2018 European Championship of American football

The Qualification for the European Championship 2018 was held in three stages. In the first round, twelve teams played a single playoff round. The six winners and two further teams played the second round, in two tournaments of four teams. Another two teams entered the qualification in the third round in playoff games against the two tournament winners of the second round. Four teams were already qualified for the European Championship 2018. Altogether an all-time record number of twenty teams competed to win the European title in 2018. One team, Germany, did not play a single game due to the national federation of American Football in Germany having an unresolved dispute with IFAF.

The first round was played from August to October 2015. Six of the twelve teams took part in one of the tournaments of the last championship. These were the seeded teams playing against an unseeded team. The seeded teams were the hosts of their playoff game. Israel defeating Spain was the only unseeded team to make it to the next round.

Date	Kickoff	Away	Score	Home	Game site
30 August	12:00 p.m. CEST	Israel	28–20	Spain	Estadio Santo Domingo, Alcorcón
26 September	6:00 p.m. CEST	Slovakia	00–21	Switzerland	Stadion Rankhof, Basel
10 October	1:00 p.m. CEST	Norway	00–20	Russia	Tsarskoye Selo Stadium, Pushkin
10 October	2:00 p.m. CEST	Hungary	00–56	Serbia	Voždovac Stadium, Belgrade
11 October	2:00 p.m. CEST	Poland	07–14	Czech Republic	Letní stadion, Pardubice
24 October	6:00 p.m. CEST	Belgium	03–17	Netherlands	Mandemakers Stadion, Waalwijk

The second round tournaments were played in 2016. As runner-up and third in the B Group Tournament in 2013, Italy and Great Britain earned a spot as the host nation of one of the tournaments.

•  Italy
•  Serbia
•   Switzerland
•  Israel

Date	Kickoff	Away	Score	Home	Game site
Semifinals
2 September	2:00 p.m. CEST	Israel	10–40	Italy	Stadio G. Teghil, Lignano Sabbiadoro
2 September	7:00 p.m. CEST	Switzerland	00–17	Serbia	Stadio G. Teghil, Lignano Sabbiadoro
Classification game
4 September	3:00 p.m. CEST	Israel	00–51	Switzerland	Stadio G. Teghil, Lignano Sabbiadoro
Final
4 September	7:00 p.m. CEST	Serbia	14–17	Italy	Stadio G. Teghil, Lignano Sabbiadoro

•  Great Britain
•  Czech Republic
•  Netherlands
•  Russia

Date	Kickoff	Away	Score	Home	Game site
Semifinals
16 September		Russia	03–30	Great Britain	Sixways Stadium, Worcester
16 September		Netherlands	13–20	Czech Republic	Sixways Stadium, Worcester
Classification game
18 September		Russia	06–17	Netherlands	Sixways Stadium, Worcester
Final
18 September		Czech Republic	13–38	Great Britain	Sixways Stadium, Worcester

Italy and Great Britain, as the winners of the tournaments in Italy and Great Britain, were respectively assigned to play against Sweden and Denmark (fifth and sixth place at the 2014 EFAF Championship), with the winners advancing to the 2018 tournament.

In June 2017, Italy was announced to have qualified for the final tournament^[1] as only one of the four teams without any match played. Finland, who was already qualified, did not appear on the schedule. No reasons were given.

In March 2018, IFAF New York announced to have Sweden, Denmark, and Great Britain advancing to the final tournament. Now reigning Champion Germany and Italy were not on the list. Again, no reasons were given. On 28 March, the website American Football International reported that the reason for Germany not joining was due to the teams in the German Football League voting not to change the league schedule to accommodate the European Championships.^[2]

•  Finland (2014 Fourth-placed, host)
•  Austria (2014 Runner-up)
•  France (2014 Third-placed)
•  Sweden (Qualifier)
•  Denmark (Qualifier)
•  Great Britain (Qualifier)

All games were played at Myyrmäen jalkapallostadion in Vantaa, Finland

Vantaa

Myyrmäen jalkapallostadion Capacity: 4,700

• International Federation of American Football

• IFAF European Championship – official Page