As we continue our countdown to the AFI Reader’s Poll Top Game of the Decade in Europe, we reach the number two game, Eurobowl XXIV between the Berlin Adler and Vienna Vikings.
Hundreds of readers voted through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and email whittling the games down to the list of 20. There were some terrific games nominated and there have been a lot of incredible games played over the past 10 years in Europe that did not get nominated.
Following that poll, American Football International has selected the top three games of the decade in Europe. Last weekend we showed the number 3 game, the 2018 Austrian Bowl between the Swarco Raiders and Dacia Vienna Vikings.
So today, we present the number two choice, Eurobowl XXIV, played on July 5, 2010 between the Germany’s Berlin Adler and the Vienna Vikings from Austria. Our thanks to everyone who voted. We want to thank Hildesheim Invaders HC Shuan Fatah, head coach of the Adler at the time and the person who nominated this game. So he and his son Ben, are the winners of an AFI cap. Congratulations!
The two head coaches, Fatah for Berlin and the Vikings Chris Calaycay, faced each other for the first time but would go on after this game to face each other countless times in the Austrian Football League.
The Adler had entered the game as defending GFL champions and had gone 5-1 in regular season play at that point. They were facing a Vienna Vikings team who had just lost in the Austrian semifinals only a couple of weeks earlier but were still the reigning Austrian champion as the title game was a few days after Eurobowl. So for the first time in history, the defending German champions were facing the defending Austrian titleholder.
Vienna Vikings and Berlin Adler line up Photo: Rosso Robot
To reach the final, Berlin had defeated the Prague Panthers 40-30 and the Stockholm Mean Machines 35-9 to advance to the quarterfinals. There they beat the Porvoo Butchers 47-13 and then overcame the Swarco Raiders 29-27 in the semifinal. In group play the Vikings beat the Bolzano Giants 35-0 before rolling over the Badalona Dracs 24-0 in the final group game. In the quarterfinals Vienna beat the previous year’s finalist, the La Courneuve Flash 44-7 and then won over the Turek Graz Giants in the semifinal 38-22.
The game see-sawed back and forth for the entire 60 minutes as the lead changed hands six times. Vienna had a 21-17 lead at the half but in the searing heat reaching 30 degrees celsius both teams were suffering. Berlin took a 31-28 lead late in the fourth quarter only to watch the Vikings drive down the field and kick a 25 yard field goal with five minutes left on the clock to tie the game at 31.
This led to the dramatic finish with the Adler lining up to kick a 52 yard field goal with one second on the clock. The kick sailed through the uprights giving the Adler their first ever Eurobowl championship and the first for a German team since 2003.
Adler tailback Talib Wise rushed for 116 yards and two TDs while quarterback Kyle Callahan added 87 yards on the ground and one TD and threw for 219 yards and another tally (to Thomas Emslander). Kicker Benjamin Schwarweit added two field goals. Quarterback Chris Gross of the Vikings tossed two TD passes, both to Chauncey Calhon and Chris James ran for another while Vienna kicker Peter Kramberger was good on a 25 yard FG. Mike Brannon intercepted a Kyle Callahan pass and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown.
So sit back and watch the action. (Unfortunately, this is a shortened 43 minute version and there is no scoreboard)
Source: Europlayers.com