Entering its second decade of play, CEFL is making considerable changes. Season 2016 will be played between 12 teams, a record number of participants. Teams will be divided in 3 conferences, Western – composed of 2 teams from Austria and 1 from Slovenia, Central – with the 2 teams from Slovenia and 1 each from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Eastern – consisting of 1 team from Hungary and 4 teams from Serbia.

Western Conference will match the teams playing Austrian top level league – AFL, returning Cineplexx Blue Devils and one of CEFL founding teams, Ljubljana Silverhawks. They will be joined by the acclaimed Graz Giants, league’s biggest addition so far.

All but one Central Conference teams are new to CEFL. Kranj Alp Devils and Domzale Tigers are coming from Slovenia, Zagreb Patriots from Croatia who have previous experience with CEFL in season 2012 and Sarajevo Spartans from Bosnia.

In Eastern Conference, the returning champion, Novi Sad GAT Dukes will again duke it out with the most winning CEFL team, Belgrade SBB Vukovi. Their Serbian opposition will be CEFL neophytes, Nis Imperatori and Indjija Indians. Lastly, CEFL sees resurgence in Hungary, with the Budapest Cowbells competing against their southern rivals.

Teams of each conference will play their regular season games against each other, with the best teams from Central and Eastern conferences playing the wild card game before its winner engaging the best Western Conference’s team in CEFL Bowl XI on 2/3 July.