Before the start of the Berlin Thunder season in the European League of Football, former NFL star Björn Werner is hoping for better results than at the premiere last year.
“2022 will be great fun, I’m sure of it. I’ll do everything in my power to win a lot of games,” said Werner in a message distributed by the ELF. The former defenseman of the Indianapolis Colts is also officially involved with the Berlin football team as sports director and co-owner this season.
Thunder starts the second ELF season on Sunday (3 p.m.) with an away game at the Hamburg Sea Devils. The first home game follows on June 11 against the Istanbul Rams. The Berliners play in the Northern Conference together with Hamburg, the Leipzig Kings and the Panthers Wroclaw from Poland. Four other teams are grouped in the Southern Conference and in the Central Conference, including the winner of the inaugural season, Frankfurt Galaxy, against whom Thunder does not have to play in the group stage.
New in the ELF are teams from Istanbul and Innsbruck, against which Thunder plays twice each, as well as from Vienna. The group winners of the three conferences and the best runner-up qualify for the semi-finals. The final will take place on September 25th at the Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt. Thunder had finished bottom of the North Group in the 2021 regular season after three wins in nine games.
Werner strengthens his ELF commitment. “I couldn’t just lean back. I have to be right in the middle of the players, the coaches and everyone involved,” said the 31-year-old Berliner in a video clip at his presentation in September last year.
(dpa)
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