The EFAF Cup was an international competition for European American Football clubs. It was the second highest level of club competition in the European Federation of American Football (EFAF), behind the European Football League (EFL),.

EFAF Cup

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Organised by EFAF, this competition was comparable to football's Europa League. American Football teams from the strongest leagues in Europe competed annually to achieve results good enough to qualify them for the EFAF Cup competition.

The format dated from 2002 and offers top-division European clubs who have not qualified for the highest level of competition (EFL) a chance to play internationally.

Participants were Champions and Vice-Champions of the "smaller" American Football nations, and those finishing just behind EFL qualification places in the "bigger" American Football leagues.

The competition was folded after the 2013 edition. The reason was, in 2014 the Big6 European Football League was established as the new top tier competition. So in fact, the EFL took the place of the EFAF Cup.

Competition format

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In the group phase, four groups consist each of three teams. Each team plays each other once and has a home game and an away game. The winners of these groups qualify directly for the semi-final phase.

Should more teams qualify for and enter the EFAF Cup competition, more groups are created and a quarter-final phase introduced.

Players

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Participating teams must submit a roster of at most 60 players to EFAF by March 31 of the competition year. These players, and no others, are permitted to play for the club within the competition that year. No changes can be made to the list.

On each game day, the roster must be reduced to 45 players who will actually participate in the game. This number must include no more than 3 "American" players. In EFAF rules an "American" is defined as a player with an American, Canadian, Mexican, or Japanese passport.[1] There is no restriction on how many of these 3 can be on the field at the same time.

EFAF Cup Finals

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Year Date City Winners Score Runners-up Attendance MVP
2002 8 June 2002 Eggenberg, Austria Graz Giants   51–12 Badalona Dracs  
2003 14 June 2003 Innsbruck, Austria Carlstad Crusaders   28–7 Papa Joe's Tyrolean Raiders   4,500 Johan Larsson, QB, (Crusaders)
2004 25 June 2004 Innsbruck, Austria Papa Joe's Tyrolean Raiders   45–0 Farnham Knights   4,700
2005 Marburg Mercenaries   49–14 Elancourt Templiers  
2006 11 July 2006 Eggenberg, Austria Turek Graz Giants   37–20 Eidsvoll 1814s   2,600 Darvin Lewis (Graz)[2]
2007 Turek Graz Giants   28–26 Cineplexx Blue Devils  
2008 12 July 2008 Berlin Adler   29–0 Parma Panthers   Oliver Flemming (Berlin) and Alberto Lanzoni (Parma)
2009 4 July 2009 Prague Panthers   35–12 Thonon Black Panthers   Stanislav Jantos (Prague)
2010 17 July 2010 Chur, Switzerland Calanda Broncos   17–3 Carlstad Crusaders   1,580 Tissi Robinson (Calanda)
2011 2 July 2011 London, United Kingdom London Blitz   29–7 Kragujevac Wild Boars   2,000 Aaron Sanders-Percival (London)
2012 14 July 2012 Vejle, Denmark Søllerød Gold Diggers   31–21 Triangle Razorbacks   1.300 Alexander Cimadon (Søllerød)
2013 13 July 2013 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain Thonon Black Panthers   66–6 L'Hospitalet Pioners  

Champions

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by team

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Championships Team Year
3   Graz Giants 2002, 2006, 2007
1   Thonon Black Panthers 2013
1   Søllerød Gold Diggers 2012
1   London Blitz 2011
1   Calanda Broncos 2010
1   Prague Panthers 2009
1   Berlin Adler 2008
1   Marburg Mercenaries 2005
1   Papa Joe's Tyrolean Raiders 2004
1   Carlstad Crusaders 2003

by country

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Championships Country Year
4   Austria 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007
2   Germany 2005, 2008
1   France 2013
1   Denmark 2012
1   Great Britain 2011
1   Switzerland 2010
1   Czech Republic 2009
1   Sweden 2003

References

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  1. ^ "EFL and EFAF Cup Regulations" (PDF). EFAF.
  2. ^ "Giants of Europe". 2006-07-11. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
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