Italian Football League

Italian Football League (IFL) is an American football league in Italy.

Not to be confused with Italian football league system.
Italian Football League
SportAmerican football
Founded2008
CEOEnrico Mambelli[1][2]
No. of teamsMax 12
Country Italy
Most recent
champion(s)		Milano Seamen
Official websiteAFI Italy

History

The league was founded in 2008, taking over previous league's significance (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. This is the case of Legnano Frogs, Torino Giaguari, etc. In the following years a lot of teams moved to the FIDAF (the federation where 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 2 divisions.

IFL teams
  • Ancona Dolphins (2008–present)
  • Bergamo Lions (2008–10, 2012, 2014–present)
  • Bologna Doves (2008–09, 2011–12) (now in III Division)
  • Bologna Warriors (2009–present)
  • Bolzano Giants (2008–present)
  • Catania Elephants (2008–12) (now in II Division)
  • Ferrara Aquile (2014–present)
  • Lazio Marines (2009–present)
  • Martesana Daemons (2012) (now in II Division)
  • Milano Rhinos (2008–present)
  • Milano Seamen (2011–present)
  • Napoli Briganti (2014–present ♦)
  • Palermo Corsari (2008 †)
  • Palermo Sharks (2008) (now in II Division)
  • Parma Panthers (2008–present)
  • Reggio Emilia Hogs (2009–13) (now in II Division)
  • Roma Grizzlies (2015–present ‡)
  • Torino Giaguari (2014–present)

† defunct
♦ due to league expansion the Napoli 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[3]

Championship games
DateWinnerOpponentResultLocationTelevision
July 19, 2008 Bergamo LionsGiants Bolzano56–54 Stadio Comunale, San Giovanni in Marignano
June 29, 2009 Giants BolzanoMarines Lazio35–21 Stadio Dei Pini, Milano Marittima
June 29, 2010 Panthers ParmaElephants Catania56–26 Stadio Breda, Sesto San GiovanniRAI Sport 1, Dahlia TV, Sportitalia
July 9, 2011 Panthers ParmaWarriors Bologna76–62 Stadio XXV Aprile, ParmaRAI Sport 1, Dahlia TV, Sportitalia
July 7, 2012 Panthers ParmaElephants Catania61–43 Stadio Franco Ossola, VareseRAI Sport 1, Eurosport 2, Sportitalia
July 6, 2013 Panthers ParmaMilano Seamen51–28 Stadio Paolo Mazza, FerraraRAI Sport 1, Eurosport 2
July 6, 2014 Milano SeamenPanthers Parma33–30 Stadio Paolo Mazza, FerraraRAI Sport 1, Eurosport 2, Sportitalia, 7gold
July 4, 2015 Milano SeamenPanthers Parma24–14 Velodromo Vigorelli, MilanoSportitalia
July 9, 2016 Rhinos MilanoGiants Bolzano44–18 Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Cesena
July 8, 2017 Milano SeamenRhinos Milano37–29 Stadio Romeo Menti, Vicenza
July 7, 2018 Milano SeamenGiants Bolzano28–14 Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma
July 6, 2019 Milano SeamenFirenze Guelfi62–28 Stadio Breda, Sesto San Giovanni

MVP Italian Bowl

Until 2014 the championship game was called Superbowl italiano.

  • 2008 MVP Reggie Green (RB, Giants Bolzano)
  • 2009 MVP Reggie Green (RB, Giants Bolzano)
  • 2010 MVP Greg Hay (RB, Panthers Parma)
  • 2011 MVP Tanyon Bissell (WR, Panthers Parma), MVP Ita Tommaso Monardi (QB, Panthers Parma), MVP Def Michele Canali (DL, Panthers Parma)
  • 2012 MVP Kevin Grayson (WR, Panthers Parma)
  • 2013 MVP Alessandro Malpeli Avalli (RB, Panthers Parma), MVP Usa Ryan Christian (RB, Panthers Parma), MVP Def Simone Bernardoni (DL, Panthers Parma)
  • 2014 MVP Mattia Binda (RB, Milano Seamen), MVP Usa Jonathan Dally (QB, Milano Seamen), MVP def Andrea Zini (DB, Milano Seamen).
  • 2015 MVP Stefano Di Tunisi (WR, Milano Seamen)
  • 2016 MVP Nick Ricciardulli (RB, Rhinos Milano)

References
  1. Archived 2015-02-12 at the Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20150315023625/http://www.ifleague.it/news/2757-enrico-mambelli-presidente
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "I Grizzlies sbranano gli Elephants - Sport Locale - iltempo". Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2014-10-28.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.