First round of Nike Playarena League is finished. Will those teams compete in next year EMF Champions League…?
First round of Nike Playarena League was being played between July and December. So called “champions of autumn” were emerged in 46 cities. They stand high chances of keeping the top positions in the end of the season, which will enable them to compete for a place in EMF Champions League.
Every year thousands of teams compete in local Nike Playarena leagues. Then, the 128 best teams from all over Poland clash for in five nationwide tournaments to win the main Nike Playarena League championship and qualify to EMF Champions League. As we are ahead of the first part of the season, we can name some teams that are on good way to claim local championship and in result compete for the EMF CL qualification.
Not surprisingly, Cater-Group Lodz, the last year Polish champion is on top of the Lodz’s league. With 15 wins, 1 draw and only 1 loss they are on the best way to assure their place in national tournaments. Some other well known teams are also faring well in their cities: The Cyborgs (2nd place in 2016) won all their 12 matches in Chorzow’s league and so has Poker Team (2nd place in NPL in 2015) in Lublin. Also Dynamik Herring (champions in 2015) haven’t lost any games in Torun’s league. All these teams are expected to be fighting fiercely for Nike Playarena League’s championship in 2017.
It is quite possible, that the other Polish representative in this year’s EMF CL – Gloria Victis Warszawa (they won last season’s Fortuna Polish Cup) – will not qualify to nationwide NPL tournaments. With 9 wins and 3 losses they are way behind Ganador and Tiki Taka teams, which are dominating the league in Polish capital.
As there are 6 months left till the end of NPL’s 2016/2017 season, nothing is certain so far. However, one can clearly observe, that some teams have dominated their local leagues in the course of last several years, and are faring well in nationwide tournaments as well. Will their experience show in EMF Champions League 2016/2017? Polish fans certainly hope so.