Russ Crawford: Final four set for thrilling conclusion to Women’s IFAF Euro Flag Championship
The big surprise of the second day of action at the Women’s 2025 IFAF Euro Flag tournament was that Team Switzerland upset the top ranked Austrians 40-36. It looked as if Team Austria had things well in hand. With 2 minutes left in the game, they had a 36-33 lead and were on the Swiss 11 yard line However, Swiss DB Valentina Frei broke up a 4th down pass from Austrian QB Saskia Stribrny to C Katrin Mansbart. Swiss QB Anna Laura John drove her team the length of the field and, with 1 second left, found her receiver open for the score. After the conversion, the Swiss had pulled out the win.
The rest of the day’s games among the top ranked teams went more according to plan. Great Britain defeated Czechia 32-0, and Slovenia 51-14, to improve to 5 and 0 for the tournament. France joined the undefeated ranks by besting Poland 56-12, Spain 33-22, and Italy 48-6. The Spanish have been the only team to get close to France so far, and in their late game gave Germany its only loss by outscoring them 35-20. The surprising Ukrainians squeaked out a win over Turkiye 33-32, but then ran into the Austrians who were no doubt anxious to make up for their loss to the Swiss.
Finland and Ireland finally broke into the win column on the second day when the Finns surprised Turkiye 39-19. Ireland won their first ever Euros game when they trounced the Netherlands 44-6. DB Hellen Smith of the combined north and south Irish team recalled that it was great to see some of the athletes getting their first touchdowns, and mentioned that the coaches gave her the chance to call plays on a few drives. In talking about the impact of the European Championships, she declared that international competition had led to the creation of women’s leagues in the island.
The games continue Saturday to determine placement, with games starting at 8:00AM. The third-place game will start at 10:30, and the championship game will be at 2:15. France will have huge motivation to win on their home ground, but Great Britain is the defending champions, and the Austrians, Germans, and Swiss are still in the field, so it should be another exciting day of women’s flag football.
