After almost exactly one and a half seasons SELAF is reaching a new stage of development. As the fall season promises to be both exciting and entertaining, the SELAF Board has been using the summer break to work on the establishment of broader structures in order to manage the challenge of the years to come.
Starting from next year the league will bear a different name, changing it to CEFL – Central European Football League. In anticipation of that scheduled name change, the SELAF Final in 2007 will be named the Central European Bowl and will be played for a money prize that the finalists will use as guaranteed starting money for next year. Other changes in league direction are that unlike last year where some of the clubs had covered traveling expenses and some covered refereeing costs, in 2008 clubs will also have guaranteed starting money depending on their success. This means semifinalists will also have prize money that they can use for next year. Also, depending on sponsorships obtained in 2008, the guaranteed starting money could be raised, as well as support to clubs who had not reached semifinals or finals.
Change of name to CEFL is in light of the League’s efforts to further progress within the European market and to establish itself as one of the driving forces of American Football promotion within Europe. To support that development SELAF has, with George Sarcevich, added a new name to its already international Management Board. The Serbian American living in Belgrade was, prior to his investment banking career with Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, a college football offensive lineman at Princeton, protecting then quarterback Jason Garrett, now offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys and some say, a future NFL Head Coach. Within the coming months the League will add additional individuals related to the professional football environment.
Still, in the short run the upcoming top event will be the Clash of the Wolves game on September the 8th, where Vukovi Belgrade will try to “more than match” the event standards the Budapest Wolves had established when they played the Novi Sad Dukes on Margaret Island. The Vukovi are promising a memorable football night and are getting prepared to expand the Vukovi stadium with additional stands for a game which will most likely be covered live by national television.
The preparations for the set up for SELAF III – CEFL 2008 are already intensively underway, and applications for teams will be taken into consideration until mid August – the final structure of 2008 CEFL tournament will be known by the end of September.