The Moscow Spartans travel to Bolzano, Italy Sunday, June 9 to face the Bolzano Giants, the number two team in Italy right now, to challenge them in the Central European Football League, CEFL Cup final.
The Giants’ road to the final started at home, where they hosted Hungary’s Budapest Wolves in the first round and celebrated after a 36-19 victory. The Wolves have made a comeback in CEFL after a five year hiatus from international competitions. In the semifinals, the Giants traveled to Belgrade, Serbia to meet SBB Vukovi and ousted them from the Cup, 42-27. Previously, SBB Vukovi had eliminated another newcomer, Romania’s Bucharest Rebels, from the tournament by a score of 28-14.
Russia’s Moscow Spartans are also newcomers to the CEFL Cup. They earned both wins on the road. The first win came in Budapest, Hungary against the Budapest Cowbells who they ousted from the tournament, 24-6. Their second conquest was in the semifinals when they traveled to Istanbul, Turkey where they earned a more convincing win, beating the ITÜ Hornets, 43-17. The Hornets had beaten another Moscow team, the Patriots, 40-19.
Giants QB, Austin Gahafer is the third leading passer in Italy averaging 219.9 yards passing a game, while his favorite target, Mark Simone is the runaway receiving leader averaging 119.9 yards per game, almost 40 yards per game ahead of the second leading receiver.
The Spartans are led by QB Pavel Voronenko who threw for one touchdown in the win over the Hornets and ran for another and RB Ivan Goloveshkin who scored two touchdowns. Denis Pronkin is the other running back for Moscow and he too scored two majors against ITU.
Watch the game live here. Moscow Spartans (Russia) @Bolzano Giants (Italy), Sunday, June 9, 2p CEDT (8a EDT)
