The American Football Association of Austria (AFBÖ) will enter into a cooperation with the New England Patriots from the NFL. As the local association announced on Thursday evening, the collaboration includes, among other things, joint events with the six-time Super Bowl champion in order to make football even more popular. In particular, the contactless variant of flag football, which will be Olympic at the Summer Games in Los Angeles in four years, is to be promoted.
Joint training camps and flag football tournaments are planned in Austria. “I am very pleased about the cooperation with the New England Patriots, the most successful NFL team of the young millennium,” AFBÖ President Michael Eschlböck was quoted as saying in an association release. “In addition to many things in common, we are united by the goal of arousing enthusiasm for American football.” With the help of the Patriots, they want to bring flag football more to Austria’s schools.
The new partnership, which initially runs until 2028, was agreed last weekend as part of the NFL guest game in Munich, which was played by the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants. “The collaboration with the AFBÖ is an important step in increasing our presence in Austria,” said Joe Dorant, Senior Director of International Business at the New England Patriots, referring to the club’s international growth strategy. The Patriots are the first NFL team to enter into a cooperation with a national football association in the DACH region. New England has been working with the German Football Association (DFB) since last year.
