News You Can Use – IFL Edition #2
- Pasquale Basile
- Aug 27
- 8 min read
Almost a month later, First Down Mag is back with some news on Italian Football during the offseason.
The Italian Movement is running wild despite the forced stop after the end of the Senior championships in July.
Now the focus is on the national Flag Football teams playing in both The World Games and in the Euros in September, while the Junior Tackle Championships will start in less than two months, while the National Tackle team will face a new challenge in November.
A new challenge for the Blue Team
Italy, after their participation in the IFAF Tackle Football European Championship in October, when they will play in the Final Four for the title, will also play in a new tournament endorsed by the International Federation.
The Blue Team will be part of the first Gridiron Nations Championship with Germany and Canada. Both European teams will play against the North American side at home on November 9th in Milan and November 16th in Bochum, Germany.
If Italy and Germany will face each other in the European Championship, that game will also count for the GNC standings, but if both teams won’t have a game, the record and the points difference against Canada will count as a tie-breaker.
There will be light...
Mike Wyatt Field, the home court of Aquile Ferrara named after former Aquile and Italian National Team Head Coach Mike Wyatt, has inaugurated its new lighting system. This means that the team from Emilia-Romagna can play some night games in the future, unlike last year, when Ferrara played all its games under the scorching sun.
Ferrara, returning in 2025 to the Italian Football League after nine years, ended their season on a 4-6 record and missing the playoffs after being involved in the run with Skorpions Varese and Giaguari Torino, losing the train to Toledo in the last game, losing against Pirates Albisola and watching the Skorpions win over Lazio Marines at home.
Guess who’s back… Back again…
Doves Bologna, 1985 Italian Champions, have announced that will play in IFL2, the second tier of Italian Football, in 2026.
Despite a bad season, finishing 0-6 in the 2025 Nine Football League, the team will continue to play in Second Division, but it will become official during the next months.
After winning their only title fourty years ago, they folded in 1989 and came back in 2007 as one of the first teams in the new Italian Football League, in 2008.
Also a couple of teams have announced their return to competition: Lancieri Novara, from Piemonte, whose last tournament was the cancelled 2020 CIF9, now known as the Nine Football League, the third division of Italian Football, and a historical team from Rome, Gladiatori Roma, one of the first four teams that composed Lega Italiana Football americano (LIF), the first American Football tournament in Italy, active from 1980 to 1981.
Gladiatori have also announced some players during the last few days: Former Legionari Roma and Giaguari Torino QB Elia Giachino will join the team, while OL Giovanni Mariani Bartolini and LB Lorenzo Vitelli will come back to the Red and Yellow side.
The last time Gladiatori played Tackle Football under FIDAF was in 2017, reaching the playoffs in Seconda Divisione (now known as IFL2) and losing to Warriors Bologna in the Quarter Finals.
The team then made a collaboration with Barbari Roma Nord, four time Second Division champions, forming Pretoriani Roma and playing third tier Football.
The Grizzlies-Mavericks diatribe
During the last weeks a fight has broke out between two teams from Rome, the Grizzlies, a historic side from the Capital city now playing in the IFL2, and the newly born Mavericks, a team formed by some former Grizzlies players.
First, the Grizzlies Instagram Account has been transformed into the Mavericks Roma new Instagram profile, giving the impression that the orange and white team was about to change something, but then, some days later, everything went back to normal. Meanwhile, the Mavs have opened their own IG account.
The Grizzlies have published a statement accusing the Mavericks for illegally appropriating their Instagram profile, spreading fake news inside the team and illegally getting players. The Orange and White side has decided to take actions against the people behind this mutiny.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks have announced Davide Lupatelli, former player and coach for some teams in Rome like Gladiatori, Pretoriani and Grizzlies, as their first Head Coach.
NFL Academy announces a Combine in Milan
The NFL Academy has announced a Combine on September 6th in Milan, at Velodromo Vigorelli, for players between the age of 14 and 18, thanks to the collaboration of the Elevate Sports Academy, an organization inside Italian Football that is building the next generation of players.
Some young italian players, like WR Filippo Petrillo and QB Giacomo Troni, were part of the NFL Academy during the past… Who’ll be next?
Players and Coaches Movements
Warriors Bologna have announced halfway through July their second Import Player for the 2026 season.
QB C.J. Fowler, Arizona born and raised, will be a new blue and white player for next year, replacing Viktor Wessberg as the Felsinei QB.
Fowler already has some experience outside of the U.S., as this will be his fourth season in Europe, after playing in Poland (Tychy Falcons, 2022), Austria (AFL’s Swarco Tirol Raiders, 2023) and Norway, but in a team from the Swedish Superserien (Oslo Vikings, 2024).
Lazio Marines have also announced their first two Import Players, as former Duquesne University and Yougstown State LB Gianni Rizzo, from Pennsylvania, and former New Hampshire University QB Seth Morgan, also from Pennsylvania, will wear the sky blue shirt next year.
Rizzo has made a total of 141 Tackles (72 solo and 69 assisted), 21.5 Tackles for loss for 73 yards, 5.5 Sacks for 32 yards and two Forced Fumbles in three season with the Dukes, while Morgan, in his last year with the Wildcats, has made a 244/384 in completed passes, with 22 TDs and 8 interceptions, also scoring two rushing touchdowns. After gaining some experience in a Pittsburgh Steelers camp, he will join the Marines as a replacement for Josiah Norwood, who played in Rome last year.
