IFAF Women’s European Flag Football Championships: Germany and Italy unbeaten after Day 1

| 2023 IFAF European Flag Football Championships | 08/19/2023

The first of three days of IFAF European Flag Football Championships action got underway at the University of Limerick on Wednesday as a record number of 32 teams from 19 nations began their quest to win the European crowns in Ireland.

The competition continues on Saturday morning with the remaining group games to decide Sunday’s knockout bracket. Games from the two main fields will be streamed live at IFAF.TV and the American Football Ireland YouTube Channel.

In the women’s competition, reigning champions Spain (2-1) suffered a first game loss by 35-19 to Austria (2-1) in Group A, but soon bounced back by defeating Switzerland and Finland. The Finns had opened with wins over Switzerland and Ireland before giving up their perfect record to also stand at 2-1.

The group’s only 3-0 team is Germany, after victories over Austria and the group’s two teams still searching for a win, Switzerland (0-3) and hosts Ireland (0-3).

Group B opened with a thrilling contest between Great Britain (2-1) and France (1-2), which came down to the game’s final play. The French looked to have scored on fourth down with only 25 seconds remaining, but the ball fell incomplete and Great Britain held on to triumph 32-27.

“It was intense, but I think we just went on the field and pulled it together and dug deep,” said defensive captain Kellie Barrett. “We kept ourselves cool and calm and went for it. I’m happy about the win and it was a tough game to start with. There’s a lot that we can improve.”

Great Britain then went and lost 44-40 to Czechia (2-1) before thrashing Sweden 60-6, while France bounced back with a 34-6 win over Czechia, but then lost to Italy.

The Italians are the group leaders at 3-0, having seen off the challenge of Sweden (1-2), Ukraine (0-2) and France. Denmark’s (1-2) win came against Ukraine after they lost by a single point to Sweden and by seven points to Czechia.

Scores can be found at the official tournament website and the IFAF Game Centre.

Michael Preston (@PRMikePreston) is currently working with IFAF in a PR capacity. He recently covered Super Bowl LVII as a member of the NFL PR team as he has done for 20+ years. He has held communications positions with NFL Europe, the North