The 2019 CFL European Draft took place on April 11, 2019. Nine players were chosen from a pool of 18 European players who attended the 2019

CFL Combine The CFL Combine (formerly known as the Evaluation Camp or E-Camp) is a three-day program in which athletes from Canadian universities and Canadians in the NCAA are scouted by general managers, coaches and scouts of the Canadian Football League (C ...

Background

In October 2018,

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) commissioner

Randy Ambrosie Randy Ambrosie (born March 16, 1963) is the 14th and current commissioner of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Ambrosie played Canadian football professionally as an offensive guard for the CFL's Calgary Stampeders, Toronto Argonauts, and Edmo ...

outlined a plan to grow the CFL's presence, which he dubbed CFL 2.0, including growth internationally. As part of this expansion the CFL held a special draft in January 2019 with the

Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional The Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (Professional American Football League), commonly known simply as LFA, is a professional american football spring league in Mexico, founded in 2016. Starting with four teams, the LFA has since expanded t ...

(LFA), the top-level pro

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

league in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Players selected there were not signed to teams but rather had their rights held by their selecting teams. In March 2019, 18 players from teams in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

attended the 2019 CFL Combine alongside Canadian players eligible for the normal

CFL Draft The CFL Draft (also known as the CFL Canadian Draft, CFL College Draft or the Canadian College Draft) is an annual sports draft in which the teams of the Canadian Football League (CFL) select eligible Canadian Football League#Players and compensat ...

; all players came from top club leagues in Europe, with the exception of two French players coming from

Canadian university football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from List of universities in Canada, Canadian universities are d ...

and one Italian player from coming American

junior college football This is a list of schools of United States community colleges that offer a football program. The two largest associations are the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA). I ...

. Only those that attended the combine were be eligible to be drafted in the CFL European Draft. Players selected in these drafts filled a new classification of CFL players called "global players" (in contrast to "National" Canadian players and "International" players which mostly consist of Americans); Ambrosie was initially seeking for each CFL team to have two roster spots for these new global players but, after negotiations with the CFLPA, it formally decided on one roster spot and two practice roster spots.

Selection order

Unlike the normal

, which sets selection order based on a team's record the previous season (similar to the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

), the preceding CFL–LFA draft instead used a weighted lottery system where teams received an increased chance at a higher draft priority (similar to the NBA Draft) but not a guarantee. Unlike either the 3-round CFL–LFA draft or the 8-round CFL draft, this draft will only consist of a single round. Similarly, the European draft also used a lottery system, with a draft order set on April 4.

Selections

References

Canadian College Draft 2019 in Canadian football {{Canadianfootball-stub

Background

Selection order

Selections

See also

References