Italy issues ban on players from European League of Football

Late last week, the Italian Federation of American Football, FIDAF (Federazione Italiana di American Football) announced that anyone playing in the European League of Football, ELF, would be banned from playing in any Italian league or for the Italian national team.

According to FIDAF, they had received a number of requests asking for the situation to be clarified and in response issued this edict based on Article 1, Paragraph c) of the FIDAF Membership Rules:

“The members have the duty not to participate in events or American Football competitions in all its specialties, disciplines and variants not organized, authorized nor approved by Fidaf or by the international organizations (IFAF) to which it belongs.”

In its statement, the FIDAF points out the following:

“The newly-formed European League of Football has never requested to be recognized either by FIDAF or by the International Federation of American Football, IFAF, and, therefore, any player registered in Italy for our Federation who decides to compete in the tournament organized by that League, will incur the sanction of disqualification.”

The implications of this move could potentially be far-reaching. If other nations following the example of Italy, suddenly players will have to make some difficult decisions.

Team Italy is scheduled to face the French national team on August 7 in the IFAF European Championship semifinals.