2019 CAFL season

2019 CAFL season
LeagueChina Arena Football League
SportArena football
DurationNovember 13—23, 2019
Number of games4
Number of teams4
Finals championsWuhan Gators (1st title)
  Runners-upBeijing Lions
CAFL seasons

The 2019 CAFL season was the second season of the China Arena Football League (CAFL).[1]

Background

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After the 2016 season, the Dalian Dragon Kings and Shenzhen Naja relocated to become the Shenyang Black Rhinos and Wuhan Gators, respectively.[2] In June 2017, it was announced that the 2017 season was being moved to the spring of 2018.[3] In January 2018, the league postponed the start of their second season to continue to establish business partnerships in China. The league has targeted a return to play in the autumn of 2019.[1]

In September 2019, the CAFL released an abbreviated schedule, with a two-game regular season and a playoff tournament featuring all four teams, with games played November 6, 9, 20 and 23. Uniquely among professional football leagues, the CAFL playoff seeds were set as part of the schedule, with the semifinal round (December 6) consisting of the two matchups that did not play in the regular season. The winners of the semifinal round will play for the championship two days after the semifinals, and the losers for a consolation game the same day.[4]

On November 8, the CAFL announced that the first game had been postponed to November 13. Two days later, the league announced that the regular season was canceled and that two of the four games scheduled would be played as exhibition games. In lieu of a regular season or semi-final playoffs, the CAFL instead held a single round-robin tournament with each team playing the other for 12 minutes, with no overtime in the event of a tie. The standings following those contests will then be used to seed the championship: the two lowest-ranked teams played a consolation round, and the two highest-ranked played for the CAFL championship. Both games were 24 minutes long, separated into two 12-minute halves, with overtime if necessary (which it was for the championship). The entirety of the CAFL tournament took place in Suzhou over the course of three days.[5]

Standings

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+ = Shenyang secured third place by way of defeating Shanghai in the consolation game.[6]

Draft

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2017 CAFL Draft

The 2017 CAFL Draft was held on July 10, 2017. 36 players were drafted with 18 of them being Americans and 18 players from China or who are of Chinese descent.[7]

Round one

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Pick # Team Player Position Status
1 Shenyang Black Rhinos Chris Dieker QB IN
2 Wuhan Gators Boqiao Li DE CN
3 Guangzhou Power Tang Canming OL CN
4 Shanghai Skywalkers Yang Shunjun LB CN
5 Qingdao Clipper Cheng Chi Sing WR / DB CN
6 Beijing Lions Mike Chiang DB CN

Round two

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Pick # Team Player Position Status
7 Shenyang Black Rhinos Liang Jianbang WR CN
8 Wuhan Gators Du Xuan Ting OL CN
9 Guangzhou Power Huang Zhiqian WR / DB CN
10 Shanghai Skywalkers Marrio Norman DB IN
11 Qingdao Clipper Fen Chao OL / DL CN
12 Beijing Lions Huang Lingjie DL CN

Round three

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Pick # Team Player Position Status
13 Shenyang Black Rhinos Chad Kolumber OL IN
14 Wuhan Gators Zhang Zhengzhi RB CN
15 Guangzhou Power Shi Yiqing QB CN
16 Shanghai Skywalkers Raymond McNeil OL IN
17 Qingdao Clipper Brenden Daley DL IN
18 Beijing Lions Nick Seither OL / DL IN

Round four

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Pick # Team Player Position Status
19 Shenyang Black Rhinos Kyle Marley OL / DL IN
20 Wuhan Gators Dionte Savage OL IN
21 Guangzhou Power Dexter Davis DL IN
22 Shanghai Skywalkers Zhang Chenxu WR / DB CN
23 Qingdao Clipper Elbert Mack DB IN
24 Beijing Lions Bryce Gauw WR CN

Round five

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Pick # Team Player Position Status
25 Shenyang Black Rhinos Su Mengtong OL / DL CN
26 Wuhan Gators Monte Lewis DL IN
27 Guangzhou Power Darius Reynolds WR IN
28 Shanghai Skywalkers Li Xin C / OL CN
29 Qingdao Clipper Bret Piekarski OL IN
30 Beijing Lions DeAndre Perry QB / WR IN

Round six

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Pick # Team Player Position Status
31 Shenyang Black Rhinos Zheng Yu Fan WR CN
32 Wuhan Gators Jarred Evans DB / QB / LB IN
33 Guangzhou Power Andre Martin DB IN
34 Shanghai Skywalkers Byron Johnson II WR IN
35 Qingdao Clipper Luo Lein Wen Yu DL / OL CN
36 Beijing Lions Poppy Livers WR IN

Note: CN indicates Chinese national or of Chinese descent while IN indicates international players

Source:[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b "CAFL PLANS FOR LONG TERM SUCCESS". China Arena Football League. January 25, 2018.
  2. ^ Moninghoff, Mick (July 14, 2017). "Second CAFL Draft Produces "Firsts"". caflfootball.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  3. ^ "CAFL AND CRFA EXTEND START DATE OF SECOND SEASON". caflfootball.com. June 21, 2017. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  4. ^ "CAFL RELEASES 2019 COMPETITION SCHEDULE - CAFL – Professional American Indoor Football in China".
  5. ^ "CAFL 2019 COMPETITION BREAKDOWN! - CAFL – Professional American Indoor Football in China".
  6. ^ @inside_arena (December 6, 2019). "Final scores from the @ArenaFLChina championship tournament:Shenyeng 6, Shanghai 0Wuhan 6, Beijing 0 Beijing…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "2017 CAFL Draft to be held July 10 – 8:00pm EST". caflfootball.com. June 14, 2017. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  8. ^ "2017 CAFL DRAFT RESULTS". caflfootball.com. July 11, 2017. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.