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Italian Football League News You Can Use #1
With the conclusion of the tackle football seasons in Italy, "News You Can Use" - the most beloved and imitated column - returns to First Down Mag, bringing you all the latest updates on Italian football.
From the first to the third division, and from North to South, here is everything you need to know about roster moves and the latest news from the world of Italian gridiron.
Here is the first batch of news from the Italian football scene. Enjoy the read.
Cameren Grodhaus
Sep 22


IFL Teams Get Their Grades!
With the IFL having wrapped up its 2026 season about a month ago — featuring the Guelfi Firenze victory over the Panthers Parma in Ferrara—the final bell has rung, and it is time to grade the teams in the top league.
This article reviews the season for the nine teams competing in the First Division of Italian Football.
Which teams made the grade, which ones have work to do before the new term, and which ones failed?
Guelfi Firenze: A
The Italian Football League’s model te
Aug 6


IFL Semifinals Recap!
The Italian Football League has officially reached the semifinals, the penultimate stage of a short but highly intense season.
Four teams are vying for two spots in the Italian Bowl, scheduled for July 4th in Ferrara; Guelfi Firenze, Panthers Parma, Giaguari Torino, and Dolphins Ancona will battle it out over a weekend that promises to be hot in every sense of the word.
Which two teams will compete for the Gionni Colombo Trophy in the grand final taking place in less than t
Jun 26


IFL Power Ranking - Week 12
1. Guelfi Firenze
Another great victory for Guelfi Firenze, this time at the home of a direct rival, Frogs Legnano, mathematically securing first place in the playoff standings.
The 48-24 final score was perhaps predicted by some, but even against the big teams, the Tuscans are prepared, and now they can dream big.
After the match against the Warriors Bologna the following weekend, thoughts turn to a season finale that could bring not one, but two major trophies.
In fact,
May 27


IFL Power Ranking - Week 11
1. Guelfi Firenze
The Guelfi rested in the Italian Football League, but their weekend was still filled with a solid 55-7 CEFL win over the Belgrade Blue Dragons.
While waiting to find out their next European opponent, next week they'll face Frogs Legnano away in a game that will decisively decide first place in the standings, which will go to the Viola if they win.
2. Panthers Parma
The Panthers' 47-7 home win over the Warriors Bologna was all too easy, a triumph that allo
May 20


IFL Power Ranking - Week 9
1. Guelfi Firenze
Even in a remake of the last Italian Bowl, Guelfi managed to take control, winning 51-17 against Dolphins Ancona.
The tie lasted only one quarter, the first, which ended 14-14, before the Viola began to put the fifth quarter into effect, matching their winning streak this year.
A win against Lazio Marines next week could secure direct qualification to the semifinals, a step closer for the league's top favorite. However, the threat of too many matches in a
May 6


IFL Power Ranking - Week 8
1. Guelfi Firenze Despite the Bye Week, the Guelfi still won in Week 8. The Frogs Legnano's loss at the Dolphins Ancona allows the Tuscans to remain alone at the top of the Italian Football League standings, undefeated. The next match will be against the Dorics, who are coming off three consecutive wins and are currently among the hottest teams in the IFL. While the goal in Italy will be to defend first place, the European plans have become clearer this weekend. In fact, the
Apr 30


IFL Power Ranking - Week 6
1. Guelfi Firenze Yes, Guelfi Firenze are seriously hurting the other teams. The purple team confirmed their position as the best team in the Italian Football League after defeating the Parma Panthers at home in a match that has been considered a classic in Italian football for years. The direct clash with the Emilians was worth the top spot, and the Tuscan team was ready with a superb offensive performance, thus earning their third win of the season and their fifteenth con
Apr 16


IFL Power Ranking - Week 1
The Italian Football League finally returned last weekend, and it did so in style with three games, all played on February 28th.
Rhinos Milano and Panthers Parma treated us to one of the best games played as of recent IFL history, finishing 58-56 for the Emilians after four overtimes.
The defending champions, Guelfi Firenze, managed to return to the field with a strong victory against Giaguari Torino, who held firm for a half before succumbing 46-21.
The first regional der
Mar 5


IFL 2026 Preview
In Italy, once the NFL season is over, anticipation grows ever greater for the start of the Italian Football League.
The Italian Football League, now in its forty-fifth edition, is ready to return at the end of February, as per tradition, with plenty of players and plenty of stars, both established and emerging, ready to battle it out on the Italian pitches.
First Down Magazine, this year's Media Partner of FIDAF, will accompany you in this preview with the top names to fol
Feb 28


More Than Perfect: Guelfi Firenze Wins the 2025 Italian Bowl in Toledo
For the second time in the club’s history, the purple team has won it all by defeating the Dolphins Ancona 49-14 in dominant fashion. After 2 disappointing finals played in the last two years, Guelfi was devastating all game just like they were during the regular season, beating the green and orange side, who had been waiting for a championship game since 2004.
Jul 1, 2025


Preview Italian Bowl 2025 - A Tale of 2 Teams
After a long journey, Guelfi Firenze and Dolphins Ancona will face each other to determine which team will take home the Gionni Colombo Trophy, named after one of the pioneers of the Italian movement. Only one team will leave the United States as the Italian Football League champions on June 28th, at the end of the 44th Italian Bowl.
Jun 28, 2025


