Around the Continent: Week 4 Full of Upsets And Close Calls
[tps_title]Around the Continent[/tps_title]
CEFL
The Central European Football League gets underway this coming weekend. The league involves teams from Serbia (Vukovi Belgrade, Novi Sad Dukes), Slovenia (Ljubjana Silverhawks) and Austria (Cineplexx Blue Devils).
Vukovi will host the Silverhawks this weekend in a rematch of last season’s championship game which Vukovi won 27-17.
Vukovi has reached the final every year since the league began in 2006 and won five times while losing four. The Silverhawks have made the final three times and won it once, in 2012. This is the third time since the league’s inception that the Blue Devils will participate. They reached the championship in 2009 but lost to Vukovi.
Croatia
The Croatian league kicks off in the fall.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic season got underway this past weekend and the Prague Black Panthers again played back to back football games. On Saturday they dropped a one point loss to the Vienna Vikings 31-30 in the Austrian league while on Sunday they overcame a tough Pribram Bobcat squad in Czech league play 10-9. In the only other game in the Czech Republic the Prague Lions beat the Brno Alligators 37-12.
Denmark
The Danish American Football League kicked off its 2015 season as the defending champion Copenhagen Towers picked up where they left off in 2014. On the road they blanked the AaB 89ers 47-0. In the only other game, the Aarhus Tigers, 2014 finalists pounded the Herlev Rebels 36-0.
This coming weekend, the Copenhagen Towers will host Sweden’s Carlstad Crusaders in Champions League play.
Finland
The Maple League starts in early June. The schedule is pending.
France
In a showdown of the top two teams in the French league – FFFA – the Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône Cougars remain undefeated by beating Aix-en-Provence Argonautes by less than a touchdown, 41-36. Meanwhile, last year’s powerhouses and preseason favorites the La Courneuve Flash and the Thonon Black Panthers met and this time the Black Panthers came away with a victory by the slimmest of margins, 20-19. The Elancourt Templiers beat the Nice Dauphins 25-2 while the Asnieres Molosses defeated the Nimes Centurions 34-20.
The Cougars lead the league with a 6-0-1 record followed by the Argonautes in second at 4-2 and the Dauphins in third at 4-3. The Flash sit in fifth spot, out of the playoffs so far.
The Argonautes will play an IFAF Europe Champions League game against Osos Rivas from Madrid this weekend.
