American Football - Rome City Institute (2024)

Thanks to Rome City Institute, our student-athletes are provided with a professional environment and compete all year long. Unlike a collegiate season, here the competition goes on for 9 months, from September to May. You will compete in a national league and experience club competition.

What makes us different:

• Club Competition

• International environment

• 5 trainings per week

• Club Placement

• Coaching Opportunities

American Football is a booming sport in Italy and is very much on the rise. With Rome City Institute, our American Football student-athletes will have the opportunity to participate in the Italian competition with a local club. Those clubs participate in the national competition, all over the country. The Italian Leagues are divided into SuperBowl Italiano and SilverBowl. However, top-notch teams also compete in the EuroBowl, a side competition all around Europe.

At the same time, they will continue to work with our professional coaching staff in every aspect of their athletic life: technical improvement, strength & conditioning, and nutrition. Our staff have connections with all the football clubs here in Rome, to ensure playing opportunities and a full experience . Our job is to match your talent with an equivalent club so you can play and experience the Italian American-Football competition. Your profile will be promoted inside our network before your arrival in Rome so you can start playing immediately! Therefore, once placed with a club, our student-athletes will continue to train in the morning with our professional academy, while in the afternoon they will have the chance to train with their club. For Italian clubs, the season begins by the end of August and it continues until the beginning of May. Official games are played once a week, either on Saturday or Sunday.

Football in Italy is now gearing up to take off, in the European sports scenario. While still far from the NFL and top D1 levels, the Italian football movement is working effortlessly to grow the game, significantly from the ground up. For this reason, many teams are working on optimizing facilities and developing youth categories. This includes not only teaching them the basics of the game but more importantly, the culture of American Football. However, to illustrate the potential of football in Italy, there have been examples over the years of athletes reaching the NFL, and the number of players will only improve with the growth of the game.

Maximilian Pircher, is a current Italian player in the NFL, which became the first Italian born player to ever win the Super Bowl. He accomplished this last year, when the Los Angeles Rams, the team that drafted him as an offensive lineman, won the Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals. Giorgio Tavecchio, a historic Italian kicker with a long NFL career, nicknamed “Italian Ice”, enjoyed a very successful 3-year stint with the Oakland Raiders, along with multiple seasons with 4 other NFL teams. While historically Italian players in the states have built a tradition of kickers, the mold is changing to adapt to the current times.

The Italian NFL rising star is Haba Baldonado, born and raised in Rome. Haba’s journey started in Rome with the Lazio Ducks, going through Clearwater Academy first and Pittsburgh University after, before getting into the 2023 NFL Draft and sign as Free Agent with the New York Giants!

Your experience will make a massive impact at the club you will play with! American-Football is indeed one of America’s trademarks, and with your strong background you will not only be a technical and tactical leader for the team throughout the league, but also for the youth.

American Football in Italy has been and continues to invest heavily on the growth and development of younger players as they see value in the investment for the future. Thanks to our American Football Program, you will be a key player in this phase of the game, being a major asset in the growth of this incredible game in this incredible country!

Are you ready to become a Rome City Lion?

At Rome City we are looking for students who are willing to think outside the box and prepare themself for a professional journey in a rapidly changing world.