2023 Helvetic Guards season

2023 Helvetic Guards season
2023 Helvetic Guards season
General manager	Toni Zöller
Head coach	Norm Chow
Home field	Lidl Arena Wil
	Helvetic Guards; 2024 →;

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

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

Standings

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

Source: europeanleague.football

Roster

Reference^[6]

**Helvetic Guards roster**

	Quarterbacks Collin Hill Richard Wartmann Running backs Kevin Audétat Dmitri Gfeller Ibony Mbungu Silas Nacita Moritz Stein Wide receivers Cayman Bailey Jr. Xavier Baudraz Gregorio Calonego Timo Hager Anton Jallai David Marty Pascal Rüegg Tight ends Igor Mašlanka Theo Stirnimann		Offensive linemen Federico Ferretti Wilson Ferretti Pascal Hollenstein Filip Kovljenic Amos Laoye Niels Meier Matthias Münger Gabriel Rodriguez Timothy Schmid Jürg Stalder Raffael Wachter Defensive linemen Abdur-Rahman Elabed Yannick Friedberg Tim Hänni Philipp Leimgruber Dominik Liechti Emmanuel Kabengele Michael Kimpiabi Milos Panic Michel Sousa Luca Steiner Dalibor Vuckovic		Linebackers Andreas Buri Julien Conus Jonathan Falk Adrian Fiedler Fabio Rothmund Timothy Schürmann Fabian Strahm J. R. Tavai Ludovic Vincent Defensive backs Labinot Arapi Macéo Beard Fabian Bruhin Ken Hike Olivier Marty Dominic Mischler Chaska Rémy Perron Hendrik Rutishauser Florian Ziegler Special teams Nils Jonkmans				Rookies in italics Roster updated 14 February 2023 4 A-import, 6 E-import, 47 homegrown 57 active

Staff

**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 Head coach – Norm Chow Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – n/a Quarterbacks – n/a Running backs – Darius Willis Wide receivers – Mike Wilson Tight ends – Pete Metzelaars Offensive line – Bob Palcic Offensive assistant – Rudy Fonkoue, Christian Warzecha			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

References

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

[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.

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