Czech League of American Football

The Czech League of American Football (ČLAF) (Czech: Česká Liga Amerického Fotbalu), known as the Snapbacks liga for sponsorship reasons,^[1] is a national American football competition in the Czech Republic. First held in 1994, it is organised by the Czech American Football Association (ČAAF).

Czech League of American Football
(Česká Liga Amerického Fotbalu)

Snapbacks liga
Sport	American football
Founded	1994; 31 years ago (1994)
Founder	Czech American Football Association (ČAAF)
First season	1994
CEO	Lukas Baros
No. of teams	26 (6 in Division 1, 5 in Division 2, 8 in Division 3, and 7 in Division 4)
Country	Czech Republic
Most recent champion(s)	Nitra Knights
Most titles	Prague Black Panthers (18 titles)
Official website	CAAF Online

Seasonal structure

Black Panthers
Lions

Hippos
Mustangs
Harpies

Sígrs
Amazons

Alligators

Patriots

Steelers

Blades

Bobcats

Stallions
Bucks

Titans

Gladiators

Rangers

Hellboys

Dragons

Mammoths

Golems

Dietos

Sharks

Nordians

Foxes

Location of the Teams

Divisions

Next to the "Paddock League" which is the first Division in Czech American Football there is in 2019; 5 more Divisions in Men's and 1 Division in Ladies' Football. The Trnava Bulldogs (from Trnava in Slovakia) are the only non-Czech participant in 2019.

League	year	Teams
Paddock League[2]	2019	Příbram Bobcats, Prague Lions, Trnava Bulldogs (SK), Ostrava Steelers, Pardubice Stallions, Ústí nad Labem Blades
Division 2	2019	Prague Hippos, Pilsen Patriots, Brno Sígrs, Přerov Mammoths, Brno Alligators, Příbram Bobcats,
Division 3 – North	2019	Hradec Králové Dragons, Prague Mustangs, Liberec Titans, Trutnov Rangers
Division 3 – South	2019	Přerov Mammoths, Vysočina Gladiators, Budweis Hellboys, East Bohemia Bucks
Division 4 – West	2019	Prague Black Panthers 2, Teplice Nordians, Tabor Foxes
Division 4 – East	2019	Brno Sígrs 2, Šumperk Dietos, Třinec Sharks, Zlín Golems
Women's	2017	Brno Amazons, Prague Black Cats, Prague Harpies

Format

Regular season

Divisions 1 and 2 uses a round-robin tournament system. Similar to Divisions 1 and 2, Division 3 also uses a same round-robin tournament system.

Playoffs

A semifinal bracket as follows 1. vs 4. and 2. vs 3., deciding the semifinals winners advanced into the finals. Whoever wins the semifinals, the team must advanced into the championship game, the Czech Bowl. Divisions 2 and 3 also has the final game, the Silver Bowl and the Bronze Bowl respectively, while Division 4 has the same championship game, the Iron Bowl, as the ČAAF does that.

Other information

In ČLAF A, a team must have 12 minutes, 10 minutes in ČLAF B and 4x8 minutes in ČLAF C. All games use the International Federation of American Football^[3] rule book.

ČLAF winners

Czech Bowl winners

The Czech Bowl is the national American football game of the Czech Republic, where it had been held since 1995 after the Prague Panthers won the regular season championship when it swept the said season in 1994, the year the Czech Bowl was not held.

