ELF: European League of Football welcomes Madrid

| American Football | 05/19/2023

At the European League of Football’s annual season kick-off press conference, the league announced the addition of one new franchise joining the league’s 17 teams for the 2024 season.

Many experts have speculated that Stockholm, London, Amsterdam and other cities would join the league, however, to the surprise of many, Spain’s capital made itself the newest member with the addition of the Madrid franchise. 

Madrid, the capital of Spain has a large population of 3.2 million inhabitants with a strong sports culture supporting globally recognized teams such as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. On the side of American football, the city boasts of two of the strongest teams in the country in the Osos Rivas and the newly crowned Spanish champions, Las Rozas Black Demons.

It will be interesting to see how American football grows in Spain as the NFL has been rumored to be looking into bringing a game to Real Madrid’s revamped Bernabéu stadium. Spain now has two ELF teams set for 2024 with Madrid and the Barcelona Dragons. 

Alex is a former NCAA and semi-pro American football player who is now located in London, where he works in digital marketing. His goal in writing for AFI is to stay involved with the game that has given him so much. Alex enjoys covering leagues and