The return of the Cologne Centurions: Cologne receives a place in the new football league

David Drane is a positive-thinking person and has gotten around well in Cologne football. So when it comes to building a professional team from the cathedral city for the new European League of Football (ELF) in the midst of the Corona crisis, the 48-year-old could be just the right man for this ambitious project.

“I’m glad to be there,” emphasizes the sporting director of the Cologne Centurions, which were active in the NFL Europe for four years under their former name Cologne Centurions before the league was discontinued in 2007. Now the association has been revived in a new GmbH.

Looking for players from the region

Drane was already active in the operational business for Centurions around 15 years ago. It was then that he met the football coach and TV commentator Patrick Esume, who is now the commissioner of the new ELF, which will start playing on June 20.

The pressure is high. Esume announced a high quality product to capitalize on the current American football hype in Germany. While the Super Bowl in the USA is struggling with falling odds, it recently set a record in this country. An average of 2.1 million viewers followed the duel between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs on Pro Sieben in February.

But whether the European League of Football can also benefit from this? “Skepticism is completely normal,” says David Drane. “With everything that is new, there are initially many people who have doubts.” It seems that a different team than originally planned was brought on board in Berlin and that two clubs, the German Knights from Hanover and the Ingolstadt Praetorians, broke off negotiations Don’t put Drane off that much. “I firmly believe that the ELF has a good concept. The people behind it are really top-class in terms of sport and economy. ”A high six-figure sum is necessary to finance a team with around 50 players and more than ten coaches and supervisors. Before Drane wants to get the “best players from the region” excited about the new football project in Cologne, he first plans to present the head coach.

Search for the right venue

He also holds talks with the city in order to sound out training venues and venues. “Because of the rent alone, the Rheinenergiestadion makes no sense as a venue for our home games. After all, due to the Corona, we don’t know whether, and if so how many, viewers are allowed to come, ”David Drane points out. Football is also unlikely to be played in summer in the Höhenberg sports park, which will receive new turf heating in summer, and in the south stadium. So it could mean that the Centurions initially have to be content with the Ostkampfbahn in the shadow of the Rheinenergiestadion.

Nevertheless, Centurions sports director Drane has big plans: “It’s about further advancing football in Germany.” According to the plan, the entire German football sport should benefit from the ELF, which is equipped with a television contract. “Here in Cologne, too, it is not about competition with the other clubs”, emphasizes Drane, who can imagine cooperations with GFL Club Cologne Crocodiles and his former club, the third division Cologne Falcons.

However, the crocodiles who have refused to participate in the ELF are skeptical of the project. Coach Patrick Köpper fears “damage to the image of football in Germany” should the shaky ELF construct fail.

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