ELF CHIEF ADMITS ‘WE CAN’T HAVE SECOND SEASON LIKE THIS’

European League of Football managing director Zeljko Karajica has admitted that there are many problems that need to be addressed within the competition — but insists that now is the time for talk rather than threats.

Responding to recent demands by the resurgent European Football Alliance, a union of eight ELF teams unhappy with a lack of parity and transparency — amongst other things — within the league, Karajica embarked on a lengthy interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in a bid to put forward the management’s point of view.

The founder of SEH Sports & Entertainment Holding, which operates the ELF and has a stake in the Hamburg Sea Devils, concedes that the 2025 campaign has been tough, with too many lopsided results and even the postponement of a game when one team claimed it was unable to field enough healthy players to meet the regulations. However, he was also at pains to suggest that such incidents were part of the league’s rapid growth and the fact that each of the 16 teams was attempting to keep pace with very different resources.

“I think many people forget that the ELF has only existed for a little over four years,” Karajica pointed out. “What we have achieved in that time has happened somewhat in rapid succession, whether it be TV distribution, nationally or internationally, marketing or other things. And, when things develop quickly, it can of course be the case that not everything is discussed in a timely manner within a group. But you also have to bear in mind that, with 16 teams in the league, we have different development speeds; not everyone always makes the same or equally big steps. Every team has different starting conditions and different budgets. As a league, we must always take that into account and allow for it. But, and I want to be self-critical about this, we are fully aware that some discussions during the current season have not always been able to take place as they might have been necessary.”

Karajica also admitted the need for better communication in response to claims that the ELF is not being transparent about its business dealings, and insisted that talks are plans to improve on the current situation, but flatly denied that the league is failing to meet the financial obligations it has to its participants, at least according to the contracts surrounding its ‘basic business model’.

“To a certain extent, we, as a league, are a community of solidarity that has to resolve its issues together,” he continued. “If someone says, “I have to get my way 100 percent”, it becomes difficult. That’s why we have a contract with each other that regulates certain processes and issues — a contract that every franchise has signed voluntarily, by the way. If you realise at some point that certain things aren’t working optimally, you change something, like we did with merchandising.”

Already behind in its early ambitions to move beyond 20 franchises by year five, the ELF has been continually rocked by the exit of teams across its previous four campaigns. The Istanbul Rams lasted a single season, while the Leipzig Kings survived just two and even the Barcelona Dragons — recognised as a stalwart of NFL Europe before ELF teams were able to adopt nicknames from the now defunct league — disappeared with just three years under their belt. Now there are concerns about the Berlin Thunder, who have entered self-imposed insolvency, and the three winless teams in the Cologne Centurions, Helvetic Mercenaries and Fehérvár Enthroners. Karajica insisted that the league was already looking into the problems at the various clubs, and investigating potential solutions — before raising the possibility of another short-lived ELF participant returning.

“This year, admittedly, things aren’t going well, and there are various underlying reasons for that,” he stressed. “We’re looking into them, and it’s also clear that changes are necessary [as] we don’t want to allow ourselves a second season like the current one. But there are also examples where we, as a league, were patient and it paid off, where we sometimes helped behind the scenes to bring new shareholders on board. We simply didn’t say, ‘Okay, the three paragraphs we agreed to have been violated, so you’re out’. In my opinion, that’s not how you treat each other; that’s not how you build a league like this.

“And that’s exactly what will happen with the three teams mentioned: analysing the backgrounds that we really need to talk about and then looking together at what conclusions we can draw from them. That worked well with the Milano Seamen who, after a season off, are returning for the next season with new partners and shareholders — and will certainly play a serious role.”

Intriguingly, Karajica finished that response by saying that the league has ‘three teams dropping out this season’, but it’s unclear whether he was referring to franchises actually departing from the ELF, or simply struggling to be competitive. What is clear, however, is the divergence in quality between teams that can be categorised as ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, even in a league where the most professionally run outfits reveal that they are barely turning a profit.

“Of course, I would also like to see that, in a few years, we can all fly everywhere and stay in good hotels for the entire weekend, but I can’t dictate that to any franchise,” Karajica explained in response to concerns, from players especially, that the current situation was putting their health at risk. “Instead, we have to find compromises. We have to make the ELF financially viable so that this league will still exist tomorrow. The fact is that we have invested millions in this league and we’re still doing so. And, so far, no one has earned a single cent from this league. We have to make sure that we properly develop this business that we built together. We must not overextend ourselves.”

Finally, when asked directly whether he feared the potential for a breakaway by the eight EFA members, Karajica admitted that he would not take the threat lightly, but doubled down on his belief that the right way forward would be to engage in productive conversation in order to protect the work and achievements accomplished over the last four-and-a-bit years.