The German Bowl is the annual national championship game in the sport of American football in Germany . It is contested by the two best teams of the German Football League .
46-682: The New Yorker Lions , from Braunschweig , are the record winners of the German Bowl, with 12 successful participations out of 18 overall. The Düsseldorf Panther and the Berlin Adler both have six titles to their name, but Berlin has the best win–loss record of all clubs, 75 percent. Altogether, as of 2021, twelve clubs have won a German Bowl, while a further four clubs have reached the German Bowl once but lost their sole appearance ( Stuttgart Scorpions , Badener Greifs , Marburg Mercenaries and Frankfurt Universe ). The most-played match up in
92-734: A fifth final in a row in 2004, when the Berlin Adler won their first title in 13 years. After that, the Braunschweig Lions set a new record, winning four German Bowls in a row, beating four different teams in the finals. In 2005, the Blue Devils were once more the opposition, followed by two southern teams, the Marburg Mercenaries in 2006 and the Stuttgart Scorpions in 2007. The seventh title for
138-589: A late fumble, the only turnover of the game, while driving towards good field position for a field goal. The Lions won their ninth German Bowl in 2014 with the highest-ever winning margin, defeating the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 47–9. Schwäbisch Hall scored no points in this game after a field goal on their first possession until the fourth quarter when most of the Braunschweig starters, including MVP quarterback Casey Therriault, were already off
184-515: A narrow 37–36 victory. The club somewhat declined from 2004 onwards, only reaching the quarter-finals that year. In 2005, a last appearance in the German Bowl was made, but this time the Lions came out as the winners. Additionally, the clubs marketing agency had to declare insolvency, too, but the Blue Devils survived theirs and moved into their own stadium, the eVendi Arena. From 2005 to 2007,
230-665: A new European competition, the BIG6 European Football League , which consisted of three teams from Germany, two from Austria and one from Switzerland, the clubs being Berlin Adler, New Yorker Lions, Dresden Monarchs, Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna , Swarco Raiders Tirol and the Calanda Broncos . The two best teams of this competition advanced to the Eurobowl XXVIII, where the Lions lost 20–17 to
276-595: A quarter-final round as well. The 1982 season saw Ansbach repeat its title, this time against the Cologne Crocodiles . After that, the era of the Düsseldorf Panther versus Ansbach Grizzlies rivalry began, with the two teams meeting in the next four finals. Of those, the team from Düsseldorf won the 1983, 1984 and 1986 editions, while the Grizzlies earned their third championship in 1985. With
322-949: A reserve side, two youth teams, the Junior Lions and the Red Cubs 94 , a Flag Football team and a women's team, the Lady Lions . All six teams are part of the mother club 1. FFC Braunschweig. The club's appearances in the German Bowl: The club's appearances in the Eurobowl: Recent seasons of the Lions: The following players and coaches have been inducted into the club's hall of fame : Hamburg Blue Devils The Hamburg Blue Devils are an American football team in Hamburg , Germany. It
368-521: A row. The 2000 edition saw revenge for the Cologne Crocodiles, the following three were all lost to the Blue Devils. The fifth and final loss came to the Berlin Adler . In this era, the only title the club did manage to win was another Eurobowl in 2003. The Lions then once more turned fortunes around and managed to set a new record by winning the next four German Bowls in a row. In the four finals, they faced four different opponents. In 2005,
414-544: A system still in place as of 2010. The Panther earned their fourth title in 1992, defeating the Munich Cowboys, which, in the following year, won the championship themselves, against Cologne Crocodiles, who suffered their fourth defeat in their fourth German Bowl. Munich's title in 1993 was to be the last occasion for the next twelve years that a team from the South would reach the final, and the last time until 2011 that
460-676: A team from the South would win the championship. The Bundesliga and the German Bowl were from then on dominated by the North. In 1994 and 1995, the Düsseldorf Panther once more won the German Bowl, with the second title won against a new force in the game in Germany, the Hamburg Blue Devils . In 1996, the Blue Devils then reversed their previous misfortune and defeated the Panthers in the final. The most dominant era of any team in
506-401: The Berlin Adler won their first of what would be six national championships by 2010. In 1988, Red Barons Cologne defeated the Düsseldorf Panther in the final, while, from 1989 onwards, the Berlin Adler became the first team to win three championships in a row, all against teams from Cologne . After the 1990 season, the play-offs were reduced to eight teams again, dropping the wild-card round,
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#1732775671503552-548: The Düsseldorf Panthers proved too strong and Hamburg lost 10–17. The club's second season in the league brought triumphs and sadness. The team won both the German Bowl and the Eurobowl , however, the team's head coach since 1992, George White, died two days before the play-off semi finals. In 1997, the Blue Devils were able to defend their European Football League title by winning the Eurobowl , but lost in
598-643: The German Football League 2 , for the following season and spent the next six years at this level. The team was never outstanding at this level for the first five years, only finishing once with a percentage above 0.500 in this era. In 1993, the Lions finally managed to win their division and earn promotion to the American Football Bundesliga , now the German Football League . The team performed well at this level in its first season there, finishing fourth and qualifying for
644-704: The Hamburg Blue Devilyns and a flag team, the Hamburg Flag Devils . The club's appearances in the German Bowl: Recent seasons of the Blue Devils: The Blue Devils victory against St. Xavier University in 1995 was one of the first success for a European team against a US college team. The Devils also won against US college teams in 1997 and 1998. The first known European victory against
690-603: The Hamburger SV with the aim of becoming a department of the club and, eventually, from 1 January 2012, all teams of the Blue Devils would become part of the multi-sports club HSV. The idea was floated as early as 1992 and the club will, in future, be known as the HSV Hamburg Blue Devils. In 2012, the club came seventh in the northern division of the GFL and failed to qualify for the play-off. In January 2014
