Barcelona Dragons

From elfpedia.eu

Uniform of the Barcelona Dragons football team in 2024.

The Barcelona Dragons were a founding member of the European League of Football in 2021 and left the league after the 2024 season.

History[edit | edit source]

The Barcelona Dragons was created as one of the founding teams of the league. Initially it was called Gladiators Football, but on March 9, 2021, an agreement was signed between the European League of Football and the NFL stipulating the cession of the names rights to the teams that played in the former NFL Europe.[1]

2021 Season[edit | edit source]

Barcelona Dragons' first season started on June 19, 2021 with a 17:21 loss against Stuttgart Surge. This game was played at the Estadi Municipal de Reus in front of about 2,000 spectators[2]. The team, with Adam Rita as head coach, closed the sason with a negative record of 3 wins and 7 losses. With this result they finished third in the South Divison and could not qualify for the playoff.

2022 Season[edit | edit source]

This season started with Andrew Weidinger as the new Head Coach.[3] Barcelona Dragons played their firts game in Germany against Stuttgart Surge and won 38:9.[4] They maintained their consecutivve winning streak for four more games until they lost in Week 5 against Vienna Vikings. They finished the reagular season being conference champions with 8 wins and 4 losses.[5] Barcelona played playoffs semifinals being defeated by the Vienna Vikings.[6]

2023 Season[edit | edit source]

In May 2023, the investment group Elite Sports becomes the majority shareholder of the Catalan team. The investor group is backed by technology entrepreneur Jason Robinson, Super Bowl XLVIII MVP Malcolm Smith, investor Marcelia Freeman and former professional golfer Martin Roache. [7] The Dragons moved to the Olimpic de Terrassa stadium, around 100 km closer to Barcelona than Reus. The team started the season with two wins. New quarterback Connor Miller was named league MVP of the week on the second game day. After that, things went from bad to worse for the Dragons. They did not manage a single win until the end of the season and lost their last game in Munich with a score of 0:55. After the season, general manager Bart Iaccarino resigned from his position. The Dragons also parted ways with head coach Gabriel Sánchez.

2024 Season[edit | edit source]

In November, the Barcelona Dragons announced David Shelton as their head coach for the 2024 season. His son Dominique Shelton was also signed as a player. He had played for the Raiders Tirol and Berlin Thunder in 2022. Levi Lewis, who was in the 2022 squad of the NFL team Seattle Seahawks, was signed as quarterback.

The franchise announced on the 20th of March that they will play the 2024 season at the Estadi Municipal de Badalona, just 15 minutes from the city center of Barcelona.

After Week 6, the Dragons released DB Dominique Shelton [8], the son of head coach David Shelton, who also left the team a few days later. [9] It emerged that many players were not paid at all or were paid late, were not insured and were only in Spain on tourist visas. As a result, many players left the team as the general mood was at rock bottom. [10] In week 7 at the home game against the Munich Ravens the Dragons could only muster very few players and played without import players. By halftime, they were complaining new injuries and conceded the game at 0:54 from their perspective. [11] [12] In total, at least 24 players left the team and it was expected that the Dragons would withdraw from the league. However, things turned out differently, the franchise decided to hire new players and try with a new team in week 8. [13] The new head coach was Oscar Calatayud. [14] The Dragons were unable to win any of their remaining six games, finishing the season with a 2-10 record and clearly missing out on the playoffs in penultimate place in the Central Conference.

2025 Season[edit | edit source]

After not hearing anything from the Dragons for a long time and the rumors that they would leave the league grew louder and louder, the people in charge were forced to publish a statement on Instagram on December 4, 2024, in which they announced that they would also participate in the 2025 season.

The Dragons' website is still unavailable at this time. This has been the case for weeks.

Shortly after this statement, the league posted on Instagram that the Dragons (and the Milano Seamen) will not be part of the 2025 season. [15]

"The European League of Football will start the 2025 season with 16 teams from nine nations. Nordic Storm will join, the Milano Seamen will take a one-year break and return in 2026, and the Barcelona Dragons will leave the European League of Football."

Stadium[edit | edit source]

In 2021 and 2022, the Dragons' home stadium was the 4700-capacity Estadi Municipal de Reus in Reus, a city around 110 km southwest of Barcelona. In the 2023 season, the Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa, the former Olympic field hockey stadium with space for 11,500 spectators, was chosen as the home ground.

Player Statistics[edit | edit source]

This section shows the performance data of selected players of the corresponding team.

Passing[edit | edit source]

Only players who have at least 50 passing attempts for this team are included

Name # Exp G CMP ATT YDS TD INT SCK CMP% YPG Y/A
Zachary Edwards 2 23 458 821 5963 58 21 94 55.8% 259.3 7.3
Conor Miller 1 10 220 391 2482 18 10 8 56.3% 248.2 6.3
Levi Lewis 1 6 108 183 936 6 5 16 59.0% 156.0 5.1
Grant Beucler 1 4 90 172 927 6 9 10 52.3% 231.8 5.4
Carlton Aiken Jr 1 2 25 60 354 2 2 8 41.7% 177.0 5.9

Receiving[edit | edit source]

Only players who have received for at least 500 career yards for their team are included in this list.

