The 2019 CAFL season was the second season of the China Arena Football League (CAFL).
Background After the 2016 season, the Dalian Dragon Kings and Shenzhen Naja relocated to become the Shenyang Black Rhinos and Wuhan Gators, 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 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. All of the league games for the season were played at EtonHouse International School Suzhou.
Standings Wuhan Gators: 4–0 Beijing Lions: 2–2 Shenyang Rhinos: 1–3+ Shanghai Skywalkers: 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 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 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 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 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 Pick # Team Player Position Status 25 Shenyang Black Rhinos Su Mengtong OL / DL CN 26 Wuhan Gators Monte Lewis DL IN27 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 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
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