The Canadian Football League (CFL) has announced its Global Combine schedule which includes combines in Europe, Brazil and Japan as the league continues its push to internationalize the game.
The CFL Global Combines are designed to assess and measure the size, speed, athletic ability, and football skills of top players from outside Canada and the United States who have aspirations of playing professionally in Canada.
The international combines will be attended by local representatives of the CFL. The top players will be invited to Toronto in late March for the 2022 CFL Combine which will feature international prospects competing alongside their young Canadian counterparts from U SPORTS, the NCAA and junior football. The league’s biggest scouting event will be followed by two separate drafts in the spring – one for global players and one for Canadians.
Global Combine candidates will undergo a series of tests including the standard 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drills as well as vertical jump and bench press. Various positional drills will also be conducted.
The year’s first international combine is scheduled for Brazil, February 19, with the next one a week later in Norway on February 26. Great Britain will host a CFL Combine on March 5 as will Finland and the CFL Global Combine schedule will then wind up in Fujitsu, Japan on March 6.
Two of the many excellent global talents that have been uncovered through the CFL 2.0 initiative include Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive lineman Thiadric Hansen from Germany and Montreal Alouettes’ Japanese running back Taku Lee.