The 2025 ELF season is the fifth season of the European League of Football, a professional American football league based in Europe. Sixteen teams from nine countries will participate. The season started on May 17, 2025, and will conclude with the ELF Championship Game in the MHPArena Stuttgart, Germany on September 7, 2025.
Format
The 16 teams are divided into four divisions of 4 teams. Each team plays 12 games during the regular season, six in the division and two games versus one from each other division.
On January 29, 2025 the league announced to expand the homegrown territories for multiple teams. Most of each teams' players need to be homegrown, i.e. they need to have started playing football in the same country that the team is based in. Now, players from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine will also be considered homegrown for the Panthers WrocÃ
Âaw, players from Slovakia are considered homegrown for the Prague Lions, and players from Romania and Serbia for the Fehérvár Enthroners. Players from western Northern Italy are considered homegrown for the Helvetic Mercenaries while those from eastern Northern Italy are so for the two Austrian franchises. The Nordic Storm had already been announced as having Denmark and Sweden as their homegrown territory in September.
Teams
Of the 17 teams from the 2024 season, 15 are competing in 2025, and are joined by one new expansion team: the Nordic Storm. Teams not returning for the new season are the Barcelona Dragons, and the Milano Seamen, the latter on hiatus with plans to return to the league in 2026.
Berlin Thunder left the GroÃÂes Stadion of Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark whose demolition started after the 2024 season, and planned to move to the adjacent Kleines Stadion after expanding it with temporary stands for 3,500 to 5,000 people. After these plans fell through Thunder moved into the Preussenstadion. The Helvetic Mercenaries are moving to the Lidl Arena in Wil where the Helvetic Guards played during their only season in 2023. The Hamburg Sea Devils will return to Stadion Hoheluft, after playing home games in stadiums all over northern Germany.
Regular season
Schedule
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Standings
Play-offs
The wildcard games will be played on August 23 and 24, the semifinals on August 30 and 31, and the final was held on September 7, 2025, in Stuttgart, Germany.
Wildcard
Stuttgart Surge 41, Madrid Bravos 17
Nordic Storm 28, Rhein Fire 23
Semi-Finals
Vienna Vikings 28, Nordic Storm 20
Stuttgart Surge 27, Munich Ravens 13
Championship Game
Stuttgart Surge 24, Vienna Vikings 17
Records, Milestones, and Notable Statistics
Week 1
- The Munich Ravens win their season opener for the first time in franchise history.
Week 2
Week 3
- The Vienna Vikings defeated the Rhein Fire 12âÂÂ7, the Fire's first loss in Düsseldorf in franchise history.
- Omari Williams (Rhein) records his 14th interception in ELF play, breaking the league record for all-time career interceptions.
Week 6
- The Rhein Fire defeat the Vienna Vikings 33âÂÂ26, the first regular season loss for Vienna since the 2022 season, a winning streak of 26 regular season games and 1,022 days.
Week 7
Week 10
- The Prague Lions win their first home game in ELF competition.
Week 11
- Reece Horn (Vienna) scores his 50th touchdown in ELF competition.
- Aron Cruickshank (Madrid) breaks the ELF single-season receiving touchdown record with his 18th touchdown, breaking the previous record of 17 held by Markell Castle and Kyle Sweet.
- Harlan Kwofie (Rhein) sets the ELF single-game receiving touchdown record with six, all in the first half.
Week 13
- Reid Sinnet (Madrid) breaks the ELF record for single-season passing yards with 3,594 through 11 games, surpassing the previous record of 3,586 set by Jadrian Clark in 2023.
Week 14
- DJ Irons (WrocÃ
Âaw) becomes the first quarterback in ELF history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season.
- The Prague Lions finish the season with a winning record for the first time in ELF play.
- Aron Cruickshank (Madrid) breaks the ELF single-season records for receptions (122) and receiving yards (1,729), and extends his receiving touchdowns record to 20 on the year.
Wildcard Round
- The Nordic Storm defeat the Rhein Fire 28âÂÂ23, both the first playoff win for the Storm and first playoff loss for the Fire.
Championship Game
- The Stuttgart Surge win their first ELF championship, defeating the Vienna Vikings 24âÂÂ17. Stuttgart native Louis Geyer is name Most Valuable Player of the game.
- German hip-hop group Die Fantastischen Vier perform in the very first ELF Championship Game Halftime Show.
League Awards
- The ELF debuts the Offensive Lineman of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year awards. Brendan Oswin (Madrid) and Jon Cole (Fehérvár) are named the inaugural recipients of the awards.
- Devan Burrell (Helvetic) wins Special Teams Player of the Year for the third-straight season.
Attendance
Statistical leaders
League Awards
Individual Awards
The league honors were announced during the 2025 ELF Championship Game.
Notable players
Players who played in the European League of Football in 2025
Quarterbacks
Other positions
References
External links