u/FlagFootballSaint

As we are in hibernation mode and the uni combo was a hot topic in the feedback threat let‘s make a round robin on what everyone thinks about uni combos incl helmets.

Try to stick to a maximum of 3 + 3 and if you wish add a comment why you picked those

My list:

Top 3:

1 Prague Lions red jerseys / white pants / red helmet. I think it‘s not even close

2 Vikings camouflage unis plus helmets. I am not into military stuff at all but there is a reason they are the most sought after fan ware they have. They look slick

3 Paris Musketeers dark blue combos. Very clean. Their logo flashes out.

Flop 3:

1 Munich homecoming. They look like leftovers from an Oktoberfest decoration combined with the worst helmet logo of all of Europe

2 Storm grey/grey. The worst grey color imaginable matched with nameplates you can‘t even read. What could go wrong?

3 Almost every white jersey combo. Just boring

What are your takes?

Link to all results and fixtures:

IFAF World Flag 2026 — IFAF Play

Link to the live video streams:

www.youtube.com/@IFAFMedia

Today is the final day of the 2026 Flag Worlds and the first decisions are made: In the men competition ITALY advanced to the Championship Game to face USA, thus also getting the ticket for LA28. As there are 2 spots for LA28 for grabs and USA has a free pass as host, the winner of the Game for 3rd place between Canada and Mexico will get the 2nd ticket to the Olympic games.

In the women competition Canada beat Mexico to advance to the Championship Game against the US so this means CANADA got their ticket to LA28. The second ticket will be awarded to the winner of the 3rd place game between Mexico and Great Britain

All games are live and as-live via YouTube

Service post:

If you are not too familiar with Flag Football I advise to watch yesterday´s Women´s game between Germany and the USA which was held in front of almost 1000 people (yesterday was sold out!) who REALLY were into the game and it was a nailbiter to the end: LIVE: USA v Germany | Women | Quarter-final | IFAF World Flag 2026

Current situation at 10am:

Ticket sales ramped up the last few days. Sales for the (quite few) 2-day packs for seats was selling well but was now stopped and they swapped the few remaining ones to become single day tickets. Packs for standing room still available.

Saturday:

Looking pretty good, 3000 is exceeded and due to being a summer evening I do expect a lot of standing room tickets being sold. By kickoff time a total of 5000 could be a realistic number but that will depend on the number of standing room tickets being sold

Sunday:

Not looking too good. Maybe a 1500 seats sold. Maybe someone tell EFA they should promote ticket sales in a way that people that bought single game tickets for Saturday could add a Sunday ticket for the delta of the price of a bundle? Pretty sure people would pick that up u/Gold-Concentrate-391

Before I go on just a quick information that I won´t "best guess" this weekends Big 4 attendance because tickets are sold in a 3-layered approach (SAT only, SUN only, BOTH days) that it is almost impossible to make an informed guess. Nevertheless just by looking at the three ticket layers I have the bad feeling that ticket sales are not looking good at all, to put it mildly....

NOW BACK TO THE TOPIC:

We all know about information that EFA and Team Milano (represented by IFL Commissioner (ex-NFL player) Justin Pugh) have been in talks for months, at some point in 2025 EFA even announced the Italian team as an expansion. Much time has gone by and the recent information regarding the Milano merge did not refer to playing in Europe AT ALL.

Is this the end of the idea of Milano becoming an EFA team? No, just be patient little grasshopper. Milano will (most likely come), but a source with obvious knowledge about the situation reached out and told me it will NOT be in 2027, but both sides continue to work with each other to make 2028 happen. Both sides want it, both sides will get it done - but it won´t be 2027. Do I trust this source? Absolutely because what he told me just makes too much sense and perfectly fits in all other information floating around which I was able to scoop up.

TLDR: Team Milano will join EFA in 2028, not in 2027

SO WILL EFA PLAY WITH AN ODD NUMBER OF 7 TEAMS IN 2027? No, it will be 8.

Why do I know this? I actually do NOT know for sure but I gathered too many pieces of information and gossip that I am 100% convinced that EFA will DECIDE ON TEAM #8 THIS WEEKEND when all 7 owners meet in person at the Big 4 weekend.

