The CFL and its international partners have unveiled the first 24 global players who will take part in the CFL Combine in Toronto from March 25-28.

Beginning in January, eight CFL Global Combines spanned Europe and Asia to identify football talent playing outside North America.

“We are very impressed with this initial group of athletes and their passion for the game,” CFL chief financial officer and head of football operations, Greg Dick said.

“Having players from outside Canada and the U.S. competing in our league is at the core of the CFL 2.0 strategy.

The CFL had previously named 11 early invitees from its Global Combines in Finland, Sweden, France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany and two in Japan. The first wave of global players invited to the CFL Combine includes 13 additional athletes identified at the eight initial events.

Following the three remaining CFL Global Combines in Denmark, Brazil and Mexico, the full list of global players invited to Toronto will be announced. The 2020 CFL Global Draft will take place on April 16.

First wave of Global players invited to the CFL Combine

Name Position Country League Aguemon, Jason RB France LEFA (France) Anderson, Tony * DB France NAIA Billy, Bryan DB France LEFA (France) Breidenbach, Sven * OL Germany GFL (Germany) Dalle Piagge, Lorenzo * DL Italy IFL (Italy) Engstrom, Malcolm DL Sweden Superserien (Sweden) Illetschko, Dustin 1 LB Austria GFL (Germany) Izinyon, David * LB Great Britain GFL2 (Germany) James, William * DB Sweden GFL (Germany) Kensy, Marius LB Germany GFL (Germany) Kyei, Micky * REC Finland GFL (Germany) Lee, Taku * RB Japan X-League (Japan) Liesen, Niklas * LB Germany GFL (Germany) Machino, Tomoya * OL Japan KCAFL (Japan) Madin Cerezo, Jean-Claude 1 REC Spain GFL2 (Germany) Mahoungou, Anthony * REC France GFL (Germany) Mbeleg-Toonga, Glen RB Great Britain GFL (Germany) Milanovic, Aleksandar 2 OL Austria AFL (Austria) Ohmi, Yoshihito REC Japan X-League (Japan) Posunko, Oleksandr 1 DB Ukraine GFL2 (Germany) Rodney, Justin RB Germany GFL (Germany) Sagne, Sebastien * REC Finland GFL (Germany) Takaya, Ryota DL Japan X-League (Japan) Yamagishi, Akio LB Japan X-League (Japan)

* Denotes an early global player invitee

1 Attended the CFL Global Combine in Frankfurt, Germany

2 Attended the CFL Global Combine in Florence, Italy

CFL Global Combine schedule

Date Location February 29 Copenhagen, Denmark March 7 Belo Horizonte, Brazil March 15 Mexico City, Mexico

During the 2019 season, CFL rosters featured, for the first time ever, one designated ‘global player’ from outside the U.S. and Canada on each team’s active roster and as many as two more on their practice rosters.

In 2020, the number of global players per team will increase to two on the active roster and up-to-three on the practice roster, with as many as 45 global players competing in the league.