Park on Saturday June 14. The top two teams from the European School Final will represent their continent against teams from USA, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Korea, Mexico, Canada and China in the Far East.
Teams competing at Saffron Lane will include Sheffield's Don Valley Vipers, the hometown Leicester Eagles and the reigning English champion Selhurst Snipers, from Selhurst Boys School in Croydon, who lost in last year's UK Final to Scotland's Grangemouth Broncos.
Former London Monarchs tight end GERRY ANDERSON, NFL Flag Football Officer for the UK, said: "We have a good mix of school and club teams taking part in the English finals and the standard of play on the field should be very good. The teams are well-matched and it should make for an exciting day of American football.
"This tournament offers youngsters from across England the chance to compete on a world stage in Japan this summer and that will be a trip of a lifetime for the players fortunate enough to qualify for the event."
The German S'Cool Final presented by Burger King will take place outside Berlin's historic Olympic Stadium ahead of Saturday's NFL Europe League clash between the Berlin Thunder and F.C. Barcelona Dragons.
The winning team from the German tournament - which begins at 12:00 p.m. CET - will be presented with their prizes by Berlin Thunder general manager MICHAEL LANG during the first quarter break of the Thunder-Dragons game.
Lang said: "It's great to have the kids in our great city and stadium. A trip to Japan will be the experience of a lifetime and worth giving everything for. I think the NFL Europe grassroots programme is a fantastic way to promote the sport in Europe and we are happy to host this year's German championship in Berlin."
Among the teams competing in the German S'Cool Final are the hometown Friedrich Bayer Beavers, of Berlin.
15 May, 03 | 2:53 pm