The Egyptian National Football League (ENFL), organized by the Egyptian Federation of American Football (EFAF), heads into its fourth season Friday, February 16th, with eight teams.
EFAF’s Egyptian Flag Footbal League for women also gets underway this weekend, on Saturday, February 17.
EFAF is the largest federation in Africa with more than 700 registered players, and eight men’s teams taking part in the 2017/2018 season. The ENFL has grown from five teams last year while the EFFL is up to eight women’s teams compared to only three last season which was the first for women in Egypt. So for the first time, there are as many teams for women as there are for men, allowing equal representation for both.
American football in Egypt has evolved a lot over the past 10 years and is now attracting the attention of many professional and semi-professional players. A record four import players and five import coaches have joined the league for the 2018 season.
The MSA Tigers have signed Philip Avalos as their head coach for the season and renewed their contract with their quarterback, Taylor Budd who had led them to the Egyptian Bowl last season which they lost to the GUC Eagles who snatched their third consecutive title last season, with the help of the American running back Triston Mccathern. The Eagles, who have not lost a game in three years, will be playing without import players this season and will be relying on their all Egyptian squad under the leadership of Canadian Tom Cudney as their new head coach.
Preseason action
The Cairo Bears, who didn’t win any games last season, seem to be planning something big this year. They’ve signed highly touted running back Anthony Green Jr who has spent two successful seasons in Hungary. The Bears won both of their preseason games without Green and the whole team is determined to leave a mark this season.
The Cairo Hellhounds who have the reputation of being the hardest hitters in the Egyptian league, suffered through a disappointing season last year, managing only one win against the Bears. That’s very unlikely to happen again this season; the Hellhounds have bolstered their Egyptian squad with a quarterback, Mathew Kershey, and a new head coach, John Burleson, in addition to their old coach Bryan Lewis.
The Cairo Wolves who made it to the playoffs last season with the help of Kendall Owens, the Wolves running back whose outstanding performance earned him offensive MVP, are going a different way this season and unlike the rest of the teams in the league, the Wolves have signed a defensive player, linebacker Jeron Jones.
That leaves the AUC Titans who missed the previous season and are back with a campaign called “Rise of the Nation” hoping to make a comeback this season with their American coach Terry Bates.
The remaining two teams are the Cairo Warriors and Gezira Thunder who are the newest additions to the ENFL, and though the teams are new, there are a lot of experienced players on both teams.
EFFL
As for the women’s flag football league, most of the teams in the EFFL are new since the 2016/2017 season only had three teams; the Wolves, Eagles and Warriors. The Cairo Wolves women team beat the Warriors to win the first flag football title in Egyptian history with the Eagles coming third.