Jakeb Sullivan almost always seems to smile.

He almost always has a good reason to do so.

The quarterback from Frankfurt Galaxy led his team into the final of the newly founded European League of Football (ELF) with an almost sleepwalking certainty.

Ten wins in the last ten games speak for themselves, only the season opener was lost.

Jan Ehrhardt

Sports editor.

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In the grand finale this Sunday (2.45 p.m. / ProSieben Maxx), Frankfurt is the big favorite, and that's why the 27-year-old American seems to smile even more vigorously than usual during his public appearances this week.

That the opponent in the most important game of the ELF premier season is Hamburg Sea Devils of all places, the team that brought the Galaxy the only defeat so far this year?

Anyway, says Sullivan.

Was he particularly excited, particularly nervous, particularly tense?

No, everything as always.

Was he at least particularly confident that his team would win in the end?

Not even that, he explains.

"Normally confident" is what he says in his words, which should mean something like: I know what I can do.

I know what we can do.

What Sullivan does not know: how it will feel to stretch the trophy into the sky above Düsseldorf, where the final will be played in the Fortuna football arena in front of more than 20,000 spectators.

“It's a trophy that no one has held up before, so I couldn't ask anyone how it is.

But I'm sure it feels great. "

Even such questions, asked by a journalist from Hamburg, do not disturb him these days.

He doesn't want to worry too much before the final anyway.

Instead: "Just enjoy the time with my teammates and what we have achieved together."

Sullivan one of the best in the ELF

However, one should not confuse these statements and this behavior with arrogance.

Sullivan has proven almost consistently this season that he is one of the best playmakers in the league.

He made passes over a total of 2285 yards (2089 meters), throwing for 28 touchdowns, only eight of his 281 pass attempts were intercepted.

These are top values.

Hardly any opponent was up to him and the Galaxy, neither in the regular season, where it was against the Barcelona Dragons and the Wroclaw Panthers from other European countries, nor in the play-off semifinals, where the Centurions from Cologne at 36: 6 were at best something of a sparring partner.

Speaking of sparring partners: At the second clash with the Hamburg Sea Devils this season (after the 15:17 defeat on the first match day) Frankfurt won 35: 9 in the home stadium.

So the best conditions for a victory in the grand finale.

Sullivan actually sees it that way too.

"I can hardly wait," he says then.

And of course: he smiles.