C pool European Championships at St. Gallen and Hohenems

A new cycle of European Championships for national teams will be started in 2012: The C pool tournament opens up the race for the next European title and will be held on September 14 and 16 at St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Hohenems (Austria). The semi-finals on Friday, September 14, at St. Gallen feature games between Serbia and the Netherlands and Switzerland and the winner of the qualifying match between Russia and Belarus. The final game and a game for third place will be played on Sunday, September 16, at Hohenems. The winner of the C pool European Championships earns a spot for the B pool tournament 2013 in Italy.

European champions are crowned every four years, with the participating national teams divided into three categories. As winners and last-place teams in the tournaments are promoted or relegated, it is quite possible that even a team starting into a new cycle in the C pool may be European champion in the end. Austria for instance rushed into the A pool tournament in 2010 after winning both the preceeding C pool and B pool tournaments, finished third and thus qualified for the World Cup at home.

After a spectacular World Cup tournament in Austria the Cineplexx Blue Devils will ensure that also this year there will be an international tournament in Austria. The Hohenems-based club fields a number of teams, with which it is regularly competing in various international tournaments and had applied to host the C pool European Championship.

"Especially in countries where football only has a young tradition, there is always a special impetus to further development, if a national team is established," said EFAF president Robert Huber. "This makes it important for us to offer playing opportunities for such national teams."

The tournament will be played in Gründenmoos Stadium at St. Gallen and the Blue Devils home field of Herrenried stadium at Hohenems. A close race for the B pool spot at stake is to be expekted: Switzerland and the Netherlands are among the nations with the longest football traditions in Europe. In the last C pool tournament Switzerland only lost to Austria, as well as Serbia, a country in which american football is developing at a fast pace during recent years. The same of course applies to Belarus and especially Russia, whose team was recently rebuilt. In 2003 the Russians already won a C pool European Championship, when they beat Italy 43-35 at Copenhagen.