Battle for the Austrian Bowl: Six teams, one goal – who will be champion?

The Austrian Football League (AFL) begins its 41st season on Saturday, March 22, 2025 with just six teams vying for the coveted spot in the Austrian Bowl XL. This season will reach its climax on July 26th in the NV Arena in St. Pölten. The defending champions are the Prague Black Panthers, who will face the Danube Dragons away in an exciting opening game. The Vienna Vikings, Graz Giants, Raiders Tirol and Salzburg Ducks are also determined to bring home the title. The Vikings in particular, under the leadership of head coach Benjamin Sobotka, want to bounce back from last season's setbacks. President Karl Wurm emphasizes that the team wants to defend the state championship as well as win the Austrian Bowl, while Sobotka is initially focusing on the direct duel with the Raiders.

This year the league will be much more compact by reducing the number of teams to six, which means that each team will play against the other teams once in the ten rounds of the regular round. The top four qualify for the semi-finals. There were also significant changes in the off-season: The Vikings have signed a new quarterback, Aaron Ellis, who will replace former star Nico Hrouda. At the same time, the Graz Giants have managed to return to their old strength under their new head coach Stefan Pokorny, having won their last championship 17 years ago. Pokorny brings a lot of experience and foresees an exciting season that will be characterized by close games.

Competition between teams

The Salzburg Ducks are also entering the new season with fresh enthusiasm and are happy about their new, state-of-the-art football facility. Head coach Joe Ashfield is enthusiastic about the training conditions and hopes that new quarterback Ian Gehrke from Germany can achieve his goals. The Raiders Tirol will have a local quarterback leading the team for the first time, Stefan Maiacher. Coach Dominik Bauer is convinced that Maiacher can effectively use the team's strengths. These various changes and new lineups make the competition in the AFL particularly exciting.

With a reduced field of participants, the chances seem to be the same for every single club, which makes the league even more interesting. How oe24.at and football-austria.com report, the season will certainly offer captivating competition with numerous high-class encounters, all presented in a compact and exciting league format.