Seven of the top teams in Europe, including five national champions, will do battle in the 2019 Central European Football League – CEFL – tournament.
Four teams are returning for another season, while the tournament has extended its reach to teams from three new countries: France, Italy and Switzerland.
The 2018/2017 champions and winners of the 2018 Austrian crown, the Swarco Raiders, have returned to defend their title. They have been joined in 2019 by 2018 finalists and Turkish champions, the Koc Rams. The Raiders defeated the Rams to win the 2018 CEFL championship.
The Kragujevac Wild Boars, 2017 CEFL finalists and 2018 Serbian champions and winners of the first CEFL title in 2006, have returned.
Back-to-back Italian champions (2017, 2018) the Milano Seamen enter the CEFL tournament for the first time. The Seamen were impressive in 2018, going undefeated to win the Italian championship and reaching the final of the EFL championship, losing a heart breaker to Germany’s Potsdam Royals.
Switzerland’s back-to-back champions, the Calanda Broncos, will play in the CEFL tournament for the very first time.
France’s Thonon Black Panthers, 2017 and 2018 French finalists and winners of the 2017 EFL crown, enter the CEFL tournament for the first time.
Finally, the Wroclaw Panthers, 2016, 2017 Polish champions, runners up for the Polish LFA crown in 2018, and winners of the 2016 IFAF Europe Champions League, have returned for the third straight year.
- Calanda Broncos, Swiss champions
- Istanbul Koç Rams, Turkish champions and CEFL Bowl XIII finalists
- Kragujevac Wild Boars, Serbian champions and 2017 CEFL finalists
- Milan Seamen, Italian champions
- Swarco Raiders Tirol, Austrian champions, two-time CEFL Bowl XIII champions, and European Superfinal game champions
- Thonon Black Panthers, French finalists, 2017 & 2018
- Wroclaw Panthers, 2016 & 2017 Polish champions, 2018 Polish LFA finalists
Teams from Austria have won the last three CEFL titles (Swarco Raiders in 2017 and 2018, and the Graz Giants in 2016).
2019 CEFL Schedule
Western Conference
April 13
Swarco Raiders Tirol – Thonon Black Panthers
May 11
Milan Seamen – Swarco Raiders Tirol
May 25
Thonon Black Panthers – Milan Seamen
Eastern Conference
April 13
Wroclaw Panthers – Calanda Broncos
Kragujevac Wild Boars – Istanbul Koç Rams
April 27
Calanda Broncos – Kragujevac Wild Boars
Istanbul Koç Rams – Wroclaw Panthers
May 11
Calanda Broncos – Istanbul Koç Rams
Wroclaw Panthers – Kragujevac Wild Boars
Teams in both conferences will all play each other once in a round robin format. This means that the Western Conference teams will play at least two games while in the Eastern Conference, each team will play a minimum of three games.
The conference winners will play in CEFL Bowl XIV, on June 8.