Cologne To Host 2006 FFWC
The historic city of Cologne, Germany, will host the seventh annual NFL Flag Football World Championship (FFWC) when 12 to 14-year-olds from 10 nations and three continents compete for the title of world champions. The NFL is proud to partner with Reebok, EA and Gatorade and promote this prestigious coed tournament, which motivates boys and girls to participate in a fun and safe sport.
Teams from USA, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, and Thailand will play at the Leichtathletik Stadion in Cologne from August 22 - 26.
The event is the highlight of the NFL Flag Football season. More than 800 teams from around the world competed in national competitions for the right to represent their country at the FFWC. The young athletes will form lasting friendships as they break down language barriers, visit cultural attractions such as the picturesque thirteenth-century Cologne Cathedral and spend a day enjoying the thrills and spills of a local theme park.
Mark Waller, Senior Vice-President of NFL International, said: “The NFL Flag Football World Championship is established as one of the highlights of the NFL’s international calendar. It is an opportunity for young people from all around the globe to come together and celebrate the game of football in a competitive, yet happy and friendly, environment and I am sure that the people of Cologne will help us to make this a memorable occasion for all involved.
“Flag football is an important part of our efforts to develop players around the world, so maybe there will be some future NFL players battling for the championship.”
The tournament kicks off on Thursday, August 24. During three exciting days of competitive action, a round robin format featuring two groups of five teams will determine the four semi finalists and ultimately the two teams that will play for the world title.
The USA is represented by the DAC Panthers from Bayside, NY, who won the NFL Flag National Tournament of Champions title at the Disney Wide World Of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, in November. Every year more than 100,000 children throughout the United States play in NFL FLAG football leagues.
Asia produced the 2005 FFWC champion when Bangmod Wittaya Middle School took the title back to Thailand, beating the USA 25-19 in Beijing. The Chaopraya Wittayakom School from Bangkok will carry Thai hopes in Cologne.
Ecole River Heights, a middle school team from Manitoba, will fly the flag for Canada having won the Reebok NFL/CFL Flag Football Championship as part of the Windsor Super Bowl XL celebrations in February.
Las Aguilas of Monterrey, who triumphed at the Tochito National Tournament for the third year running, will represent Mexico. Las Aguilas finished in third place in Beijing in 2005 and was the FFWC runner up in Vancouver in 2004.
Hopes of a home victory rest with one of three teams that qualified from the European Schools Final held in Dusseldorf before World Bowl XIV in May. The Schuldorf Bergstrasse Hillsiders from Seeheim Jugenheim will represent Germany and will have the shortest distance to travel to Cologne – only 125 miles.
Spain is represented for a third consecutive year by Pere Vives Vich from Igualada, who won a thrilling final against Da Vinci College Leonardo of Leiden in the Netherlands to be crowned European champions for the first time. Both teams advanced to the FFWC.
China finished in fifth place last year and Pei Zhen Middle School of Guangzhou, the champion of China’s NFL Flag program, which is now in its third year, will aim to build on that success. The champions of Japan and Korea became the final two teams to qualify for the FFWC, completing the tournament’s ten-team line up. Suri Middle School from Daegu won the right to represent Korea by winning the national finals in Seoul. The Fujitsu Junior Frontiers won the Japanese crown in front of a 6,200 home crowd in Kawasaki.
Previous NFL Flag Football World Championships have been held in Toronto, Berlin, Mexico City, Tokyo, Vancouver and Beijing.