The 2024 European League of Football season is merely days away. All of the OTAs, pre-season post-season playbook install and signings (most of the teams anyway) are out of the way and we are full steam ahead for the start of the season. With all 17 teams suited up, we need to look at who will start the season as a serious contender, who will be middle of the pack and who will be around the bottom of the league rankings.
These types of projects normally end with some very wrong takes (the 2023 rankings had the Wroclaw Panthers around the bottom of the league), but can also be a fun look into the future. Predictions of players, results and teams are by far the most entertaining part of football. We won’t be able to talk about all of them today, that’s what the video is about, but we will discuss the top spots of the table to give some insight into who is in with a real shot of earning a championship.
Today we will touch briefly on the Rhein Fire, Munich Ravens and Stuttgart Surge. These three teams are likely to be in the championship game one way or another. The Fire are the current champions and are strongly favored as the best team in Europe. They lost pieces in their offensive line early in the off-season but have absolutely stacked it since, as well as, getting young German talent mixed in with the established core of championship winners. The hope for the Fire is another unbeaten season, and the odds of that happening are certainly not obscure. Their conference is by far the hardest, but they have to come into 2024 as the favourites.
Munich missed the playoffs in their debut season, but they might just go one further this season. Their line is stacked, potentially the best in Europe, they have their star playmakers at running back with Tomiwa Oyewo and a quarterback with Chad Jeffries and the 2023 defense has seen mass improvement from top to bottom. The questions are about championship experience and the full change in coaching staff. How will this affect the team and who is going to emerge to fill in the hole left by Markell Castle’s departure?
Lastly, Stuttgart. The Surge went from last to the final in only a short period of time. Of course, there are many factors within that. However, that isn’t important any more. The important factor for the Surge is that they are not underdogs anymore. The expectation is that they will be contending for the championship in 2024. The Surge have some of the best German talent, one of the best receiver corps in Europe and a defense featuring many potential and current stars of the European leagues. Both the Surge and Ravens have much easier divisions than the Fire, therefore they will go in fresh but many more lackadaisical. Luckily, we don’t have to wait long until we see it all kickoff!
Check out a Preseason Ranking of the European League of Football
