The 2019 CAFL season was the second season of the

China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football league that played its games in the China, People's Republic of China. It featured players from the now-defunct Arena Football League (AFL) and ...

(CAFL).

Background

After the 2016 season, the

Dalian Dragon Kings The Shenyang Rhinos are a professional arena football team based in Shenyang, Liaoning participating as members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They were originally called the Dalian Dragon Kings and were based in Dalian, China. Their h ...

and Shenzhen Naja relocated to become the Shenyang Black Rhinos and

Wuhan Gators The Wuhan Gators are a professional arena football team based in Wuhan, Hubei. They are members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They were originally called the Shenzhen Naja and were based in Shenzhen, Guangdong. They were named after ...

, respectively. In June 2017, it was announced that the 2017 season was being moved to the spring of 2018. 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. 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. 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 game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

s. 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 Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

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 Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

over the course of three days.

Standings

: 4–0 *

Beijing Lions The Beijing Lions are a professional arena football team based in Beijing, China. They are members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They won the China Bowl in 2016. History The Beijing Lions were one of the first six teams to play in the ...

: 2–2 *

Shenyang Rhinos The Shenyang Rhinos are a professional arena football team based in Shenyang, Liaoning participating as members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They were originally called the Dalian Dragon Kings and were based in Dalian Dalian () ...

: 1–3+ *

Shanghai Skywalkers The Shanghai Skywalkers are a professional arena football team based in Shanghai, China. They are members of the China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football l ...

: 1–3 + = Shenyang secured third place by way of defeating Shanghai in the consolation game.

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.

Round one

Round two

Round three

Round four

Round five

Round six

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

References

{{CAFL China Arena Football League 2019 in American football 2019 in Chinese sport