June 30th, 2009 Congratulations to the Virginia Blue Thunder! The American team emerged as the champion of the International Women's Flag Football Association's tournament in Oslo, Norway last weekend.

Coming into the tournament, there appeared to be three clear favorites: the Blue Thunder, the Oslo Panthers, and the Oslo F Fighters. The Blue Thunder, being from America, had the most experience with the sport, the Panthers, historically, had won the greatest number of Scandinavian tournaments, and the F Fighters had won the two most recent Scandinavian tournaments in Gothenburg, Sweden last August and Hjorring, Denmark a month ago. This showdown in Oslo would finally give one of these three teams the chance to break from the pack.

The Blue Thunder sent a message early on, especially with their defense, as they blanked the F Fighters 14 - 0 in the tournament's opening game. They then endured a fierce contest with the Panthers, holding on for an 8 - 6 victory.  Both the Panthers and F Fighters then proceeded to dominate their competition in their next two games, clawing their way into the final four. The Panthers outscored their opponents 60 - 0 in these games while the F Fighters put up a similarly staggering margin of 48 - 6.

The F Fighters, Oslo Panthers, and Oslo Tigers rounded out the final four, taking 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place, respectively.

Once the Blue Thunder easily defeated the Oslo Tigers, their semifinal opponent, 22 - 0, it was time for the most exciting nail-biter of the tournament as the Panthers and the F Fighters squared off for the chance to get one last stab at the Americans for the championship. The F Fighters barely managed to surface as the victors of the grueling match, winning by a score of 8 - 6. The final match, regrettably, was a bit anticlimactic as no team was going to stand in the Blue Thunder's way in Oslo. The Americans finished what they started in dramatic fashion, winning the title over the F Fighters with a 20 - 0 effort. The other teams will now seek to find an answer to a Blue Thunder defense that surrendered 6 points all tournament long. Hopefully, they'll do so before the next IWFFA tournament, which will take place in early September in Gothenburg.   

All pictures are from www.iwffa.com.