Seven Teams Qualify For New Orleans
Seven of the ten teams that will take part in the 2007 NFL Flag Football World Championship (FFWC) in New Orleans have qualified for the eighth annual NFL grassroots event.
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National championships were held this week on three continents to determine the representatives of China, Europe and Mexico. They will join the Sungseo Middle School from Korea and the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center from Miami, who were the first two teams to secure a finals berth. Canada, Japan and Thailand will hold their qualifiers in early July to complete the line up.
The New Orleans Saints will host the FFWC from August 7-10. Teams comprised of 12 to 14-year-olds from ten nations and three continents will compete in the United States for the first time in the event’s eight-year history.
Europe’s three teams won through during the celebrations surrounding World Bowl XV in Frankfurt, Germany, as the 2007 NFL Europa season reached its climax. The Wenzgasse Vikings from Vienna emerged as the champion of the European Schools Final by beating Spain’s Pere Vives Viches 34-25 and will represent Austria in New Orleans.
“We are delighted to be back,” said head coach Jϋrgen Gatterbauer, whose team took part in the 2004 FFWC in Vancouver. “We know from previous experience that the competition will be very strong, but we are excited and are looking forward to the challenge.”
Pere Vives Viches from Igualada near Barcelona reached the semi finals of the FFWC in Cologne last year, but a new roster of players will fly the Spanish flag in New Orleans, hoping to improve on the fourth place finish of their predecessors.
“We are a young team, but have good skills and are very determined,” said coach Jordi Sanchez. “There is a tradition to uphold and a new standard has been set because Spain recorded the best ever finish by a European team last year.”
The United Kingdom will be represented for the first time in the finals by the Woodham Warriors from County Durham, England. The Warriors beat Italy into the third qualifying spot in Frankfurt with a 40-12 victory.
“We’re just overjoyed because it has been a long time in coming,” said Warriors head coach Jon Tait, whose team has twice missed out on progressing at the final hurdle. “It is what we’ve been working towards and it is what we’ve dreamed of. I imagine it will sink in eventually.”
Flying the flag for Mexico will be Los Diablitos, whose club won the 2003 NFL Flag Football World Championship in Tokyo. They won through from a national championship featuring teams from Guadalajara, Mexico City, Puebla and Monterrey.
China will be represented by the Shoushi Shiyan Middle School from Beijing, while Thailand (July 1), Canada (July 4-6) and Japan (July 7-8) will determine their champions at national championships next month.
First round games will be played at the New Orleans Saints practice facility in Metairie on August 9 and 10. The two teams that qualify for the championship game will meet at the Louisiana Superdome at 4pm CT on Friday, August 10, prior to the Saints’ NFL preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. The FFWC teams will also provide a NFL Flag football demonstration at halftime. Ticket holders for the Saints game will see the Championship game at the Superdome, and preliminary rounds at the Saints facility are open to the public.
More than 800 teams competed internationally for the right to represent their country at the FFWC.
In 2006 in Cologne, Germany, Thailand’s Chaopraya Wittayakom School from Bangkok topped Manitoba Canada’s Ecole River Heights Middle School team, 45-32, to retain the NFL Flag Football World Championship won in Beijing in 2005.
A dedicated tournament website www.NFL-Flag.com will feature team and event information, the history of the FFWC, player notes and quotes, results, recaps, statistics and photographs. The NFL will partner with Reebok, EA and Gatorade to promote this coed event, which motivates boys and girls to participate in a fun and safe sport.