Spain expanding from 6 to 15 teams in top league

The LNFA – Liga Nacional de Fútbol Americano – the top American football league in Spain, will be undergoing a massive expansion for the 2018 season, jumping from six teams all the way up to 15.

The 15 teams of the XXIII LNFA Serie A will be divided up into three groups consisting of five teams each.

Group A will include the current champions, the Badalona Dracs, along with 2017 finalists the Reus Imperials as well as the Pioners de l’Hospitalet, Mallorca Voltors and Valencia Firebats who also played in the top league in 2017.

Group B will be made up of two teams from the top league, the Valencia Giants and Murcia Cobras, along with the Alicante Sharks, Granada Lions and Truckers of Coslada, while Group C will have the LG Oled Las Rozas Black Demons, Osos Rivas, Santiago Black Ravens, Gijón Mariners and Santurtzi Coyotes all of whom have moved up from the second division.

The Barbera Rookies have dropped out completely.

The regular season will consist of 10 rounds and will start the weekend of January 13 and 14, 2018 and finish on April 15.

Each round will consist of six games with three teams having a bye each week. At the end of the regular season, the top 12 teams will qualify for the playoffs and the bottom three will play in a relegation playoff to decide who drops down into the second division and who remains. This will be held from May 5/6 to June 9/10.

The best four teams in the regular season will earn a playoff bye with the remaining eight involved in a Wild Card round on the weekend of April 28.

The quarterfinals will be held on the weekend of May 5 with the semifinals May 19-20. The Spanish championship final will be held on the weekend of June 2.