The 2011 IFAF World Championship was the fourth instance of the IFAF World Championship, an international American football tournament. It began on July 8, 2011 with the final games commencing on July 16. It was hosted by Austria, with games taking place in three cities: Vienna, Innsbruck[1] and Graz; Vienna hosted the medal games.[2]
Austria won the bid to host the games. There were a record number of attendees at the 2009 IFAF Congress, the meeting which decided the host nation.[3] The format was changed for 2011: for the first time, eight qualifying teams were divided into two groups, with the group winners competing for the Championship. Four teams automatically qualified: Austria (as host nation), the United States (as the defending World Champions), and Germany and France (for reaching the final in the 2010 EFAF European Championship. Four other teams were accepted through qualifiers in the four regions of the International Federation of American Football: Asia, Europe, Oceania and Pan-America.[2]
The United States and Canada won Group A and Group B, respectively, and played each other in the Gold Medal match on July 16, 2011. In front of the largest crowd to ever watch a World Championship game (20,000), the United States beat Canada, 50–7.
Qualifying
List of qualified teams
The following 8 teams qualified for the final tournament.
Below is a list of the venues which hosted games during the 2011 IFAF World Championship. Each preliminary round group was hosted in a single arena in Innsbruck (Group A) and Graz (Group B). The knockout phase and Finals took place at Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna.
The United States routed Canada 50-7 in the Gold Medal game of the 2011 IFAF Senior World Championship. The 20,000 fans in attendance at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, Austria, set a record for an IFAF Championship game. The game was never close, with Team USA leading 37-7 at halftime. Team USA dominated the rushing game, outgaining Canada 247-48, with four different players scoring touchdowns on the ground. While Henry Harris led the way for the Americans on the ground, with 114 yards on 15 carries and a TD, RB Nate Kmic was the only American to score two touchdowns on the day. Team USA quarterback Cody Hawkins was 13 of 21 for 161 yards and 2 TD passes. The U.S. defense recorded four sacks, and Jordan Lake caught two interceptions. One bright spot for team Canada was Shamawd Chambers, whose 7 receptions for 74 yards bested the Americans.
^AFBOE (2010-05-27). "Test gegen Augustana markiert WM-Start" (in German). AFBOE. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)