Why Was the Italian Football Championship Played in Toledo?

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Amateur football players from Ancona and Florence drew a crowd in Ohio on Saturday.

Football players shot from above with the word Toledo in big yellow letters on the field.

June 29, 2025Updated 10:05 a.m. ET

Italy’s American football league played its championship game on Saturday.

In Toledo.

Toledo, Ohio.

It was as if some American sumo enthusiasts took their show to Tokyo, or an amateur baguette maker tried to set up shop on the streets of Paris.

Still, in the state where the National Football League was born, eager Italian part-timers playing for the Ancona Dolphins and the Firenze Guelfi suited up for a game to decide their country’s title.

And a few thousand Americans turned up in the summer football doldrums between college and N.F.L. seasons and paid to see them.

It looked a lot like a typical American football game with tailgating, coaches on the sidelines, refs in striped outfits and players banging heads after a touchdown.

Some spectators arrived in costume with an Italian, or faux Italian theme, like Mario of video game fame or an Italian baker.Credit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

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Most of the largely American spectators chose a team to root for fairly randomly.Credit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times