EFAF Club Team Competition Director Uwe Talke along with numerous federations and clubs from Eastern Europe has agreed upon a new competition – the ‘Eastern Cup’ tournament to be played this year.
The core design of the tournament is established and will feature four teams from four different countries meeting in Minsk, Belarus on the second weekend of July. The semifinal games will be played on Saturday with the championship game on Sunday. The games will be held at the Olympic Base Stayki which is the largest and most modern sports facility in Belarus. It is also the main practice site for Olympic athletes in Belarus. The facility has a state-of-the-art playing field with artificial turf and provides accommodations for catering and other amenities for the athletes.
The Eastern Cup will join the Atlantic Cup and Challenge Cup as EFAF’s third regional tournament to complement the continent-wide competitions of the EFL and EFAF Cup.
“This will be a milestone for EFAF and the development of American Football in Europe,” says EFAF president Robert Huber. “To be a real European institution it is of great importance to EFAF to span its activities across the whole continent.”
EFAF credits Russian Evgeni Chechov with a lot of the developmental American Football work in the Eastern regions. Chechov was one of the most outstanding European players at the junior level and after an early career-ending injury has continued his commitment for the game.
At the end of the month, Chechov will gather hundreds of youth players from Russia to St. Petersburg for a big weekend tournament. Afterwards, he will help to oversee preparations for the Eastern Cup. Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and host Belarus will be entitled to name one team to compete at Stayki.
Final nominations by the federations are in May.