CEFL Cup: 8 teams from 6 countries set to battle

The Central European Football League, CEFL, continues to expand its unique CEFL Cup tournament and this year eight teams from six different countries will compete.

The single elimination, or single round knock-out tournament which is played in parallel with the CEFL, brings together teams from Eastern European countries in a single-elimination Cup competition. In 2018,  teams from Poland, Serbia,  Hungary and Turkey competed with Serbia’s SBB Vukovi Beograd defeating the Gdynia Seahawks from Poland in the final.

The 2019 version of the developmental tournament, designed to help grow the game of football in Eastern Europe, has again attracted the interest of top level teams from other parts of Europe.

Serbian finalists, SBB Vukovi Belgrade will return. Vukovi has competed in the CEFL for the past 13 seasons and are six-time winners of the tournament. Russian powerhouse, the Moscow Patriots who were also finalists for the Russian league title have entered the Cup along with Hungary’s Budapest Cowbells and their crosstown rivals, the Budapest Wolves. The Wolves are making their first appearance in five years.

Adding more flavor to the mix, Italian finalists, the Bolzano Giants have entered the Cup competition as has Russian champions, the Moscow Spartans. Romanian runner ups in 2018, the Bucharest Rebels have also joined the tournament along with the ITU Hornets from Istanbul, Turkey.

The CEFL Cup will be played as a single-round knockout tournament, in three rounds, beginning with the quarterfinals. Teams are paired and will play one game in each round, with the winners advancing. The matchups in the semifinals will be decided by the CEFL according to a set of criteria. The weekend scheduled for first round games is April 13-14 and the matchups are as follows:

Bolzano Giants (Italy) – Budapest Wolves (Hungary)
Budapest Cowbells (Hungary) – Moscow Spartans (Russia)
Bucharest Rebels (Romania) – SBB Vukovi Belgrade (Serbia)
Istanbul ITU Hornets (Turkey) – Moscow Patriots (Russia)

Semifinal games will be played on April 27-28 or alternatively May 11-12. The championship final is scheduled for June, 8-9 and the host city will be selected at that time.