Although only a month has passed since the CEFL Bowl that officially ended the 2007 season, it’s almost like ancient history for the soon to be renamed SELAF. The Central European Football League is now completely focused on next year; the name change will fortunately not be the only new thing, as the league will welcome three new teams — Bratislava Monarchs, Budapest Cowboys and Zagreb Thunder — thus expanding its presence to two new countries, Slovakia and Croatia.
Moreover, the Budapest team already in the league, the Wolves, has decided to abandon the Austrian league in favor of CEFL.
“The answer is complex; we had to take a lot of factors into account. Our main sponsor for next year, to be announced, wanted us to definitely play in the Hungarian league. We can’t play in three leagues so we had to pick two. The Hungarian was a given and we chose CEFL over the Austrian because we see more potential in that and it’s a better fit for us financially too”, says Marton Ivanyi Budapest Wolves’ CEFL contact.
As a result of that decision the Wolves — except for their junior team — will end their three year stay in Austrian league’s Division II and I and focus on CEFL and their domestic league, which was in the past two years played by their second team.
That’s the route the Gladiators will now take. Their second team will participate in the Austrian Division I, and their best will play CEFL. Not only that, but they have reached an agreement for players with the first league’s Black Lions that will give them quality and a more stable roster.
The Monarchs are the biggest addition for 2008, both in terms of tradition and quality of the team. Formed in 1995 the Slovaks carry an experienced roster that will be able to hold its own in CEFL. It’s maybe not the best example, being a friendly, but the Monarchs played the league runner-up, the Wolves, in 2007 preseason and even though they lost, the final score of 16-12 is indicative of their ability to match up with the rest.
As for the other two teams, they’re a bit of a question mark, but both have shown progress in the past which was enough for CEFL to include them and which will hopefully help them field competitive teams in the future. That’s not to say they’re already a walkover for the top teams — that will have to be proven on the field — but any immediate impact or even a playoff berth will be a welcome surprise.
Alignment of teams in the two conferences, league schedule and a complete list of participants are still up in the air and will be decided during league meetings in Zagreb mid-December. The last place team in 2007 and champion in 2006, the Kragujevac Wild Boars, didn’t apply for the forthcoming season, not only until the August deadline, the extended November deadline, but at all, likely because of deficiency in players.
The other two teams from Serbia, the Vukovi and Dukes will return next year, like the Wolves fully focused on CEFL. Belgrade will play their second team in the Serbian championships, while Novi Sad will wait for the proposed scheduling and decide if it’s manageable to participate in both. If anything, last year’s season end for Serbian teams proved it was not only possible, but desirable to play frequently.
Ljubljana will also play in 2008, although with unclear ambitions. The team that finished next to last two straight years has had better luck acquiring new players in recent months, but they are hoping for them to contribute in future years, not straight away. They will have some of their players that were playing in Austria and Italy back and they hope it will be enough to make them a more formidable team.
With one new championship contender, three new teams in total and with older teams, some of which will be stronger, the league’s third season will be the most exciting and competitive year of all prior.