The header of my post says "best guess reveal" and that´s what you are probably looking for. So let´s start.

As a reminder: The London Guard have been in existence for many months and working under the guidance of their GM Mr. Elgeti to have a proper release and be ready to roll from the start. The reveal happened just yesterday but their journey began many months ago.

I am saying this because to clarify that the London Guard is a program that has been in the making for a while and I am ruling out team #8 would be a "quick start franchise" that we have never heard of and that comes around the corner just like that. My guess is EFA will rely on an established football organization that is able to quickly adapt.

My guess therefore is Team #8 will be:

• an established football organization
• with a solid management
• with solid level of play
• with solid infrastructure
• with enough money.

Based on this I looked around but then something happened that caught my eye: A person revealed a bit of information about with whom EFA is currently talking (WITHOUT mentioning team names) that made my eyes wide. It does not matter what kind of information triggered me but SUDDENLY all made sense and I felt I found the team that will complement the 2027 EFA roster of 8 teams......

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, your heard if here first: The team number 8 will be.....

...

...

...

...

...

...

... the WARSAW EAGLES!!!!

It just makes too much sense to not to be true:

The Eagles

• are a top managed organization
• are one of the best club teams outside of Germany
• seem to be very healthy from top to bottom
• reside in a very big area which is easy to access by plane
• have plenty of fans (for European standards)
• and..... *drumroll* .... have their own American Football stadium with 1800 covered and app 1000 uncovered seats. That should be enough for starters, maybe they can even add up from there.

Do they have the MONEY? This I don´t know, but all the rest tracks. Their fabric is designed to join EFA and they have been playing European ball for years in the CEFL so they know about the cost of traveling etc etc etc....

WTF MAKES YOU THINK THAT´s TRUE?

Well it´s not only the pieces of info I gathered (in which never a team was mentioned) but the Eagles themselves. While their homepage is in Polish only it gives you an understanding how they operate, and they operate professionally.

I will reply in the comments sections shortly with links where you can check out yourself whether you think they are ready for the adventure. I think they are

So I put a pole into the ground and waving a flag saying:

WELCOME TO EFA, WARSAW EAGLES

(Note: This is my BEST GUESS and I still can be wrong. Please remember this when you tear me apart in case I am actually wrong. Thank you)

3 games, 3 records - that‘s something to be proud of for sure

PRAGUE:

EDIT: On Tuesday the team announced that the 1,228 are indeed a new franchise record

Announced 1,228 attendance, which is not only a season record for them but very likely the highest number since their inaugural season. I refrain from saying it‘s a franchise record because I think numbers where slightly higher in some games of their inaugural season

EDIT:
How far the Lions have come is evidenced by the following statement: Not only did the President of the Czech AFootball Federation do the cointoss but also…. …“During halftime we had the honor of recognizing and congratulating the champions of all three Czech leagues — the Vysočina Gladiators (Czech Bowl), Ústí nad Labem Blades (2nd League), and South Bohemia Falcons (3rd League). Different teams. One football community. Together with ČAAF, we're uniting American football in Czechia.“

STORM:

Franchise record in both tickets distributed and in-person attendance.

RAIDERS:

Season record, best attended game in years and most like the best attended game ever in games not playing the „Battle of Austria“ vs Vikings

These teams have done their homework and following how hard both the Storm and the Lions work to get attention in their home markets I am very happy with the positive trajectory of these numbers

That‘s pretty much exactly 100% capacity aka seats that were made available on Ticketmaster. It‘s a new franchise record.

Summary:

Storm announced 100% (in line with what I tracked over the weeks).

Vikings announced 122% (not quite sure where their numbers come from as per Ticketmaster only 3300 (90%) were even grabbed up.

It is what it is.

Great short interview with their (majority) owner and their GM.

You can feel the EFA spirit of „Let‘s have a long term vision, let‘s do it the right way, let‘s build sustainable business and first and foremost focus on extending the fan base“

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yHuQ4vHbM&ra=m

… for which they offered 3620 seats (of which approximately 300 seats were still available to grab at game time so tickets distributed was 3300 but what do I know….) including VIPs

That‘s a 122% capacity sellout.