Speaking of Lazio Marines, OC Cooper Heisey has been named the Head Coach of the Football departement at the Rome City Institute, a college-like institution in Rome that has a collaboration with FIDAF, involving some of its players in the IFL Draft.
In the ELF, Matteo Mozzanica, who has won the title with Superserien’s Carlstad Crusaders in July, has signed immediately after with the Vienna Vikings, on the same day Andrea Serra and Rocco Zucchelli were put in the Injury List.
Meanwhile, Tirol Raiders have signed Kristian Giardinieri, who has played for Dolphins Ancona in the 2025 IFL, getting to the Championship Game.
After being released by Rhein Fire, Jordan Bouah has signed for the Stuttgart Surge, a team plenty of italian players, like veteran Alessandro Vergani, and fomer IFL Import Players, like QB Reilly Hennessey, a 2021 Italian Bowl winner with Panthers Parma.
Fan favourite Robert Macaj, this year wearing the Guelfi Firenze shirt and winning the IFL title, will continue his 2025 season in Germany, as a member of the Dresden Monarchs, last year’s GFL runner up team, just like his teammates Niccolò Formosa, announced as a new Allgau Comets player, and Giovanni Scialdone, returning in Germany for the second straight year for the Comets.
Another player from the 2025 season who has made his debut in Germany was Dejvion Edwards-Steward, former Bergamo Lions Safety, now returning in the GFL playing for the Ravensburg Razorbacks, making his return in the german championship after three years.
At last, two young Lazio Marines players, Alessandro Fristachi and Matteo Lorini Dabiankov, will play and study in the United States next year. Fristachi will play for the Kenston Forest Kavaliers in Virginia before he stays in the States to play College Football at Oakland City University, while Lorini will be a member of the Linsly High School Cadets in West Virginia.
Junior Championships alliances
Some italian teams have already announced their involvement in the FIDAF Junior championships that will be played in the fall/winter period.
Trappers Cecina, a Second Division side from Tuscany, will play in the Italian Cup (Under 21 championship), while IFL’s Aquile Ferrara will join forces with now IFL2 side Doves Bologna, Italian champions in 1985, in three title runs (Under 15, Under 18 and Under 21).
Guelfi Firenze also have announced their participation in almost all the tournaments, announcing via Social Media their commitment to all the championships.
Unlike in other countries, the Junior Championships will be played outside of the senior season, as the players will participate in four categories (Under 12, Under 15, Under 18 and Under 21). The finals will be played during the first weekend of January 2026.
The 2025 World Games: Italy ends the tournament in Eighth Place
The Women’s National Flag Football Team has played the first of two tournaments in two months, the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China.
After accepting the invitation made by IFAF due to the announce of Spain’s forfeit, Italy was put in Group B with Great Britain, the defending European champions, Japan and Mexico, the defending World Games champs, winning gold in the Women’s tournament in 2022.
Italy has accepted the invitation made by IFAF after the Spanish federation, sixth at the last World Championship in Finland, decided to withdraw from the event at the end of February, as the first team eliminated from contention after getting an eighth place in Lathi.
After losing all three games of the first phase against Great Britain (26-13), Mexico (46-7) and Japan (33-6), the Blue Team has also lost against the United States (33-12) in the Quarter Finals and the rematch against Great Britain (35-28 in Overtime), forcing Tommaso Monardi’s side to play in the 7th place final against Japan, also losing 33-0 and ending the tournament in eighth and final place.
After losing all the games in the chinese tournament, the National Women’s Flag Football team has some work to do, as in one month the Euros are on in Paris and the top 6 teams will move on to the 2026 World Championships in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Italy also had a representative between the referees, as Riccardo Zampedri was the only Italian official called for the event. Zampedri also was a member of the referee team that officiated the Gold Medal Game between Mexico and the United States as a Field Judge.
The mexican team went back to back, winning the Final against the U.S. 26-21, while Canada took the Bronze Medal by winning 38-20 against Austria.
The home team, China, after making the upset against Japan in the 5th-8th place semifinal, has finished the tournament in sixth place after losing to the defending European champions, Great Britain, 34-13.
Italian Football mourns the tragic loss of Elephants Catania player Francesco Aronica
We conclude this article remembering the loss of Francesco Aronica, a Elephants Catania Player who has died while he was on vacation in Apulia, crushing his head heavily on a jump from a cliff.
The young player, who also played for Lazio Marines during the Junior Championships, played a huge role in the 2025 season, as his team finally broke a 23 year title hiatus winning the IFL2 championship game against Saints Padova. He was 23 years old.
“He was a 360° football athlete, starting when he was ten years old, first with Flag Football and then moving to Tackle, revealing high-level sportsmanship that will lead him to be part of the winning roster of the Elephants in 2025.
He expresses love and passion for this sport, where he excels as an athlete and is committed to coaching the youngest members of the Elephants Flag Football team, whom he takes care of with the cheerfulness and joy that have always distinguished him, working on both sides of the sideline”, This is the FIDAF's remembrance regarding this tragic passing.
Meanwhile, the Sicilian team has announced that they have opened a fund for projects and initiatives named after Aronica, continuing his legacy as a great player and coach between the team’s youngsters.
First Down Mag sends its condolences to Elephants Catania and all of Francesco Aronica's friends and family.
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