Barcelona joins the European League of Football (ELF) as 8th location

The European League of Football (ELF) headed up by CEO Zeljko Karajica and Commissioner Patrick “Coach” Esume have announced the addition of Barcelona, Spain as their eighth franchise for the 2021 premiere season.

With this, at least eight teams from three European countries will be kicking off the first season of ELF Football next July. Previously, the Stuttgart Scorpions, Ingolstadt Praetorians and three-time Polish champions, the Wroclaw Panthers had been announced for the inaugural season along with franchises from Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Hannover-Hildesheim.

General Manager of the Barcelona franchise will be Bart Iaccarino, a well known name in the European football community both as a coach and manager. He says he is thrilled to be able to represent the European League of Football in Spain:

“The idea and the concept convinced us, the talks with the representatives of the league were very positive and trustworthy. This sport deserves to have a professional stage in Europe as well. We are strongly convinced that the ELF will succeed in this and are proud to be part of it from the very beginning”.

The feeling is mutual, according to Esume:

“The choice of our locations is of course a key factor for us – and Barcelona was on our wish list from the very beginning. This franchise meets all the criteria regarding the city and possible venues, but also the economic power. Barcelona was a founding member of the NFL Europe with the Dragons, has a long football history and therefore has great fan potential. We are happy that we have come to an agreement.“

SEH Sports & Entertainment Holding announced the formation of ELF in early November stating that it will be run as a professional franchise system and offer a highly attractive product to the rapidly growing group of fans of this sport during the NFL-free period from July to September. This product will be presented on the appropriate platform and will be offered to a broad audience on free-TV as well as on digital channels.

With the Barcelona franchise, ELF has reached the planned number of eight teams.

Karajica, who is also CEO of SEH Sports & Entertainment Holding:

“The feedback right after the announcement of our plans was already overwhelming and showed how much radiance the idea of a European football league has. With Germany, Poland, and Spain we now have franchises in three countries, but this is just the beginning. The interest is great in many nations. We are in a position to take up further franchises very quickly and are consistently pursuing the goal of establishing a league with more than 20 teams from ten countries in the medium term.”