European Football Alliance

Background

The European Football Alliance emerged from the ELF Franchise Association. This group had been founded in early 2024 as an alliance of several teams from the European League of Football (ELF). The ELF, founded in 2021 by TV expert Patrick Esume and sports executive Zeljko Karajica, began competition with eight teams and expanded to 17 teams by 2024. The league was centrally managed by ELF GmbH, which was majority-controlled by CEO Karajica.

After the 2024 season, the team alliance, operating under the name Football Franchise Association (FFA) called for greater financial transparency and equal treatment of all franchises.^[1] It criticized, among other things, that certain teams were directly or indirectly owned by Karajica. According to the FFA, the planned creation of a franchise in Amsterdam also failed because of the league’s lack of transparency.

Founding

In July 2025, the FFA reorganized itself as the European Football Alliance with eight initial members. The EFA renewed its criticism of the ELF’s financial and organizational structure and raised concerns about the sporting competitiveness of certain franchises, particularly those closely linked to league management. It called for structural reforms and suggested the creation of an alternative league.^[2] As a result, the sporting leadership of the ELF, including Commissioner Patrick Esume, resigned, citing “irreconcilable differences regarding the leadership and financial structure of the ELF with managing director Zeljko Karajica.”

On September 9, 2025, two days after the ELF Championship Game 2025, the eleven EFA members announced they would leave the ELF and compete in a new league starting in 2026. The new league was intended to follow the ownership model of the NFL, with club owners controlling league governance.

Ten franchises confirmed on October 6, 2025, that their contracts with the ELF had expired or been terminated and that they would join the EFA in 2026.^[3] Only Raiders Tirol was reportedly still contractually tied to the ELF for 2026.

However, internal disagreements soon emerged over the future structure of the competition. Some member clubs supported a team-controlled league model and remained within the EFA framework for the 2026 season. Others favored the creation of a separate competition backed by an external investor and broke away from the EFA. This rival league, the American Football League Europe, was publicly presented on December 2, 2025.^[4]

In November 2025, the EFA admitted new members from London and Milan.^[5] Between late November 2025 and mid-January 2026, the EFA and ELF GmbH held further talks regarding cooperation.^[6] The EFA ended negotiations on January 15, 2026, stating that ELF GmbH had failed to secure financial stability.^[7]

The EFA then returned to its original plan of launching an independent league, joined on February 3, 2026, by the Munich Ravens as the seventh team.^[8] In contrast, the Madrid Bravos announced their withdrawal from competition on March 10, 2026.

2026 Season

On 10 March 2026, the league released its 2026 schedule.^[9] The inaugural season began on May 15, 2026, with the Friday Night Kickoff Game at PSD Bank Arena in Frankfurt am Main. The same stadium hosted the semi finals on 15 and 16 August 2026, named BIG4. The season concluded with the first EFA Championship Game on 29 August 2026.

The regular season was dominated by the Munich Ravens and the Nordic Storm, both of which lost only one game each. The remaining two playoff spots were not decided until the final game day, with Frankfurt and Paris coming out on top. Munich and Nordic qualified for the first EFA Championship Game, which Storm won with a decisive 48–28 victory.

The day before the 2026 Championship Game former NFL player Markus Kuhn was appointed as EFA president.^[10]

On 11 August 2026, London Guard was confirmed as 2027 expansion team.

Timeline

Former Members

The following teams were members of the EFA when it was still operating as a franchise association, but ultimately did not join the league:

• Berlin Thunder (August to October 2025, later joined the AFLE)
• Panthers Wrocław (July to October 2025, later joined the AFLE)
• Rhein Fire (July to October 2025, later joined the AFLE)
• Vienna Vikings (July to October 2025, later joined the AFLE)
• Stuttgart Surge (August to October 2025, club declared bankruptcy)
• Madrid Bravos (July 2025 to March 2026, withdrew from competition)

Rosters

Each team has a 65-player roster and up to 12 players on a practice squad. The game-day roster is restricted to 48 players, with two additional spots for players under 21 years of age.^[14] The league has a salary cap for all franchises.

Unlike the NFL Europe, whose team rosters consisted mostly of American players, EFA focuses on developing European talent in American Football. Each team is allowed to have four A imports on the gameday roster–that is players from the United States, Canada, Mexico, or Japan–with two on the field at the same time.^[14] Additionally, six E import players from Europe or the rest of the world can be signed to the game day roster. The rest of the roster is reserved for homegrown players. Some teams have homegrown territories that extend beyond their own country:^[15]

• Raiders Tirol: Austria, Switzerland, Italy,
• Prague Lions: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland,
• Nordic Storm: Denmark, Sweden,
• Paris Musketeers: France,
• Frankfurt Galaxy and Munich Ravens: Germany.

Season Structure

The European Football Alliance season is divided into the regular season and the playoffs (postseason). In the 2026 regular season, each team played every other team twice. The top four teams qualify for the semifinals, which—like the final—are decided in a single game. The period between seasons is referred to as the offseason.