The CFL Global Combine series heads to the Uusimaa Areena in Porvoo, Finland March 5.
This is the second of five CFL Global Combines being held in 2022. The first was organized in Brazil February 19 and the second in Norway, February 26. In addition to the Finnish combine, a CFL Combine is also scheduled for Great Britain March 5 and Japan March 6.
Seven athletes have been invited to attend the event in Finland at the request of the CFL. With the relaxation in the pandemic protocols introduced recently, CFL Combine staff will be on hand.
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 the Canadian Football League.
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.
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 performed.
Participants selected based on instructions from CFL scouts
The athletes invited to the CFL Global Combine have been selected mainly on the basis of CFL scouting. In Porvoo, in addition to five Finnish athletes, there will be one player from Ireland and one from Sweden. Not all the Finnish athletes requested by the CFL had the opportunity to participate in this year’s test event.
Defensive lineman Filip Zacok
Defensive lineman Alaudin Azemi (Sweden)
Wide receiver/defensive back Finn Kearns (Ireland)
Running back Karri Pajarinen
Defensive back Viljo Lempinen
Wide receiver Willem Kajander
Offensive lineman Tony Koskinen
