Only one week after winning the Austrian Championship the Vienna Constables will travel to Spain this upcoming weekend to compete in this Years Champions Bowl, as the men’s team qualified as Runners-Up and the women’s team as champions from the 2017 season. After 2016 in Copenhagen and last years No-Show the Constables will once again be part of Europe’s best tournament.
Having established themselves as one of the men’s top teams in Austria for some years now, the Vienna Constables very much appreciate the opportunity to compete with the best flag football teams from Europe. So are the Ladies team, which will participate for the first time this year. As the Champions Bowl being the equivalent to soccer’s Champions League, there might be no bigger price to claim on club level. Unfortunately travel costs are mostly paid by the players themselves, some teams can’t or don’t want to afford to follow the invitation. But make no mistake, if you want to be successful you will have to beat a lot of great teams.
This years tournament will be hosted in Cambrils, near Barcelona, in Spain. So if nothing else, there at least should be good weather. The competing teams are coming from various countries, overall Denmark and France, which are always tough to beat. The Vienna Constables will proudly represent Austria, which is the current World Campionship Silver Medalist (men) and reigning European Champion (women). Other Teams are coming from Italy, Germany, Ireland, Great Britain, Switzerland and Spain.
As only the top three teams of each country are eligible it surely is a great honour to participate in the Champions Bowl, which this year already is the ninth edition of this prestigious tournament. In the past the Styrian Studs are the only winners from Austria to this date. And even with the Constables not being among the top favorites to win it all, they sure enough are an underdog to keep an eye on.
Despite the costs and maybe not ending up as champions the Vienna Constables are keen on participating as such a tournament usually provides great experience, especially for young players and players who haven’t seen international action yet. They will be able to use this experience to become better in the future and learn to compete on an elite level.
The Champions Bowl this year is played with a group stage followed by the usual knock-out phase. The men’s bracket consists of two groups with overall twelve teams, while the eight women’s teams are playing in one group. The group games will last from friday to saturday and the k.-o. round will take place sunday.
Not being on international TV with flag football it’s hard to predict the strength of the opponents. But following the history here the favorites in the men’s competition will definitely be Sphinx de Pau from France and SDG from Denmark. The women’s section is even harder to foresee as little to nothing is known on the other teams.
We’ll keep you updated on the Champions Bowl; the official website is www.facebook.com/ChampionsBowl18
Champions Bowl 2018
12.-14.10.2018 im Cambrils Park Resport, 43850 Cambrils, Spain