We just witnessed a miracle in Vienna today….

Last week of regular season can be devastating for attendance numbers but that´s not the case for the three EFA teams this week as they look towards great, solid and solid numbers. Let´s start up north:

STORM (hosts Ravens, Saturday noon CET)

Yeah of course you can say it´s the clash between the league´s two best teams and there SHOULD be a good crowd BUT on the other side this game is pretty meaningless and neither team will show their cards as they are expected to face each other again in the Championship game. Now here is the good news: The crowd will be the BEST for Storm all season long!

The total number of regular tickets for sale at Gladsaxe stadium is 2975, plus up to 220 in the VIP segment (these tickets are not sold via ticketmaster so they are hard to judge).

The stadium has a lower level that seats 1672 regular seats of which 1216 tickets are up for sale and at the time of writing only 3 tickets are left. The upper level sells well also: 1759 tickets are for sale, thereof already roughly 1000 have already been sold by Thursday morning. That adds up to (excluding VIP) 2250 tickets sold already which is a GREAT number for the Strom. Anyone saying 2700-2800 on gameday (including VIP)? Yes: I do!

PRAGUE (against Frankfurt, Sunday 1pm CET)

The Lions are out of the playoff race but sales for the Frankfurt game is BETTER than the week before against Tirol. At this point it´s hard to judge whether these are Frankfurt fans supporting their team or whether Prague found a bit of their fan groove back but both the VIP section as well as the regular tickets show improved sales as opposed to last week.

Considering I was absolutely wrong with my prediction last week (underestimating last-minute buyers) I am hesitant to make a prediction other than that we will see AT LEAST as many in attendance than last week. Good development on still a low overall number (1000). If that´s the new bottom line for Prague you can say they improved well from last season.

TIROL (against Paris, Sunday 4pm CET)

It all comes down to this game, the last EFA game of the regular season. Win and you´re in and yes it seems the disgruntled, disappointed, frustrated, furious Raiders fans have heard the call and won´t stay at home: Judging by current sales and considering that the Raiders usually have a good junk of walk up sales both the VIP segment as well as the regular tickets are selling well, it seems even better than in some of the previous games. Tickets available between the 20yd lines are rare already, my rule of thumb estimate would guess 1600-1800 tickets sold already. While the city of Innsbruck is hyped by the resurrection of the local soccer club it seems they are still giving the Raiders a final look for 2026 (because you and I know they won´t make it to the Championship Game....). I´d say 3000 is the number we will see on Sunday, maybe even more.

OVERALL a good look for EFA and the teams. Numbers improved over the course of the season, which is a good indicator that the produce on and off the field is appreciated by the football fans.

IN THEORY all 4 teams are still in the race, but hold your horses: Due to the tiebreaker procedure it REALLY comes down to some very few moving pieces.

Let´s start with the tiebreakers:

1. Total Wins

• 2. Winning Percentage
• 3. Head-to-Head Record
• 4. Strength of victory
• 5. Total Point differential of season
• 6. Total Points Scored
• 7. Point Diff. in Head-to-Head Games
• 8. Away wins
• 9. Coin Toss

What does this mean:

PRAGUE: 2-7 (-172)
Still could go 3-7 like at least two other teams ARE or WILL BE but due to their by far worst point-differential (see #5) they are OUT even if they beat Frankfurt

FRANKFURT: 3-6 (-83) They are IN unless hell freezes over:

• They are automatically in if Paris wins at Tirol (see # 2)
• They are also automatically in if Paris and Tirol tie (see #2)
• They are ALSO in if they lose by LESS than 24 points MORE to Prague than Paris would lose to Tirol. Literally zero chance they are not qualified

***

THIS BRINGS US TO:

• The winner of PARIS (3-6, -106) vs TIROL (2-7, -77) is in (Paris see #2, Tirol see #5)
• In case of a tie PARIS is in (see #2)
• There is a one-in-a-million chance that NEITHER the Raiders NOR the Musketeers would be in: Raiders would need to beat Paris and Prague would need to beat Frankfurt by than 95(!) points MORE than the Raiders beat Paris. Wanna bet on that? Send me you money to "youareacompletefool@flagfootballsaint.com" and I promise you a 1-to-1million quota for that bet

TLDR:

Frankfurt is in and the other spot is decided by who wins Paris (just need a tie) at Raiders (MUST win!)

