Official EFLI schedule and further expansion news

Kurt Warner and his wife Brenda
delivered footballs to school children
throughout India.

Yea, I know I've posted numerous iterations of what the Elite football League of India's schedule was, but this time -- instead of me guessing based on conflicting newspaper accounts -- the news comes from an EFLI press release.

The July games are not preseason games, they are the league's first season. From an earlier post of mine: [t]he season has been moved up to kick-off on July 15th with 4 games. Also, the 8 teams for the inaugural season have been finalized and split into 2 divisions:

East - Dehli Defenders (India), Colombo Lions (Sri Lanka), Kandy Skykings (Sri Lanka), Kolkata Vipers (India)
West - Mumbai Gladiators (India), Bangalore (India), Pune (India), Pershawar Wolf Pak (Pakistan)

However, they are also still playing their games starting in November. They're calling that their second season and it will have an expanded number of teams, although I'm not sure which extra teams will play in in that season.

As for the expansion news, Kurt Warner has been involved with EFLI for some time and is increasing his involvement in the league. From the press release:

Earlier this year the famed football star, Kurt Warner and his wife, Brenda invested in the EFLI procuring a small piece of the league and delivering footballs to school children throughout India.

Based on the overwhelming reception throughout Southeast Asia, the EFLI has chosen to accept the request of the Nation of Bangladesh to become the next country to participate in the league. The Warner Family has decided to significantly increase their ownership stake of the EFLI and will be the first and only team owner to date of the first team of Bangladesh. Few people realize that the population of Bangladesh is the world's 7th largest. Consider that this is a population larger than that of Russia encompassing a land mass the size of the State of Illinois.

"In 2001, Brenda and I established our First Things First Foundation to impact the world around us! Yet, we have always dreamed of doing more. We believe our investment in the EFLI is a unique opportunity to see our dream realized! We believe the EFLI can impact Southeast Asia through both the introduction of the great game of football, and it's philanthropic potential. We look forward to the EFLI, and to the development of the game of football, as we hope to help many young athletes and families achieve success they have only dreamed of."

So, Kurt Warner is the owner of a new team from Bangladesh which will start playing in the November season. It's a shame, Bangladesh is a team I could pull for, but as a Packer fan I still have nightmares about the 2002 Packers/Rams playoff game where Favre threw 20 or 30 interceptions. Well OK, it was only 6, but it sure seemed like 20 or 30 at the time.

Speaking of teams I am a fan of, regular readers will know I am a huge fan of the Chennai Swarm. The only problem being -- the Swarm any or may not exist anymore. I've heard rumors that they may have been absorbed by another team. If so, I like to think they absorbed the other team and the league just got mixed up and gave the combined team the wrong name.

What can I say? I'm an eternally optimistic football fan. Just like I watched that 2002 playoff game and kept thinking to myself, "Favre can't possibly throw another boneheaded interception", I refuse to believe that my beloved Swarm are but a memory. So, as always, I'll sign off with... 

Gooooo Swarm Go!!!