American Football in Romania: Campionatul National de Fotbal American (CNFA)

American football in Romania has a bright future and has a passion that wears full pads!

American Football in Romania started in 2007, when the first teams were formed by the American football fans across the country.

Last year, the Campionatul National de Fotbal American, the Romanian American football Championship, held its 5th edition and eight teams enrolled. Five of them made it to the end, two of them throwing the towel and one being disqualified after flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct.

Because of that, for this year, a league of teams (LEFA) was organized to supervise and legislate over the National Championship. So, for 2015, six teams enrolled, being split between two conferences: the North-West Conference and the South-East Conference.

North-West Conference

The North-West Conference is composed of: Timisoara 89ers, Cluj Crusaders and Resita Locomotives.

Timisoara 89ers, founded in 2010, played in the last two finals, RoBowl IV and V, and lost both times. On both occasions, the roster was comprised of members from both Timisoara 89ers and Resita Locomotives.

Cluj Crusaders, also founded in 2010, won RoBowl III and IV but only got 3rd place in last year’s Championship, winning in the small final against Bucharest Warriors.

Resita Locomotives, founded in 2012, is at its first National Championship but a large part of its players were with Timisoara 89ers in the last two seasons.

South-East Conference

In the South-East Conference, the teams that will play will be: Bucharest Rebels, Bucharest Warriors and Mures Monsters.

Bucharest Rebels, founded in 2012 after a large group of players left Bucharest Warriors, won the Championship last year, defeating Timisoara 89ers in RoBowl V. They ranked 3rd in the 2013 Championship and they played in RoBowl III against Cluj Crusaders, losing at Cluj Napoca.

Bucharest Warriors, the first American football team founded in Romania, in the spring of 2007, won the first two RoBowls against teams that are not currently enrolled in the Championship. Since then, after the split that formed Bucharest Rebels, they did not play in the 2012 Championship and ranked 4th in the last two.

Mures Monsters, founded in 2013 is the youngest team to play in the National Championship. Last year they were part of the North-West Conference but the league decided to reconfigure the conferences so that they would be equal so this year they will play against the teams from the capital.

For the first time, this year, in the regular season, in the two conferences, each team plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. In the middle of the regular season, inner conference games will be played.

The post season will comprise of two semi-finals, between the 1st ranked in the South-East Conference and the 2nd ranked in the North-West Conference, also between 1st ranked in the North-West Conference and the 2nd ranked in the South-East Conference.

RoBowl VI will be played between the winners of the semi-finals and the small final between the teams that lost.

The regular season is scheduled to start at Timisoara, on 21 March.

RoBowl VI will be played on the 14th of June, although the location of RoBowl VI has not been established yet.