CEFL: Central European Football League Announces 2023 Teams, Schedule, & Championship

| American Football | 02/10/2023

The Sportklub Central European Football League has announced the details for its CEFL Championship competition. The 2023 season will once again be made up of 12 participants ranging from all over the European continent. Seven of them are reigning national champions at home, including last season’s CEFL Championship winners, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

The field features a stronger group than in previous years, as the Italian Champions Otel Florence Guelfi join the competition as well as the Kuopio Steelers winners of the Maple League for three consecutive seasons. A strong Mean Machine team from Stockholm also joins the field, along with the recent Spanish Champions the Osos Rivas.

The following teams will be vying for the right to appear in the CEFL Bowl XVII:

Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, German champions and CEFL Bowl XVI champions
La Courneuve Flash, French champions
Otel Florence Guelfi, Italian champions
E-R Parma Panthers, CEFL Bowl XVI finalists
Calanda Broncos, Swiss vice-champions
Stockholm Mean Machines, Swedish champions
Kuopio Steelers, Finnish champions
Thonon Black Panthers, French vice-champions
Madrid Osos Rivas, Spanish champions
SBB Vukovi Belgrade, Serbian champions
LG OLED Las Rozas Black Demons, Spanish vice-champions
Budapest Wolves, Hungarian vice-champions

The competition will take place on four weekends: 22 April, 13 May, 3 June and 24 June. In this setting the four seeded teams will skip the first round will be the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, La Courneuve Flash, Otel Florence Guelfi and E–R Parma Panthers. The remaining eight teams will be matched regionally in 4 single-elimination first round games.

First round, 22 April

Calanda Broncos – Thonon Black Panthers
Stockholm Mean Machines – Kuopio Steelers
Madrid Osos Rivas – LG OLED Las Rozas Black Demons
SBB Vukovi Belgrade – Budapest Wolves

In the second round, each winner from the opening round will travel to the seeded team closest to them.

Second round, 13 May

Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns – Stockholm Mean Machines/Kuopio Steelers
La Courneuve Flash – Madrid Osos Rivas/LG OLED Las Rozas Black Demons
Otel Firenze Guelfi – Calanda Broncos/Thonon Black Panthers
E-R Parma Panthers – SBB Vukovi Belgrade/Budapest Wolves

Four second round winners will go through to the semis which will be played on 3 June. Semifinal matchups will be decided after the second round games have been played. CEFL Bowl XVII is scheduled for 24 June and the hosting rights will be awarded to one of the finalists.

See the highlights of the 2021 CEFL Bowl XV:

Alex is a former NCAA and semi-pro American football player who is now located in London, where he works in digital marketing. His goal in writing for AFI is to stay involved with the game that has given him so much. Alex enjoys covering leagues and