By: Europe’s Elite

Just last weekend the NFL Academy of London made a huge splash on the American Football scene after participating in their 1st international football game. On April 9th, 2022, the NFL Academy defeated the Dusseldorf Panther U19 squad in dominating fashion. Leading up to the game thousands of football fans from the UK & Germany anticipated a well fought match up between these two teams. It is safe to say that most people did not predict the final score would be 53 – 8. But after watching this game, this has many people asking more questions about the NFL Academy and the work being done in London. It is our hope that this article can give individuals more insight to the NFL Academy.

The NFL Academy is not necessarily a new team/academy. The NFL Academy first opened in September 2019, with a large focus on the UK and is indeed sponsored by the NFL. The NFL Academy has since then opened its doors to athletes from all around the globe (primarily Europe) aiming to change the culture around American football outside of North America.

But the NFL academy is not solely focused on football.The Academy is designed to offer student athletes aged 16-19 the opportunity to combine their education with life skills program and an intensive American football training. Something that makes the academy unique is the fact that this academy has full-time professional coaches. Having multiple full-time professional coaches on staff is a very rare thing in American football in Europe, Australia, & Africa.

As mentioned before, football is not the only focus of at the NFL Academy. The Academy places a great focus on education, the Academy has partnered with a local college in the area to enhance a greater focus on education. According to the NFL Academy website this partnership has been designed to create pathways into further education, employment and potentially an opportunity to study and play NCAA college football in the United States. Another unique thing about the NFL Academy is their focus on NCAA eligibility. The Academy has designated staff members who schedule weekly meetings with the NCAA to discuss NCAA eligibility requirements for international athletes.

Athletes that attend the Academy have access to elite sports training facilities, uniforms, equipment, and an opportunity to learn from players and coaches from the NFL. The NFL Academy is open to all athletes between the ages of 16 and 19. But athlete still must go through a tryout and interview process before being earning a spot on the team or admitted into the school.

With that being said, it is clear that the NFL Academy has done some great work over the past few year laying the foundation for year to come. The coaches at the NFL Academy have done an exceptional job developing some of Europe’s top talent, making this years team very competitive in the international ranks. The future is bright for the 2022 Academy team after a dominating performance in their first international competition against one of Germany’s best teams. Now we can only anticipate how the NFL Academy will preform against other top teams from France, Sweden, Austria, Denmark or Germany this season.

Next up the NFL Academy will play against RIG Academy of Sweden April, 23rd in London. RIG Academy is designed and required to produce top level American Football players from Sweden every year. Ludvig Burell, Oscar Andersson, Anton Oskarsson, and Viktor Wikstrom are a few athletes that went on to play college football at the Division 1 level, each of which are products of RIG Academy. The roster for RIG Academy is still loaded with highly recruited college football talent such as, Tight End Theo Melin Ohrstrom, Defensive Tackle Landon Collins, and Running Backs Oliver Lundberg & Alexander Kennedy Channing. This should be a great match up between two of the best American Football Academy’s in Europe.