ELF: Latvian DE Karlis Brauns signs with Wroclaw Panthers

The Wroclaw Panthers have announced the return of Latvian defensive end Karlis Brauns for the 2025 European League of Football season.

The 30-year-old, 6’5, 270-pound native of Riga played for the Panthers in 2021 and then spent the last three seasons with the Frankfurt Galaxy. He was a force on the defensive line for the Galaxy amassing 126 tackles and 18 sacks.

He spent 2022 training camp with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. He had stood out at the 2022 CFL Global Combine thanks to a stunning workout which saw him churn out a very smooth 29 reps on the bench press.

In 2021, Brauns helped the Panthers reach the European League of Football semifinals after an outstanding season which saw him lead all defensive linemen in tackles and reach the top five in sacks with nine. He played in 95% of all defensive snaps for the Panthers and was also the sole European representative on the American all-star team that faced the ELF All Star team at the end of the year.

He was a two-year participant at the NFL International Combine in 2020 and 2019 and spent the 2019 season playing for the Hildesheim Invaders in the German Football League helping the team reach the playoffs. He finished the year as the team’s fourth leading tackler with 54, including 17 tackles for loss and topped the Invaders with eight sacks. The year before with the Cologne Crocodiles he had 38 tackles including 13 tackles for loss as well as five sacks. He had spent the early part of the 2018 season with his hometown Riga Lions in Latvia, helping them become Baltic League champions.

Brauns has also played for Finland’s Kotka Eagles (2017) and the Belgrade Blue Dragons in Serbia.