The Cleveland Browns are partnering with the Italian Federation of American Football (FIDAF) to grow and develop the sport throughout the Boot.
The effort will extend from national teams to flag football for youth, women and girls. And, the initiative aims to spread recognition of the Browns brand through FIDAF-led activities, including camps, clinics, tournaments and emerging programming.
The announcement comes as the Browns hire new head coach Todd Monken and break ground on a new $2.6 billion enclosed stadium set to open in the summer of 2029 — all in a bid to literally rebuild the once-dominant, yet still beloved, team from the ground up.
“This partnership represents an extraordinary milestone for our entire movement,” said FIDAF President Leoluca Orlando. “Working alongside a historic NFL franchise such as the Cleveland Browns opens a new chapter in the international growth of Italian American football. This is not simply about visibility, but about sharing projects, sporting culture, youth development and the values of our game. It is an opportunity that will involve our clubs, our athletes, flag football, our national teams and the many young people who are approaching this sport throughout Italy.”
The news comes as another American football league in Italy, the ILF (Italian Football League), continues to elevate the sport with several branded teams, playoffs and an “Italian Bowl,” which was hosted in Ohio the past two years and will be held at Paolo Mazza Stadium in Ferrara, Italy, on July 4, 2026.
The ILF, which is affiliated with FIDAF, has been around for almost 50 years, and was even the subject of a John Grisham novel, Playing for Pizza, and was featured in The New York Times last fall.
Despite still being in the shadow of European football, the American version’s popularity is emerging and the gridiron’s footprint in Italy traces back to WWII when American soldiers would hold pickup games — like the famed Spaghetti Bowl.
Get a history of the game in Italy here:
In 1930, immigrant families banded together to create the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA), now one of the most prominent and financially successful Italian American organizations in the nation. In the last decade, we built a 730,000-strong social media community, grew our not-for-profit fraternal association, ISDA Financial Life, to nearly a half billion dollars in member assets, co-founded the Russo Brothers Italian American Filmmaker Forum (RBIAFF), and launched the fastest-growing Italian American publication (La Nostra Voce).
