Russia national American football team

Russia Россия
Home	Away
Association	FAFR
Region	Europe (EFAF)
Founded	1992
IFAF Affiliation
Colors	Red and White
Head coach	Vasily Dobryakov
General manager

The Russia national American football team (Russian: Сборная России по американскому футболу) is the official American football senior national team of Russia. The team was formed in 1992 alongside the Russian League of American Football.

History

The birth of American Football in Russia

American Football itself appeared in the USSR in 1989, when in the summer two Oklahoma high school football teams ("Stars" and "Boomers") conducted three exhibition games in the cities of Moscow, Leningrad, and Tallinn, Estonia. These games caused great excitement, which was the impetus for the creation of American football teams in the USSR.

Taturyan Edgar, the founder of the Soviet teams became the coach of the USSR national rugby team. In 1989, the Moscow Bears team was formed and represented the Soviet Union in the international tournament. The first official game of the USSR national team took place against the German national team (which was represented by the players from Berlin Adler) in West Berlin, on 17 September 1989. The Bears lost 77-6, but the performance of the Soviet team impressed the audience, and in the final quarter of the game, Edward Zveigzne scored the first American football touchdown in the history of the USSR.

On 10 November 1989 the Union of American football in USSR was formed, but in April, due to differences in the leadership, the Union had established an independent and self-association of American football in USSR. In 1991, all teams joined the association. That same year, the USSR national team began to prepare for the drawing of the European Championships, expecting a game against Norway in December, but the game was canceled.

In late January 1991 the USSR national team debut in the European Championships qualifying tournament in the game with the Netherlands. Despite losing to the Orange by the score of 30-7, the players gained valuable experience.

After the collapse of the USSR

Since the collapse of the USSR, the Association of American football has been transformed into the Eurasian League but the team from the former Soviet republics have entered there. Instead of the USSR championship, a CIS championship was held. The National League of American Football, led by Alexander Viktorenko and Alexey Bazhenov, was finally set up in 1993. In 1994 he opened the first school of American football, and a year later a Children's League was organized, and in 1996 the Moscow Federation of American Football was created.

Since 1996, the championship of Russia among juniors in 2002 established the championship of Russia among the senior teams.

The successes of teams and clubs

In 1998, the Russian national team debut in the European Junior Championships, held in Düsseldorf, Germany. Russia sensationally took the 4th place. In 2000, Russia was the vice-champion of Europe, losing in the finals only to Germans, but in took two years to revenge and won the gold medal.

In 1999, Russia made his debut in the European League Cup. Team "Moscow Bears" reach the quarter finals, second only to the Finnish "Helsinki Roosters." In 2003, the adult team won the European Championship in the group "C" and becomes more powerful in group "B".

In 2004, the team took third place in the European Championship in the "B" group and by 2012, the team does not appear. Due to the long absence, the team moved to the group "C".

External links