Getting to know the Super Bowl champions | OneFootball

Eintracht paid a visit to the Philadelphia Eagles and got to watch the team training, share in insightful conversations and hear inspiring speeches.

The Eagles from the heart of Europe met their counterparts from the east coast of the USA, as Eintracht Frankfurt visited the Philadelphia Eagles. An Eintracht delegation featuring CEO Axel Hellmann, board member for sport Markus Krösche and his aide Ole Siegel, and Jan Martin Strasheim (head of media and communications), visited the leading NFL team’s training camp. As is the case with Eintracht, the reigning Super Bowl champions are currently in pre-season. They gave their German visitors a glimpse of what the NFL is all about with an insight into training, conversations with club management and fans in a relaxed atmosphere and with plenty of other impressions, as well as a chance to see the team’s Super Bowl trophies and rings up close.

“There are quite a few things that you can take away from US pro sport, but what impressed me the most today was that there were so many fans attending a training session that was taking place in 37-degree heat and what felt like 100 per cent humidity,” Hellmann said. “Then there’s the organisation, in particular the entertainment factor. All that it involves is run so professionally.”

As soon as the Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG CEO had made his way onto the expansive training ground, he found himself chatting with die-hard Eagles fans.  “There are three things that I really focus on,” Hellmann said. “What’s the atmosphere like at the club? I want to take the temperature, and obviously with their Super Bowl win, it’s red hot at the Eagles.

Inspiring speeches

That evening, Eintracht visited the Eagles again, this time in numbers, with the squad, coaches and backroom staff all coming to the huge indoor training centre.

The NFL club showed their guests a thrilling video of the road to their most recent Super Bowl title, followed by inspiring speeches from president Don Smolenski and senior advisor to the general manager Dom DiSandro. Both of them chose their words well as they underlined how the team had grown and come closer week by week en route to their second Super Bowl win, and how team-mates became true friends as everyone came together to pursue on goal – the silver Vince Lombardi Trophy. ‘Big Dom’, as DiSandro is known, spoke directly to the younger players and talked about maintaining focus and steering clear of distraction off the pitch that can lead to danger.

What the visit proved more than anything, however, is that when Eintracht Frankfurt meets Philadelphia, there is one thing that unites everyone: Go Eagles!