With the 2021 Tackle European Championships behind us and Italy the new title holder, European football is already looking to the future and focusing on the calendar with the spotlight now on Flag Football and the World Championships in Israel from December 6 to 8.

Almost five years after the first qualifiers were played and one pandemic later, including a near two-year enforced hiatus for all national and international activities, the road to deciding the Tackle European Championships has finally come to an end with the Italian national team beating Sweden in Malmö on October 31 to claim the title. It has been a long journey for everyone involved which has reshuffled the rankings and laid the foundations for a new path that begins next year with the qualifying rounds and culminates in 2023 with the next edition of the European Championships. But before we turn the page, the European movement has one more important date on its calendar: the Flag Football World Championships  in Israel from December 6 to 8. Of the twenty-three participating federations, twelve are European (thirteen if we count Team Neutral, i.e. Russia), a fact that speaks volumes about the importance of Europe for the entire American football movement around the globe: MEN Austria, Belarus, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Slovakia,  Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Team Neutral WOMEN Austria, Belarus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Team Neutral We expect this to be a fantastic event; the first of its kind for the international federation following the difficulties of recent years. It is also a hugely important showcase for Flag Football which, we shouldn’t forget, will be making its official debut next year at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. We wish all participating nations the best of luck for the championships. Before we recap the results and the final rankings from the recently concluded Tackle European Championships, we would like to leave the final word to Gregor Murth,  IFAF Director - Europe. “First, I want to congratulate the new European Champion Italy/FIDAF! Your team, your organization and your staff made the win possible. Your effort on and off the field earned you the top position. I also want to thank all the other participants for their effort and congratulate them on their new rank in European football. I know times are not easy and COVID created a lot of problems and unexpected changes. My special thanks to all the teams that did accept the challenge and made every effort to play. I am proud of you all. And finally, I also want to thank the teams who decided to pull out because they saw that playing would be too risky under the circumstances. It takes quite some courage to make unpopular decisions, but our federations all work differently and we play in different countries, so of course it made sense to some federations to pull out.” – Gregor Murth IFAF MEN’S TACKLE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – Final Games results

October 30th/31st, 2021	#1	Sweden vs Italy	14:41
October 30th/31st, 2021	#3	Finland vs France	14:06
October 30th/31st, 2021	#5	Denmark vs Austria	25:38
October 30th/31st, 2021	#7	Serbia vs GB	35:00
October 30th/31st, 2021	#9	Switzerland vs Russia	09:36
October 30th/31st, 2021	#11	Czechia. vs Netherlands	35:00

Final Ranking:

1. Italy
2. Sweden
3. Finland
4. France
5. Austria
6. Denmark
7. Serbia
8. Great Britain
9. Russia
10. Switzerland
11. Czechia
12. The Netherlands