SURGE CAPTAIN VERGANI GOES OUT ON A HIGH
Quarterback Reilly Hennessey is not the only high-profile member of the European League of Football champion Stuttgart Surge side to call time on his career this autumn, as team captain Alessandro Vergani has made the same call.
After more than a decade-and-a-half at the highest level, the long-time pillar of the Italian national team and one of the most prominent figures in European football, has decided to retire on the high of winning the 2025 ELF title — although he actually intends to bow out after the Final4 of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Men’s European Tackle Championship later this year.
Vergani embodied reliability, leadership and team spirit like no other player on the Surge, where his personal motto ‘Lead by example’ not only guided him throughout his career but also shaped the self-image of his team-mates. Whether in training, on game days or off the field, the 35-year-old always showed the way through his performance, attitude, and respect.
Vergani’s football journey began in 2009 with the Daemons Cernusco, where it quickly became clear that he was more than just a talented lineman. In 2011, he was called up to the Italian national team, where he has remained captain ever since. After playing with the Parma Panthers in 2014 and the Milano Rhinos — with whom he won his first national title — from 2015 to 2017, he moved to Germany in 2018 to join the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, reaching the German Bowl four times and celebrating two national championships (in 2018 and 2022) and two CEFL titles (in 2021 and 2022). He was selected for the GFL All Star Team in both championship years and, in 2019, he was invited to the Canadian Football League (CFL) Combine in recognition of his consistently high performance.
Vergani has also enjoyed international success, winning the 2021 IFAF European
Championship with Italy and placing third in the continental finals in 2023. Since then, the offensive lineman has worn the Stuttgart Surge jersey and has been
an integral part of the team, using his vast experience to help lay the foundation
for the club’s rebirth. In the 2024 season, he was named to the ELF All-Stars Second
Team and, in 2025, to the First Team. This same year, he led the Surge to the title win at the MHPArena Stuttgart as team captain — a moment that rounded off his career in the best possible way.
“There is not a better word to describe or sum Alessandro’s career than in the word
‘Captain’,” Surge head coach Jordan Neuman said. “He earned this role on a daily basis with how he plays, how he leads, how he inspires and how he gives. Alessandro is a great talent but, most importantly, he possesses one of the greatest work ethics I have ever seen! He is at the core of the culture we have built here and his impact extends far beyond the football field. Italy can be proud to have produced such a man.”