After winning their first title in the European League of Football (ELF), Rhein Fire has extended the contract with head coach Jim Tomsula for another year until the end of the 2024 season. The people of Düsseldorf announced this.
At the end of September, Rhein Fire won the final at its home in Duisburg against Stuttgart Surge (53:34) and became undefeated champion in the third ELF season. Tomsula was named Coach of the Year by the league.
The former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers from the US professional league NFL also received a promotion. In his additional role as president, the 55-year-old American will in future oversee the entire organization. According to the franchise, Tomsula will be “mainly responsible for further development” together with the new managing director Max Paatz.
Düsseldorf joined the ELF for the 2022 season, and Tomsula was the head coach from the start. In 2006 he had already been on the sidelines for Rhein Fire in the later disbanded NFL Europe.