When it comes to football in the African continent, Egypt has always had a leading role.
Despite being founded 2 short years ago, the Egyptian Federation of American Football (EFAF) has firmly planted itself on solid ground.
Egypt hosted the first ever African World Cup qualifier in December 2014, started an organized men’s league which will start its third season next February and collaborated with American Football without Barriers (AFWB), a non-profit group spearheaded by Gary Barnidge of the Cleveland Browns and Breno Giacomini of the New York Jets. AFWB and EFAF organized a four-day camp with semi-professional football players in Egypt that included a coaching clinic as well as players’ camps for juniors as well as more advanced players.
Egypt has also succeeded in drawing several professional American coaches, leading to 4 out of the league’s 6 men’s teams having American coaches in the 2016 season. Not only that, EFAF is also organizing an officiating course to increase the pool of local talent that is able to understand and apply the rules of the sport. To continue its series of achievements, EFAF successfully organized the first ever flag football league for women in Africa and the Middle East.
The Egyptian Flag Football League (EFFL), which took place in late November, had 3 competing teams: The Transforma Pink Warriors, Cairo Wolves and the GUC Eagles with a total of about 100 players.
The Wolves’ first game was against the the Warriors, which the Wolves won 12-0. They went on to lose to the Eagles 12-19. Next, they played the Eagles again to win 18-12. Finally, they played the Warriors and came back from being down 20-6 to winning the game 33-20 to secure the league title as well as their names in history as the first ever team to win the Egyptian women’s league.
Wolves quarterback Randa Emam was named league offensive MVP with 616 passing yards and 11 touchdowns, other notable performers included wide receiver Dina Ibrahim With 274 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.
Congratulations to the Cairo Wolves and we look forward to seeing more firsts in football in Egypt.