LIVESTREAM IFAF European Qualifier: Team Hungary @ Team Austria, Oct. 23, 13:00 CET (1 pm, 7 am ET)

| American Football | 10/23/2022

The Austrian National Team plays host to Team Hungary, Sunday, October 23 as the Hungarians play their first IFAF Group A European Qualifier.

For team Hungary, this will be their first foray into Group A after a dominant run through Group B back in 2021 which saw them defeat Israel in the final game to advance. Austria on the other hand, have plenty of experience appearing in two of the last three European Championship games.

Leading the Hungarian team at quarterback into their first Group A contest remains a question mark following an injury to national team mainstay, Márk Bencsics, who was hurt earlier this year. This will be the first time the team has been without Bencsics and will likely have to rely on the quarterbacking of 38-year-old Vasyl Jordan from the Miskolc Steelers.

Helping team Hungary in their first Group A qualifier will be newly appointed head coach Dan Pippin. Pippin, a coaching veteran of the Italian Football League, will have a challenge in front of him however with an extremely talented and deep Austrian squad who have been dubbed favorites.

This will be Austria’s second qualifier following their 35-7 trouncing of Team France two weeks ago. As he did in their first game, Alex Thury will be quarterbacking the Austrian squad. Thury has experience in the German Football League, Austrian Football League and the Super Serien in Sweden, and will likely produce again this week.

The second-year Austrian Head Coach Max Sommer hopes to build on last week’s performance with a convincing win over Hungary:

“Improve from our mistakes we made in France. We left a lot of points out there. We will also have to make up for some star players who are unavailable due to injuries. The young guys will need to step up and show that they play to the high standards we have set at this team. We really want to play fast and focused from the first to last snap and show our fans in the stands and in front of the screens that team Austria is a great and proud team which is on a mission.”

With a majority of the players from the Austrian team coming from either the Raiders Tirol or Vienna Vikings and the Hungarians coming from Fehérvár Enthroners, this will likely be a first look at some one-on-one battles between the newly admitted European League of Football side, Enthroners, and the already established Austrian teams.

Team Hungary @ Team Austria, Oct. 23, 13:00 CET (1 pm, 7 am ET)

Daniel Mackenzie is a Press Association graduate who works in journalism and communications in the third sector. Daniel began playing football for the London Warriors and Team Great Britain and has since played across Europe.