London Guard Joins European Football Alliance for 2027 Season

Professional American football is set to arrive in East London as London Guard was unveiled as the latest franchise to join the European Football Alliance for the 2027 season.

The Guard will become the seventh EFA franchise, joining the Prague Lions, Paris Musketeers, Frankfurt Galaxy, Munich Ravens, Swarco Raiders Tirol and Nordic Storm, which all competed in the 2026 season.

A franchise in Milan, Italy, was also announced to be joining the EFA last year. An agreement was reached to merge the Italian Football League’s Rhinos Milano and Seamen Milano for the 2027 season under the leadership of former NFL offensive lineman Justin Pugh, but its participation in the EFA has not yet been confirmed as the alliance strengthens its entry requirements for new franchises.

With games taking place at BetWright Stadium, home to EFL League One soccer club Leyton Orient FC, the Guard is being built as a long-term professional franchise that can establish a genuine American football presence in the capital city of England.

“We want to build a club with purpose — one that brings an electric gameday atmosphere to East London, connects with the community, inspires the next generation, and gives British American Football something to rally behind,” general manager William Elgeti told American Football International.

According to David Gandler, founder and general partner of Gandler Sports Group (which owns London Guard), the franchise will seek to invest in youth development, community programs, and flag football in the UK. It will also play an integral role in creating more opportunities for young men and women to play sport, develop life skills, and earn employment.

Updates on coaching appointments, player recruitment, ticket information, and more will be confirmed in due course, as the franchise continues to bring its football and business operations together.

London Franchise Roots

The Guard will be London’s first EFA franchise, although it will not be the only professional American football team in the capital.

The London Warriors recently transitioned from its domestic British league to become a professional franchise in the inaugural 2026 season of the American Football League Europe, which was rebranded from the European League of Football, or ELF. The AFLE consists of eight teams from seven countries (Switzerland, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Poland), and its 2026 season will conclude on September 6 with the AFLE Gold Bowl championship game at Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena in Duisburg, Germany.

The newer EFA franchise will seek to capitalize on the growing demand for American football in the UK, fueled by NFL International Series games at Wembley Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

The convenient transport links from its BetWright Stadium home and the London time zone are expected to support cross-border scheduling and U.S. primetime watching windows. Furthermore, the ownership group led by Gandler, who also owns Leyton Orient FC and is a former CEO of streaming service FuboTV, will look to secure additional sponsorships and partnerships to grow the new franchise’s presence in London.

2026 Season

The inaugural EFA season is building up to its conclusion on August 29, 2026, when the EFA Championship Game is scheduled in Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck, Austria. Before then, Nordic Storm will face Paris Musketeers and Munich Ravens will play against Frankfurt Galaxy in the BIG4 Playoffs (August 15—16) at PSD Bank Arena in Frankfurt, Germany, after they successfully came through the 13-week regular season.

After formally launching last year, the regular season was condensed so that each franchise would play 10 games across a double round-robin format. The 13-week schedule also included a mid-summer league-wide bye week.

By using a refined league footprint with two destination “Party Weekends” to bring an end to the season, the EFA wanted every matchup on the calendar to be a high-stakes clash between the premier talent in European American football, while uniting fans across the continent for a celebration of sport and culture.
Madrid Bravos dropped out as a potential seventh EFA franchise just before the start of the 2026 season, following a strategic decision by the franchise owners to formally withdraw from sports ownership. The Cincinnati Bengals and the Atlanta Falcons are already due to face off in the Spanish capital at Real Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on November 8, as part of the returning NFL International Series.

Looking ahead, the EFA wants to continue its expansion, but with a more selective process from 2028 that is centered around sustainable ownership and developed local organizations. An invitation system will be overseen by the league’s Expansion Committee, and each prospective ownership group will participate in a new Franchise Residency Program before it can begin competition.

Prior Tensions

The EFA reached a “strategic cooperation agreement” with the ELF in November 2025 to reunify Europe’s American football leagues. However, the EFA ended those talks in January after the proposed unified structure reportedly failed to meet mandatory standards for financial stability and transparency.

In particular, EFA members accused the ELF of failing to provide transparent revenue sharing from TV and sponsorship deals and to meet obligations around merchandising and overall management.

The EFA wanted to create a league operating with an NFL-style model, in which franchises are collectively governed and maintain control over operations, which was a clash with the existing ELF structure. The ELF’s inaugural season came in 2021 and had 16 teams for its 2025 season.

Following the disagreement, the EFA went ahead with plans to launch its own independent league for the 2026 season, with franchises refusing to continue operating under the ELF umbrella.