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2023 Helvetic Guards season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2023 Helvetic Guards season
General managerToni Zöller
Head coachNorm Chow
Home fieldLidl Arena Wil

The 2023 Helvetic Guards season is the inaugural season of the newly founded Helvetic Guards in the European League of Football for the 2023 season.

Preseason

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After the Guards were unveiled at a press conference, the franchise began to organize itself for their first season. On October 30, 2022 the front office announced that they will play their home games in the Lidl Arena in Wil, Switzerland, about 25 miles (40km) eastern of Zürich.[1]

As the first head coach of the franchise, former NFL Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow was presented.[2][3]

With the signings of Collin Hill and 2014 Baylor Bears football team standout Silas Nacita, the franchise recruited standout players in Europe.[4] Notable homegrown signings were of Philipp Leimgruber, former Schwingen player.[5]

Regular season

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Standings

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Pos Team GP W L CONF PF PA DIFF STK Qualification
1 Germany Stuttgart Surge 12 10 2 8–2 387 237 +150 W3 Automatic playoffs (#3)
2 Austria Raiders Tirol 12 8 4 8–2 307 230 +77 W1
3 Germany Munich Ravens 12 7 5 7–3 425 338 +87 W2
4 Switzerland Helvetic Guards 12 3 9 3–7 174 378 –204 L4
5 Italy Milano Seamen 12 2 10 2–8 328 497 –169 L3
6 Spain Barcelona Dragons 12 2 10 2–8 199 396 –197 L10

Source: europeanleague.football

Roster

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Reference[6]

Helvetic Guards roster
Quarterbacks
United States
  •   Richard Wartmann
Switzerland

Running backs

  •   Kevin Audétat
Switzerland
  •   Dmitri Gfeller
Switzerland
  •   Ibony Mbungu
Switzerland
United States
  •   Moritz Stein
Switzerland

Wide receivers

  •   Cayman Bailey Jr.
Switzerland
  •   Xavier Baudraz
Switzerland
  •   Gregorio Calonego
Italy
  •   Timo Hager
Switzerland
  •   Anton Jallai
Sweden
  •   David Marty
Germany
  •   Pascal Rüegg
Switzerland

Tight ends

  •   Igor Mašlanka
Slovakia
  •   Theo Stirnimann
Switzerland
Offensive linemen
  •   Federico Ferretti
Switzerland
  •   Wilson Ferretti
Switzerland
  •   Pascal Hollenstein
Switzerland
  •   Filip Kovljenic
Switzerland
  •   Amos Laoye
Belgium
  •   Niels Meier
Switzerland
  •   Matthias Münger
Switzerland
  •   Gabriel Rodriguez
Spain
  •   Timothy Schmid
Switzerland
  •   Jürg Stalder
Switzerland
  •   Raffael Wachter
Switzerland

Defensive linemen

  •   Abdur-Rahman Elabed
Switzerland
  •   Yannick Friedberg
Switzerland
  •   Tim Hänni
Switzerland
  •   Philipp Leimgruber
Switzerland
  •   Dominik Liechti
Switzerland
  •   Emmanuel Kabengele
Democratic Republic of the Congo
  •   Michael Kimpiabi
Switzerland
  •   Milos Panic
Switzerland
  •   Michel Sousa
Switzerland
  •   Luca Steiner
Switzerland
  •   Dalibor Vuckovic
Switzerland
Linebackers
  •   Andreas Buri
Switzerland
  •   Julien Conus
Switzerland
  •   Jonathan Falk
Switzerland
  •   Adrian Fiedler
Germany
  •   Fabio Rothmund
Switzerland
  •   Timothy Schürmann
Switzerland
  •   Fabian Strahm
Switzerland
United States
  •   Ludovic Vincent
Switzerland

Defensive backs

  •   Labinot Arapi
Switzerland
  •   Macéo Beard
France
  •   Fabian Bruhin
Switzerland
  •   Ken Hike
United States
  •   Olivier Marty
Germany
  •   Dominic Mischler
Switzerland
  •   Chaska Rémy Perron
France
  •   Hendrik Rutishauser
Switzerland
  •   Florian Ziegler
Switzerland

Special teams

  •   Nils Jonkmans
Switzerland


Rookies in italics
Roster updated 14 February 2023
4 A-import, 6 E-import, 47 homegrown
57 active

Staff

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Helvetic Guards staff

Front office

  • Owner – Mukadder Erdönmez
  • General Manager – Toni Zöller
  • Head of football operations – Zeki Öztürk
  • Head of administration – Ferhat Kahraman

Head coach

Offensive coaches

 

Defensive coaches

  • Defensive coordinator – Jim Ward
  • Defensive line – n/a
  • Linebackers – Don Clemons
  • Defensive backs – n/a
  • Defensive assistant – Khaled Bassyouny, Armin Waldherr, Chris Krattiger

Special teams coaches

  • Special teams coordinator – Pete Metzelaars
  • Special teams coach – Glenn Chase


Strength and conditioning

  • Athletic Director – Matt Hammer, J.C. Williams


Staff updated 14 February 2023


Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "LIDL Arena Wil announced as Homefield". helveticguards.ch. 2022-10-30.
  2. ^ "Schweizer Football-Team verpflichtet ehemaligen NFL-Trainer als Headcoach". 20 Minuten (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  3. ^ Abbott, JC. "ELF: Helvetic Guards hire legendary NCAA offensive coordinator Norm Chow as head coach". AmericanFootballInternational.com. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  4. ^ "GUARDS VERPFLICHTEN TOP-SPIELER". endzone.ch (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  5. ^ "Vom Sägemehl auf das American-Football-Feld". SRF (in German). 6 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  6. ^ "ELF: 2023 Helvetic Guards – A Complete Roster Breakdown". American Football International.