What the Vienna Vikings have to prove against Rhein Fire

The fact that they have not provided proof of this for a long time is only partly the fault of the Vikings. In 2022, in their first year in the ELF, they won the title and defeated the strong defense of the Hamburg Sea Devils in the final. There is nothing to complain about.

In the 2023 regular season, the Vikings had a fairly simple schedule. The new Eastern Conference was filled with newcomers like the Lions or Enthroners, with the withdrawal of the Leipzigg Kings also gave away victories. Vienna was hardly really challenged, and when it came to the play-offs, they promptly suffered a defeat against Stuttgart Surge.

This year, things are similar. Vienna had an extremely simple schedule. In fact, it was the simplest in the league: The Vikings’ opponents only won 33 percent of their games. The top scorer in the ELF was Berlin Thunder, whose opponents won 63 percent of all games. The win rate of the Rhein Fire opponents was 53 percent, with the defending champions right in the middle in ninth place.

The Vikings cannot be blamed here. They do not determine conferences and schedules. By winning their games, the schedules for their opponents (who otherwise have not won many games) logically become more difficult in retrospect and their own easier.

But: The Vikings’ schedule was already the third easiest before the season, compared to the previous year. Because the ELF assigned them the Helvetic Mercenaries as interconference games alongside the Tirol Raiders, a team that is one of the weaker in the league, in addition to the already below-average conference. There was no chance of a duel against, for example, Rhein Fire or Stuttgart Surge.

From a purely sporting point of view, it is extremely difficult to understand why the ELF has not planned a single such duel. That would have significantly improved the regular season.

As mentioned, the Vikings cannot help it and instead did everything they could: As expected, they won all of their regular season games and then also made it through to the playoffs. They won 47:31 against the Paris Musketeers for long stretches. They also passed their first real test.

But the final against Rhein Fire will be even tougher. And if Vienna comes up short here, the narrative will continue that their success is mainly due to the simplicity of the tasks and that they are not enough against the top teams. If they win, however, that will die down. Quite quickly, in fact, probably.