European Championships 2018 in Germany
The final tournament of the European Championships in American Football in 2018 will be held in Germany. AFV Deutschland (AFVD) and the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) agreed upon awarding the hosting rights to Germany on October 10. The hosting contract was signed by Tommy Wiking, president of IFAF, and Robert Huber, president of AFVD, a few hours before the New Yorker Lions and Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns played HYGIA German Bowl XXXVII, Germanys national American Football Championship final, at Berlin.
Berlin should be one of the three cities in which the tournament in 2018 will be played according to preliminary plans. The Olympiastadion and the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in Berlin, the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt and the Stadion Dresden are the four venues, which convinced IFAF and its European continental branch to award the hosting rights to Germany.
After IFAF World Cup 2003 and the 2010 European Championships, the EC 2018 will mark the third time AFVD will host on e of the flagship tournaments in mens senior tackle football. Also the last two Junior European Championships took place in Germany, aside of numerous other international final games or tournaments.
The AFVD and its member clubs combine for approximately 53,000 individual members and form the the largest national organization in American football outside of North America. Thus the AFVD is one of the most profiled associations within IFAF, in which more than 70 national American football federations have joined forces.
The AFVD bid to host the European Championships 2018 was endorsed by the presidium of the Deutscher Olympischer Sport-Bund, Germanys National Olympic Committee and gorverning body of sports. Furthermore it was of particular significance for the IFAF decision in favour of Germany that citiy authorities of Berlin and Dresden as well as the federal states Berlin, Hessen and Saxonia committed to financially and logistically support AFVD in hosting the event, for which a budget in the seven-digit range has been allocated.