ELF: Vienna Vikings host Paris Musketeers in intriguing Semifinal Matchup

| American Football | 09/07/2024

The 2024 European League of Football playoff semifinals will kickoff on Saturday as the Paris Musketeers travel to Austria to face the Vienna Vikings.

The Vikings finished the regular season 12-0 for the second consecutive year.  Last year, though, they lost their semifinal game in a surprising upset against the Stuttgart Surge, so they will want to avoid the same fate this time around.  The 2022 champions have had the benefit of playing a pretty easy schedule this season, as they did not face any of the five other playoff teams at all.  As such, despite their perfect record, they are relatively untested, at least compared to the Musketeers.

Playing in a tough Western Conference, the Musketeers had a phenomenal regular season, finishing 10-2 with their only losses coming to the Rhein Fire.  In their wild card matchup, they beat the Munich Ravens in a 40-37 thriller that came down to the wire.  Whereas Vienna will be the more rested team in this matchup, Paris has the benefit of recently playing a highly competitive game, which means they might have some juice early in this one.

Both teams are well-balanced with high-powered offenses and sturdy defenses.  The quarterbacks, Ben Holmes of the Vikings and Zach Edwards of the Musketeers, are two of the league’s best.  Vienna had the best passing offense in the league this season, while Paris relied more on their ground game.

All in all, this may be the most intriguing matchup on paper of the entire season.  This is a clash between two very different teams located hundreds of miles apart from each other.  The Vikings have championship pedigree and have finished the past two regular seasons undefeated, while this season is the Musketeers’ first playoff appearance and they come into it much more battle-tested than their opponents.  To top it off, this game is the first-ever meeting between the franchises.  With a spot in the championship game on the line, this one should be a close battle between two of Europe’s best teams.

A current student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carter played football in high school and has been a lifelong avid football fan.