top of page
BREAKING NEWS
TOP HEADLINES
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
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
News You Can Use – IFL Edition #1
The Italian Football League has come to an end as Guelfi Firenze have beaten the Ancona Dolphins 49-14 to take their second Italian Bowl in the team’s history. With that, though, the offseason has just started. Right up until the start of the 2026 season in February, First Down Mag will inform you about all the movements in the IFL by all teams and around the league...
Jul 15, 2025
IFL SEMIFINALS AND PLAYOUTS REVIEW!
The Italian Football League has awarded both finalists for the June 28th Championship Game in Toledo and a relegated team for next year's tournament. Guelfi Firenze and Dolphins Ancona have won against Frogs Legnano and Panthers Parma in the deciding games for the second final in the States, while the Pirates Albisola have beaten the Bergamo Lions, who have been relegated to IFL 2, the Second Division of Italian Football, at least on the field.
The stage Is almost set for th
Jun 17, 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
4 hours 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
bottom of page