The reigning CEFL champions, the La Courneuve Flash, will be attempting to reach their second straight Central European Football League final when they host Swiss title holders, the Calanda Broncos, Saturday June 1 in Paris.
For the Broncos, this will be the second semifinal appearance in three years. They lost in the 2021 semifinal round 35-21 to the eventual champions, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. La Courneuve were beaten 26-21 in the 2023 final by the Thonon Black Panthers.
The Flash were very close to being eliminated in the second round by the Stockholm Mean Machines. The visitors rallied after falling behind 28-0 in the first half, only to lose by an incomplete 2 point conversion in the final seconds. It was truly a nail biter.
La Courneuve quarterback Badis Grami tossed three touchdown passes against the Mean Machines finding tight end Darius Dawsey for two scores and wide receiver Yassine Sifeddine for another. Running backs François Pion and Judson Saint Louis both added rushing touchdowns.
The Broncos are the only one of the four semifinalist that has played in both previous rounds. They faced Danish champions, the Copenhagen Towers in the first, beating them handily, 33-10. Next they traveled to Italy to take on the defending Italian champions, the Parma Panthers in the second round, and returned home with a 34-20 victory. The Swiss team top their national league with 7-0 record with three games left in the regular season.
Behind center for the Broncos is their own 21-year-old talent, Robin Sennrich. He threw two touchdown passes in each game while also adding a rushing touchdown in both. Wide receiver Maxwell Gray score three touchdowns in the first round win over Copenhagen and added another against Parma. Andre Blackett Jr. who usually plays linebacker, added to the production with a rushing score in Parma.
After La Courneuve’s close call against the Mean Machines, and Calanda’s habit of rising up in big games, this one could be close.