Italian Football League (IFL) is the top level

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

league in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

established in 1980.

History

In the 1970's teams formed and played in Italy. In 1980 the first official American football league in Italy was established and crowned a champion. The Italian league (Series A) in the early 1980's was one of the first leagues in Europe to sign professional import players and coaches from the USA. The league had good popularity in the early years especially the late 1980's and early 1990's with reported attendance of nearly 30,000 fans for a Series A league final championship game in that time period. American Football in Italy has had ups and downs since that time but has always had a competitive league with different lower levels playing below the Italian Football League (IFL). The new IFL was founded in 2008, taking over previous league's significance called (National Football League Italy). The league was born as a result of the escape of several of the best clubs of the old championship organized by the Italian federation, such as Milano Rhinos, Parma Panthers, Bologna Doves and Bolzano Giants. However some of the historic Italian clubs have not joined the new league and continue to participate in different tournaments organized by other federations. In the following years a lot of teams moved to the Federazione Italiana di American Football (the federation the IFL belongs to) and most of the biggest teams are now part of the IFL that is the First Division or in the other two divisions.

IFL teams

* Ancona Dolphins (2008–present) *

Bergamo Lions The Bergamo Lions are an American football team from Bergamo, Italy established in 1983 and playing in the Italian Football League. They won the Eurobowl in 2000, 2001 and 2002, while losing to the Vienna Vikings in the finals of 2004 and 2005 Eur ...

(2008–10, 2012, 2014–2019) (2023-present) *

Bologna Doves Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

(2008–09, 2011–12) (now in III Division) *

Bologna Warriors Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

(2009–present) *

Bolzano Giants Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

(2008–2020) * Catania Elephants (2008–12) (now in II Division) * Ferrara Aquile (2014–present) * Firenze Guelfi (2016–present) * Lazio Marines (2009–present) *

Legnano Frogs The Legnano Frogs established in 1977, are an American football team from the city of Legnano, in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in Lombardy, Italy. It has black and silver as its social colors, while it has a frog as a symbol, hence the nam ...

(2023–present) * Martesana Daemons (2012) (now in II Division) * Milano Rhinos (2008–2018, 2020–present) *

Milano Seamen The Seamen Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy that competes in the Italian Football League. The team will join the European League of Football for the 2023 season. History 80s The Seamen Milano were founded by Sergio Ga ...

(2011–present) * Napoli Briganti (2014–present) * Palermo Corsari (2008 †) *

Palermo Sharks Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

(2008) (now in II Division) *

Parma Panthers The Parma Panthers are an American football team based in Parma, Italy that competes in the Italian Football League. The team was founded in 1981 by Vic Dasaro, an American veterinary student attending university in Parma. Dasaro created the te ...

(2008–present) *

Reggio Emilia Hogs Reggio may refer to: Places * Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy ** Province of Reggio Calabria * Reggio Emilia, in northern Italy ** Province of Reggio Emilia * Reggio, Louisiana, in United States of America People * Arturo Reggio (1863–1917 ...

(2009–13) (now in II Division) *

Roma Grizzlies Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

(2015–2018) *

Torino Giaguari Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

(2014–present) † defunct
♦ due to league expansion the

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

team can play the 2015 IFL season and is not relegated to the second division
‡ Roma Grizzlies won the second division championship and earned the right to play the 2015 IFL season

Italian Bowl

Italian Bowl is the game that awards the ''

scudetto The ''scudetto'' (Italian language, Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in ...

''. Until 2014 the championship game was called ''Italian Super Bowl'' XXXIV Italian Superbowl

MVP Italian Bowl

Until 2014 the championship game was called ''Superbowl italiano''. * 2008 MVP Reggie Greene ( RB, Giants Bolzano) * 2009 MVP Reggie Greene ( RB, Giants Bolzano) * 2010 MVP Greg Hay ( RB,

Panthers Parma The Parma Panthers are an American football team based in Parma, Italy that competes in the Italian Football League. The team was founded in 1981 by Vic Dasaro, an American veterinary student attending university in Parma. Dasaro created the te ...

) * 2011 MVP Tanyon Bissell ( WR,

), MVP Ita Tommaso Monardi ( QB,

), MVP Def Michele Canali (DL,

) * 2012 MVP Kevin Grayson ( WR,

) * 2013 MVP Alessandro Malpeli Avalli ( RB,

), MVP Usa Ryan Christian ( RB,

), MVP Def Simone Bernardoni (DL,

) * 2014 MVP Mattia Binda ( RB,

), MVP USA Jonathan Dally ( QB,

), MVP def Andrea Zini (DB,

). * 2015 MVP Stefano Di Tunisi ( WR,

), MVP USA Jonathan Dally ( QB,

) * 2016 MVP Nick Ricciardulli ( RB,

Rhinos Milano The Rhinos Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy. The team was founded in 1976 (first team in Italy) and won the Italian championship in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1990 and 2016. The Rhinos play in the Italian Football League (form ...

)

References

External links

American Football InternationalAmerican Football International ItalyItalian Superbowl history
American football in Italy American football leagues in Europe 2008 establishments in Italy Sports leagues established in 2008 American expatriate players of American football {{Italy-sport-stub