Just wanted to share my observation and hope there are guys with more insights than me (u/MattBressington comes to mind) that can share their opinion:

My observation is that even on Euro-league level most open field tackling by European players is atrocious:

Players tackling with hands instead of wrapping up with arms while simultaneously driving with their feet, players softly trying to push the ball carrier OOB instead of coming crashing down on him, players lounging into ball carriers instead of having their feet under them and explode with the strength of their thighs towards the ball carrier and on and on and on

To me both this and kicking are the main weaknesses of the level of Football in Europe

Opinions?

This amazing GLOBAL map shows were us fans live. While it may not be that important for US people I as international fan think this is fantastic to see where other international fans are living

Please add yourself to the map and share with any international Bengals fans you are aware of

Thought I give you a quick update on my best guess, this is 20 hrs before the games kick off:

Prague:
Looks dammed sad. roughly 500-600 tickets sold (real number is hard to guess as they block entire segments within blocks). Let´s hope for a good walk-up crowd but overall there is no reason to be optimistic

Frankfurt:
Their stadium just holds 3996 seats. So far roughly 3300 of those seats are gone, with is a sign that in the end the overall 4-digit number should end up starting with a "5" due to their large standing areas that are usually well attended.

Munich:
One user mentioned they are marketing this one as "homecoming"(?)-game and the ticket sales is decent. Their overall seating tickets quantity is 6500 (they withhold 400 of their overall capacity of 6900 due to bad front row views), half of which have been sold to date, I guess that is more than 3500 but less than 4000. As their standing section usually does not attract a big number the ravens have still some lifting to do go reach the "5".

Remember my story about new Lights QB Dequan Finn and how his tenure with NCAA Div1 Miami RedHawks ended?

Remember that he came to the Lights and was pulled (or pulled himself?) at halftime after the humiliation of the Lights by Rhein Fire last weekend?

Ladies and Gentlemen: Dequan Finn is no more. He was put on „reserve“ by the Lights (which is the more polished version of „he left the team or was kicked out by the team but the team still owes him some money“)

Flew in from the US - a few practices - 30min of play - pulled out - (most likely) on his way back.

That‘s an all time record

This will be an ok week for Munich and Frankfurt but yet another worrying disappointment for Prague:

- Munich (vs Paris): Munich found its fanbase and they are playing successfully so the ticket sales for their final home game of the season do not disappoint but are no reason for cheers either. Why I am a bit sceptic is that they just opened up another full row of seats today in a block that looked like being „sold out“ yesterday. Maybe some of those „sold seats“ we see have never been on sale to create artificial demand? This is something I know too well from following the UFL. In any way: Somewhere between 3000-4000 should be the final number, thus keeping them 10-15% below their 2025 regular season average of 3,300 in 2026

- Frankfurt (vs Nordic): Maybe the fans are a bit disgruntled by the shaky play of their team and especially them getting stomped by the Raiders at home but given that the #2 team comes to town in a game that is crucial for Frankfurt‘s season sales are a bit on the lower end of expectations. Maybe fans are saving their money for the Big4 weekend? 4000 is the bottom, 5000 seems to be max. Considering their 2025 average was 7500 (including a game vs Fire with almost 10,000) you can say they are down to their loyal core of purple fans

- Prague (vs Tirol): Dammit, that again does not look good at all. Winning games and being in the playoff race is one thing but to have this translated into fans buying tickets is a whole different story. For now sales have been so weak that a new season low is on the horizon.

Bottom line: Things are not really progressing but at least Frankfurt and Munich are not too bad. Something that can‘t be said for Prague who were not able to increase their small but loyal fanbase for years