CEFL 2020 will crown the official European Champion
The Central European Football League has announced its schedule for 2020. its 15th season, and the list of teams includes 10 national champions plus two national runners up.
In conjunction with IFAF, the CEFL and ECTC (European Club Team Championship) will merge and the winner of CEFL Bowl XV will be officially crowned as the 2020 European Champions.
The lineup of teams ranges from from Barcelona in the west, to Moscow in the east, and from Stockholm in the north, to Istanbul in the south.
- Swarco Raiders Tirol, Austrian champions, CEFL champions, ECTC champions
- Dacia Vienna Vikings, Austrian runners up, ECTC finalists
- Calanda Broncos, Swiss champions, CEFL finalists
- Wroclaw Panthers, Polish champions
- Thonon Black Panthers, French champions
- Milan Seamen, Italian champions
- Copenhagen Towers, Danish runners up
- Badalona Dracs, Spanish champions
- Stockholm Mean Machines, Swedish champions
- Kragujevac Wild Boars, Serbian champions
- Istanbul Koc Rams, Turkish champions
- Moscow Spartans, Russian de-facto champions
A new formatting system has been adopted based roughly on the system used by IFAF for the 2020 European Championship qualifying tournament.
Due to the vast distances between the teams, this new system takes into account each team’s ranking and geographic location, basically a modified cup system.
The four best teams from 2019 will be seeded, which earns them a bye in the first round. The remaining eight teams will play single-game matchups at the higher-ranked teams’ venues. The priority was to pair up teams geographically, where applicable, and then apply ranking benchmark. First round games will be played on April 25, except for the game in France which will take place on April 11.
First Round:
- April 11 Thonon Black Panthers – Badalona Dracs
- April 25 Milan Seamen – Moscow Spartans
- April 25 Copenhagen Towers – Stockholm Mean Machines
- April 25 Kragujevac Wild Boars – Istanbul Koc Rams
In the second round, winners of these games will travel to meet seeded teams closest to them, where applicable, and the matchups will be played on 9 and 10 May.
Second Round:
- May 9 Swarco Raiders Tirol – (Milano Seamen / Moscow Spartans)
- May 9 Dacia Vienna Vikings – (Kragujevac Wild Boars / Istanbul Koc Rams)
- May 9 Wroclaw Panthers – (Copenhagen Towers / Stockholm Mean Machines)
- May 10 Calanda Broncos – (Thonon Black Panthers / Badalona Dracs)
Semifinal games will be hosted by the two top-ranked teams out of the four remaining. Teams will be paired up using the rule of lowest total distance. That means matchups will only be set after second round games have been played. The game date reserved for the semifinals is June 6.
The venue of the final game for the title of the European Champion has not yet been decided but June 27 is already slated for the championship final.