Wild Card Round IFL 2025
After the end of the regular season, the Italian Football League playoffs have finally started. The second Road To Toledo sees six teams on the field competing for a ticket to the United States of America.
Dolphins Ancona (9-1) and Guelfi Firenze (10-0) are the two best teams in the league after the regular season, so they will skip the Wild Card round and will directly play in next week’s Semifinals, while Frogs Legnano (8-2), the two time defending champions Panthers Parma
Jun 9, 2025


Italian Football League - Power Ranking Week 5
The IFL is approaching half way through the season, teams are starting to actually fight to make the playoffs, do not miss out on the action
Mar 20, 2025


Italian Football League - Power Ranking Week 4
Week 4 of the IFL saw the first OverTime of the season and that led to the Pirates' first ever win in the league! Read this to catch up!
Mar 13, 2025


Italian Football League - Power Ranking Week1
Analysis of the first week of Italian Football League through a Power Ranking of the teams involved. Full league powerranking at the bottom.
Feb 19, 2025
OTHER NEWS


Sebastian Gauthier: From the Football Field to PlayrGrid
Sebastian Gauthier is one of the most recognizable names in European American football. A Swedish international, he has enjoyed an extensive career playing for teams in Sweden, Finland, and Germany, most notably with Frankfurt Galaxy, where he won the European League of Football championship in 2021.
Now, the veteran linebacker is taking on a new challenge, this time off the field: PlayrGrid, a platform designed to connect American football players and teams from around the
3 days ago


The man under the helmet: Diego Paz, from Spain to Foxborough in less than 5 years
Diego Paz González, one of the best DEs in Europe right now, talks about his journey from Spanish football to a tryout with the New England Patriots since his introduction to the sport in 2022
“Spain” and “NFL” are two words that usually, historically, don’t go together. That is so that in the NFL Heritage Program there is only one single player in the whole league repping the Spanish flag on his helmet, and that is Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson, whose great-grandfather, Antonio
Oct 23


“Mo, run it in, score the touchdown!”
Moritz Jadin is currently recovering from a medial collateral ligament (MCL) tear. The Vikings running back caused a stir with his touchdown in front of friends and family in the AFLE. Before this, he also played in the ACSL and even trained with Sandro Platzgummer on the Austrian national team.
Hand-off from Nico Hrouda to Moritz Jadin at the one-yard line. Standing 1.80 meters tall and weighing 95 kilograms, Jadin powers through the Paris Lights' defense and celebrates the
Oct 21


From the ACSL to the AFLE: "What the heck, no way, that's not true"
Philipp Voith has been part of the Vienna Vikings since July. Fans of the Austrian college league ACSL remember the 25-year-old as a player for the TU Robots. The wide receiver spoke exclusively with First Down Magazine about his journey to the AFLE.
On July 2, 2026, Philipp Voith's life turned upside down: the 1.88-meter-tall and 85-kilogram wide receiver was now officially part of the gameday roster for the reigning AFLE champion Vienna Vikings. Just a few months prior, t
Oct 18


Born on a Base: How FIDAF and Italian Football Began
Football’s Italian story starts more than a century ago, with a Thanksgiving Day game in Genoa between the crews of the USS Connecticut and the USS Kansas. It was a one-off game, and decades passed before the sport returned in any organized way: first with Allied troops, in the Bambino Bowl in Bari and the Spaghetti Bowl in Florence, the latter drawing a crowd of 25,000, both played between 1944 and 1945; then through U.S. bases that kept the game alive into the 1950s and 196
Oct 13


The Italian Football League Kicks Off Its 2027 Season in Bologna
On October 4th, at The Social Hub in Bologna, the Italian Football League began preparations for the upcoming 2027 season with a press conference and a league meeting that offered a preview of the league's new year.
In the presence of the press and top figures in Italian football, the new season of the country's premier league was launched, featuring numerous new developments and the announcement of several partnerships.
What new developments and challenges will the IFL fac
Oct 9


Andrew Weidinger - The Head Coach of the London Guard
Starting his coaching career at The University of Arizona in 2000, Andrew Weidinger has been everywhere, and then some, on his path to becoming EFA London’s Head Coach.
"Like every kid who has ever put the pads on, all I ever wanted to do was play in the NFL. Then I managed to crack a vertebrae when I was in high school and couldn’t play anymore, which got me interested in coaching. I was very fortunate to have a lot of great opportunities and work with a lot of great people
Oct 7


UNION JACK CLASSIC
Wembley Stadium has staged just about everything football has to offer. On Saturday, it added another chapter to its history: College Football. Kansas and Arizona State crossed the Atlantic for a Week 3 matchup that brought the sights, sounds and spectacle of a fall Saturday in America to the heart of London.
LONDON BECOMES THE CENTER OF EUROPEAN FOOTBALL
For one Saturday in September, London became the center of the College Football world.
The British capital is hardly a
Sep 24


The Pioneers: NFL Europe and the League That Dared to Cross an Ocean
Long before the NFL played regular season games in London, Munich, or Madrid, it tried something far bolder: building entire professional franchises on European soil.
In July 1989, NFL owners approved the creation of the World League of American Football, a genuinely transatlantic experiment and the first time the league had ever tried to plant a professional, developmental version of itself outside North America. When the WLAF kicked off on March 23, 1991, ten teams took th
Sep 23
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