The Hamburg Dockers have broken through for their first premiership in their 10-year history in the Australian Football League Germany, defeating the Rheinland Lions 9.14 (68) to 7.13 (55).

The Hamburgers have more than just the nickname in common with AFL club Fremantle - the 2013 season seeing the first-ever Grand Final appearance for both the German and Aussie Dockers.

The Fremantle FC are a sister club to the Hamburg Dockers, having supplied them with equipment such as jumpers and balls when the side was originally set up. They also rated a mention in the media Down Under this week via this article, as their captain Casey Woodward hails from the Western Australian town of Bunbury.

With Freo being one of the AFL clubs who have been most proactive in supporting international clubs, we reckon there might be more than a few fans around the world getting in on the Purple Haze action this weekend and seeing if they can replicate the success of their German allies.

With the Euro Cup finished for another year, some teams are going home happy, some disappointed. That is the nature of any competitive sport. However, the individual performances can probably only be truly measured against the expectations of the teams themselves. In subsequent articles this may become more clear, however our starting point for a review is based on a cold, hard statistical analysis of results.

Below is a nation by nation look at performances. As an exercise, anyone interested in how this sits with the teams' hopes can read the series of preview articles published over the past few weeks, where nations listed their goals for the Axios Euro Cup.

The England Dragonslayers are European 9-a-side champions, after defeating hosts France in the final of the 2013 Axios Euro Cup held in Bordeaux yesterday.

The bronze went to Croatia, who defeated Italy in the third-place playoff.

Full tournament report will appear in the coming days!

It’s almost time for the players to run out onto the fields at St Medard-en-Jalles. As the opening siren gets closer, World Footy News continues its series of articles looking at the preparation and prospects of the various nations competing at this year’s Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux. This time we look at the story of the Spanish national team. Dani Ribas from the Spanish Bulls gives us a brief rundown.                                                       

The Journey:

“The 2013 season did not see new growth, but a consolidation of the game from last year. Unfortunately there’s no league in Spain [or] new teams, although we are working on that. It’s hard to recruit new people if you cannot promise them regular matches against other teams.  Basically, we are the same squad as previous Euro Cup editions.”

As we get closer to the event, World Footy News continues its series of articles looking at the preparation and prospects of the various nations competing at this year’s Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux. This time we look at the story of the French national team, and host nation.  Thomas Urban, President of the Comitê National de Football Australien, gives us a rundown.

The Journey:

“This season has been good to the French League. Seven teams were involved in the championship and football starts to be known in cities where we have clubs. We hope that this Euro Cup will be a chance for us to shine in the country and not just Bordeaux Bombers but every club will take benefit of it.”

As we get closer to the event, World Footy News continues its series of articles looking at the preparation and prospects of the various nations competing at this year’s Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux. This time we look at the story of the Italian national team.  Nicola Giampaulo, former coach of the team representing AFL Italia, gives us his insights.

The Journey:

“I am very excited with our prospects for this year’s Euro Cup.

The past 12 months have been stable and this is alone a positive outcome. We are finding it difficult to introduce new teams to the national comp but on the other hand we have not lost any either. Financial limitations are the biggest problem for the clubs and this makes it difficult facing costs and does not allow much promotion of the game.”

The England Dragonslayers are the only home nations side making the trip to Bordeaux for this year's Axios Euro Cup. Coach Robert Fielder spoke to WFN about the highly-facied English side's chances, with the Slayers hoping to bounce back after a disappointing 3rd place last year.

The Journey

"3rd in 2012 wasn’t quite what we’d planned for, but that’s the beauty of sport. We didn’t quite find our rhythm on the day, in control of the semi, two inaccuracies and it was all over. Since then, there has been an influx of new players and we’ve just finished our successful 2nd national weekend training camp.

"The camp is a superb opportunity to develop 30 players from all around the country using video analysis, game sense practices and games, plus a probables v possibles match to make final selection easier. There are a some established players whose circumstances have changed and hope to push for places next year."

"Finance and flexible employers (many are not) are a big issue for many players and especially staff potential attendance at these tournaments. It would benefit all to be recognised as a NGB sport to enable all the hard working volunteers in the sport to perform with at least one less hand tied behind their back. Nevertheless, we’re looking forward to what will be a tournament as exciting as ever."

In the next instalment of our series of articles looking at the preparation and prospects of the various nations competing at this year’s Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux, we look at the story of the Irish Warriors.  Pat Leavy, acting team manager of the Bordeaux bound squad, gives us his insights.

The Journey:

“The ARFLI 2013 league season has been the most competitive since the league's formation.  We currently have six full time clubs spread across the country and we have now expanded into the universities and hopefully we will see new talent emerge from this pool of players. Finals footy culminated in the South Dublin Swans winning a very exciting Grand Final overturning a 26 point half time deficit to win by 20 points.  The Grand Final epitomised all that is good in the Irish League – hard but fair contests, great fielding and score taking and a never say die attitude.”

“This will be Ireland’s fourth participation in the Euro Cup having first competed in Milan in 2010 and we hope to continue our good record in the competition.”

This weekend saw a tournament played in Vilamoura, Portugal, which was small in scale and number of teams, but potentially huge ramifications for the nations competing.

Originally looked at as a tournament for teams not going to the Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux next weekend, the event was eventually populated by the Oslo Crows (whose players will be in Bordeaux as part of the Norway squad) as well as the Flying Dutchmen from the Netherlands and the Lisbon Dockers representing host nation Portugal.

According to David Valente, President of Futbal Australiano em Portugal, this event could have great benefits for football in his nation.

The pools have been announced for the 9-a-side Axios 2013 Euro Cup in Bordeaux, France, with 11 nations and the European Crusaders competing in a lightning tournament on September 21st.

Teams will compete in four groups of three teams each; the Groupe De Coubertin including Finland, Croatia and the Crusaders; Groupe Léo Lagrange with Ireland, France and Norway; Groupe Bérodier with England, Iceland and Catalunya; and Groupe Jackson with Italy, Spain and Austria.

Notable absentees include Germany, Denmark and Sweden, who chose not to send a side so soon after the full-field European Championships in Dublin. Other active leagues not represented include Scotland, Wales, Russia, Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

Our team previews will continue to appear over the next week or two, with the England Dragonslayers the next to be featured.