Bowl	Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
I	1994	Prague Panthers	—	—
II	1995	Prague Panthers	Prague Lions	55–22
III	1996	Prague Panthers	Ostrava Steelers	48–30
IV	1997	Ostrava Steelers	Prague Panthers	35-21
V	1998	Prague Lions	Prague Panthers	29–8
VI	1999	Prague Panthers	Prague Lions	38–0
VII	2000	Prague Panthers	Prague Lions	15–13
VIII	2001	Prague Panthers	Brno Aligators	35–13
IX	2002	Prague Panthers	Brno Aligators	52–14
X	2003	Prague Panthers	Prague Lions	23–14
XI	2004	Prague Lions	Prague Panthers	13–3
XII	2005	Prague Lions	Prague Panthers	24–9
XIII	2006	Prague Lions	Bratislava Monarchs	38–21
XIV	2007	Prague Panthers	Prague Lions	28–13
XV	2008	Prague Panthers	Prague Lions	24–14
XVI	2009	Prague Panthers	Prague Lions	24–14
XVII	2010	Prague Panthers	Prague Black Hawks	74–0
XVIII	2011	Prague Black Hawks	Prague Panthers	32–31
XIX	2012	Prague Black Hawks	Prague Panthers	35–34
XX	2013	Prague Black Panthers	Prague Lions	48–9
XXI	2014	Prague Black Panthers	Příbram Bobcats	40–0
XXII	2015	Prague Black Panthers	Příbram Bobcats	52–13[4]
XXIII	2016	Prague Black Panthers	Prague Lions	10–9[5]
XXIV	2017	Prague Black Panthers	Ostrava Steelers	28–0[6]
XXV	2018	Prague Black Panthers	Ostrava Steelers	30–7[7]
XXVI	2019	Prague Lions	Ostrava Steelers	29–23[8]
XXVII	2020	Season canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic
XXVIII	2021	Vysočina Gladiators	Prague Lions	23–0
XXIX	2022	Prague Lions	Vysočina Gladiators	35–29
XXX	2023	Vysočina Gladiators	Ostrava Steelers	42–28
XXXI	2024	Nitra Knights	Znojmo Knights	35–28

Czech Bowl statistics

Rank	Team	Titles		Participations
1	Prague Black Panthers	18	1994–1996, 1999–2003, 2007–2010, 2013–2018	23	1995–2005, 2007–2018
2	Prague Lions	6	1998, 2004–2006, 2019, 2022	15	1995, 1998–2000, 2003–2009, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021
3	Prague Black Hawks	2	2011, 2012	3	2010–2012
4	Vysočina Gladiators	2	2021, 2023	3	2021–2023
5	Ostrava Steelers	1	1997	5	1996, 1997, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023
6	Nitra Knights	1	2024	1	2024
7	Příbram Bobcats	0	–	2	2014, 2015
7	Brno Aligators	0	–	2	2001, 2002
9	Bratislava Monarchs	0	–	1	2006
9	Znojmo Knights	0	–	1	2024

Silver Bowl titleholders

Team	Times	Years
3x	Pardubice Stallions	2010–2011, 2015
3x	Brno Alligators	2006-2007, 2017
1x	Ústí nad Labem Blades	2018
1x	Budweis Hellboys	2012
1x	Brno Sígrs	2016

Bronze Bowl titleholders

Team	Times	Years
3x	Bílovice Sígrs	2012, 2014-2015
1x	Brno Alligators	2016
1x	Přerov Mammoths	2017

Iron Bowl titleholders

Team	Times	Years
1x	Znojmo Knights	2015
1x	Vysočina Gladiators	2016

Rose Bowl titleholders (female)

Team	Times	Years
1x	Prague Black Cats	2015
1x	Brno Amazons	2016

References

1. Kroulík, Radim (29 March 2022). "Snapbacks liga! Nejvyšší liga soutěže mužů mění název". ČAAF (in Czech). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
2. "League Split 2017". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
3. "You make the call: Czech Bowl XXIII ends on controversial interception". 24 July 2016.
4. ČT sport (20 July 2015). "Black Panthers obhájili titul, Příbram přehráli hladce 52:13". Czech Television (in Czech). Retrieved 21 May 2023.
5. ČT sport (23 July 2016). "Czech Bowl znovu ovládli Black Panthers. Závěr ale poznamenal kontroverzní moment". Czech Television (in Czech). Retrieved 21 May 2023.
6. Velinger, Jan (25 July 2017). "Prague Black Panthers crush Ostrava Steelers in Czech Bowl". Radio Prague. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
7. Hekele, David (14 July 2018). "Steelers doma bojovali, Czech Bowl ale v Ostravě obhájili pražští Black Panthers". Deník (in Czech). Retrieved 21 May 2023.
8. Grossmann, Pavel (21 July 2019). "Tým Steelers končil sezonu v slzách, bitvu o titul prohrál potřetí v řadě". Mladá fronta DNES (in Czech). Retrieved 21 May 2023.

External links

• Czech American Football Association