The Central European Football League, CEFL Cup tournament continues to raise the level of competition and this year is no exception.
Eight high-level teams from seven countries, including two national champions, will do battle this year. Half of those participants are new to CEFL, three are coming back from last season, and one is a former CEFL Bowl champion.
Last year’s finalists, the Bolzano Giants, will take another run at the Cup title that escaped them by a single point when they were beaten by the Moscow Spartans 15-14. A team that played the Giants in the first round last season, the Budapest Wolves, will also be returning. Serbian runners up, SBB Vukovi Belgrade will take part as will Austria’s Graz Giants, the team that defeated Vukovi in CEFL Bowl XI (2016) in one of the most exciting CEFL games to date.
One of the new additions are the British champions, the London Warriors. Another newcomer to the CEFL, but well known throughout Europe is French powerhouse, La Courneuve Flash. Switzerland’s Geneva Seahawks, runners up in the Swiss National League, for the past two years, will compete as will Hungarian champions, the Fehervar Enthroners.
The Cup will continue to be played as a single-elimination knockout tournament in three rounds. First round – the quarterfinals, will take place on May 9, or alternatively April 25.
First round games:
London Warriors – La Courneuve Flash
Bolzano Giants – Geneva Seahawks
Fehervar Enthroners – Projekt Spielberg Graz Giants
Belgrade SBB Vukovi – Budapest Wolves
The second round will be played on June 6 with the following two possible semifinal games.
Semifinal game West (one of the following four alternatives):
Geneva Seahawks – London Warriors, or
Bolzano Giants – London Warriors, or
Geneva Seahawks – La Courneuve Flash, or
La Courneuve Flash – Bolzano Giants
Semifinal game East (one of the following four alternatives):
Projekt Spielberg Graz Giants – Belgrade SBB Vukovi, or
Projekt Spielberg Graz Giants – Budapest Wolves, or
Budapest Wolves – Fehervar Enthroners, or
Belgrade SBB Vukovi – Fehervar Enthroners
The championship final game is scheduled for June 27 and the venue will be determined after the semifinal games have been played.