Name # Exp GP Rec Tgt Yds TD Ctch% YPC RPG YPG
Kyle Sweet 1 13 118 180 1594 17 65.6% 13.5 9.1 122.6
Jean Constant 1 10 74 112 1038 8 66.1% 14.0 7.4 103.8
Theodor Landström 1 12 56 121 805 8 46.3% 14.4 4.7 67.1
Antoni Montón 4 41 95 132 759 6 72.0% 8.0 2.3 18.5
Rémi Bertellin 1 9 47 85 750 7 55.3% 16.0 5.2 83.3
Jordi Torrededia 3 31 73 120 744 9 60.8% 10.2 2.4 24.0
Mario Flores Somolinos 2 22 51 108 674 6 47.2% 13.2 2.3 30.6
Joshua Johnston 1 7 50 78 600 2 64.1% 12.0 7.1 85.7
Benjamin Plu 1 13 41 70 567 5 58.6% 13.8 3.2 43.6

Kicking[edit | edit source]

Only players who scored at least 20 points are included in this list.

Player Seasons Active GP FG Made FG Att FG % FG Long (Max) XP Made XP Att XP % FG PTS XP PTS Total PTS
Giorgio Tavecchio 2 18 15 25 60.0% 56 51 61 83.6% 45 51 96
Luis Cereceda 3 14 5 13 38.5% 43 8 12 66.7% 15 8 23

Rushing[edit | edit source]

Only players who have at least 500 rushing yards for this team are included

Player # Exp GP Rush Att Rush YDS Avg Rush LNG Rush TD Fumbles Lost
Zachary Edwards 2 23 185 810 4.4 71 7 2
Antoni Montón 4 41 266 730 2.7 27 4 3
Adrian Jimenez 2 20 130 620 4.8 34 4 3

Rosters[edit | edit source]

2024 Roster[edit | edit source]

Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers


Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Injured reserve



Roster updated July 25, 2024
4 A-import, 6 E-import, 45 homegrown
55 active, 0 practice squad



Legend
Name = A-Import
Name = E-Import
Name = Season-ending




2023 Roster[edit | edit source]

Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Practice squad


Roster updated 18 August 2023
4 A-import, 6 E-import, 41 homegrown
51 active, 10 practice squad



Legend
Name = A-Import
Name = E-Import
Name = Season-ending



2021 Roster[edit | edit source]

Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers


Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams



Roster updated May 3, 2024





Legend
Name = A-Import
Name = E-Import
Name = Season-ending



Staff[edit | edit source]

Head Coaches[edit | edit source]

Name Tenure Record Titles
W L
Adam Rita 2021 3 7
Andrew Weidinger 2022 8 4 Southern Conference title 2022
Gabriel Sánchez 2023 2 10
David Shelton 2024 2 6
Oscar Calatayud 2024 0 4

2024 Staff[edit | edit source]

Front office

  • Owner – Elite Sports Equity (Jason Robinson, Malcolm Smith , Martin Roache)
  • CEO/GM –

Head coach

  • Head coach – Oscar Calatayud

Offensive coaches

  • Offensive coordinator – Shawn Cooper
  • Running backs –
  • Wide receivers/tight ends –
  • Offensive line –
 

Defensive coaches

  • Defensive coordinator –
  • Defensive backs –
  • Defensive backs Assistant –
  • Linebacker –
  • Defensive line –
  • Defensive line Assistant –

Special teams coaches

  • Special teams coordinator –

Assistant coaches

  • Head scouting and game analysis -
  • Head data and analytics –
  • International PR -

Strength and conditioning

  • Head strength and conditioning –


updated July 12, 2024


Total record[edit | edit source]

Games Win Loss Win % P+ P- PDiff
Barcelona Dragons 47 15 32 0.319 929 1514 -585

Record per Season[edit | edit source]

Season Conference Rank Games Win Loss Win % P+ P- Playoffs
2021 South 3 10 3 7 0.300 237 277
2022 Southern 1 12 8 4 0.667 364 225 Semi final @ Vienna Vikings 12-39
2023 Central 5 12 2 10 0.167 199 396
2024 Central 5 12 2 10 0.167 117 577

Record per Opponent[edit | edit source]

Games Win Loss Win % P+ P- PDiff
Rhein Fire 2 2 0 1.000 50 36 +14
Helvetic Mercenaries 2 2 0 1.000 37 31 +6
Cologne Centurions 4 3 1 0.750 143 138 +5
Istanbul Rams 2 1 1 0.500 60 29 +31
Berlin Thunder 2 1 1 0.500 51 35 +16
Helvetic Guards 2 1 1 0.500 48 39 +9
Stuttgart Surge 8 3 5 0.375 190 241 -51
Hamburg Sea Devils 4 1 3 0.250 76 99 -23
Milano Seamen 4 1 3 0.250 123 150 -27
Frankfurt Galaxy 2 0 2 0.000 36 64 -28
Vienna Vikings 3 0 3 0.000 50 90 -40
Paris Musketeers 2 0 2 0.000 15 87 -72
Madrid Bravos 2 0 2 0.000 12 96 -84
Raiders Tirol 4 0 4 0.000 23 141 -118
Munich Ravens 4 0 4 0.000 15 238 -223

Source: https://elfdata.eu/

References[edit | edit source]