Open Tryouts For CAFL in China Starting This Weekend

The CAFL (China Arena Football League) announces an exciting milepost on the road towards their historic first season of pro football in China – the first ever open combine and tryouts of Chinese athletes hoping to play as professionals in the CAFL beginning in the Fall of 2016.

Open tryouts will be held in two major Chinese cities beginning in Beijing on April 16, and concluding in Shanghai on April 23.

Ken Bozarth, the CAFL Head of Football Operations, who has been building a database of scouting and player information for 30 months in China, says he is expecting anywhere from 150 to 200 hopefuls at each of the 10-hour tryout and workout sessions.

“While American-style football is not yet played by the majority of young athletes here, I have personally seen tremendous growth just in the last three years that I have been on hand,” said Bozarth, a New Jersey native with extensive background in the indoor version of the game in the US. “We founded college programs at six major China Universities almost three years ago, and many of our prospects from those programs will have an advantage as they have been training and studying the sport, but there are many others we are watching who have been playing in the club-level leagues that have sprung up as western sports in general have become increasingly popular.”

In addition to Bozarth, six US-based coaches will be on hand to put the young men through the paces of the tryout process, including Ed Wang, the former NFL-star offensive tackle and son of Chinese Olympic parents, and former US star wide receiver Darrick Branch.

Approximately 66 roster spots will be made available to the Chinese players on the rosters of the original six Chinese teams who will play the inaugural CAFL professional season in 2016, paired with players from the US and other nations.

For more information, contact Lou Tilley, CAFL VP of Media and Communications at [email protected]