736-481: The Millerntor-Stadion , the club began a new era of success in 2001. Three German Bowl victories were to follow, all against the Braunschweig Lions. However, not all went well for the club. Midway through the 2002 season, the coach left but the Blue Devils remained successful. In 2003, the club experienced financial trouble, having to declare insolvency. Despite this, the German Bowl was won in extra time in
782-534: The 1986 final, the golden age of the Ansbach Grizzlies ended and the club disappeared from the top level altogether by 1991. From 1986, a wild-card round was introduced as well, taking the number of teams in the play-offs to twelve. The 1987 German Bowl saw two completely new teams compete against each other, the Badener Greifs making their only appearance in the championship game to date, while
828-483: The 2013 edition where they were upset by the Berlin Adler in the quarterfinal of the playoffs. As the 2018 German Bowl was an all Southern affair, balancing out the all Northern German Bowl 2013, the divisions have achieved parity in representation at the final for the period beginning in 2011. However, in terms of wins the North still has the edge even for the 2011-2019 period as Schwäbisch Hall won it all four times in that decade whereas Braunschweig's New Yorker Lions won
874-542: The 30,000 that turned out to see the German Bowl at Hamburgs Volksparkstadion were a new record for the game in Germany. The following season 2000 was a disaster for the club. With new coach and quarter back, the club played its first losing season in its short history and missed the play-offs. It did reach the Eurobowl playoffs once more but this time lost to the Bergamo Lions . With a new coach and playing at
920-622: The Berlin Adler. In the GFL the Lions won the northern division once more in 2014 and defeated the Munich Cowboys 69–28 in the quarter-finals and the Cologne Falcons 52–3 in the semi-finals of the play-offs to reach the 2014 German Bowl. The Lions won the championship game against the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 47–9 and took out their ninth national title, staying undefeated in the GFL that season. In 2015,
966-602: The Blue Devils took part in the Football League of Europe , where they lost the final to the Stockholm Nordic Vikings , played in front of 18,000 in Hamburg. Unusually, the club was admitted to the American Football Bundesliga , the later German Football League , without having worked its way up through the league system in 1995 and reached the German Bowl in its first attempt. There however,
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#17327756715031012-521: The Blue Devils were their Bowl opponent for a sixth time, in 2006 and 2007, it had to face opposition from the southern division, the Marburg Mercenaries and the Stuttgart Scorpions , while the final victory came against the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in 2008. After winning those four consecutive titles, they faced drastic restructuring in 2009 and did therefore not qualify for the play-offs at all, but returned in 2010, when they lost to
1058-567: The Bowl five times in the same period. The German Bowls since 1979: Champions in bold * indicates overtime wins The host cities of the German Bowl were: New Yorker Lions The New Yorker Lions are an American Football team from Braunschweig , Germany . Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions. Under this name, the Lions became the most successful American football club in Germany, winning seven German Bowls as well as two Eurobowls . From 1997 to 2008,
1104-431: The Bowl, while northern clubs have appeared 58 times. After the first three German Bowls, the final was only contested by two southern clubs one other time; in the 2018 edition when another Frankfurt based team - Frankfurt Universe - did what had only been achieved before by the long since defunct Frankfurter Löwen - reaching a German Bowl against another GFL South representative - The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns . Between
1150-704: The GFL and failed to qualify for the play-offs. In 2013, the Lions returned to their old dominance, winning 13 of their 14 regular season games as well as the GFL Northern Division title. After play-off wins against the Rhein-Neckar Bandits and the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes the team reached its first German Bowl since 2008, which they won by a point against the Dresden Monarchs . In 2014, the club took part in
1196-576: The Lions came in 2008, against the new force of the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes . Kiel also played in the 2009 final, losing to the Berlin Adler, before finally being successful in 2010 and securing their first title against the same team. German Bowl XXXIII was held on 8 October 2011 at the MDCC-Arena in Magdeburg . The 2011 season saw the end of an 18-year title drought for the south, when the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns defeated Kiel 48–44 to carry off
1242-544: The Lions won their third Eurobowl, again defeating the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. The team also won the northern division of the GFL once more and defeated the Saarland Hurricanes in the quarter-finals and the Allgäu Comets in the semi-finals of the play-offs, facing the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns next in the German Bowl once more, which the Lions won 41–31. Apart from the first team, the club also fields
1288-478: The Marburg Mercenaries in the quarter-finals. In March 2011, the club announced that the team would carry a new name for the 2011 season. Their name is shared with the fashion label New Yorker , a sponsor of the team. The Lions had an average 2011 season, in which they won only four season games and finished well clear of the play-off ranks. In 2012, the club came sixth in the northern division of
1334-422: The club also faced some local competition in the form of NFL Europe team Hamburg Sea Devils . From 2006 onwards, the performances of the Blue Devils dropped off. In 2006, the play-off semi finals could still be reached, in 2007 it was only the quarter-finals and, in 2008, a fifth place meant the club did not play a post season at all. What followed was the withdrawal to the tier-three Regionalliga Nord , where
1380-487: The club announced that it would withdraw its team from the GFL because of a loss of players and would restart in 2015. After not fielding a senior team in 2014 the club returned to league football for 2015, entering the tier five Verbandsliga Nord, where they finished third. Apart from the senior men's team, the Blue Devils also operate a reserve side, a junior team, the Hamburg Junior Devils , ladies team,
1426-411: The club played the 2009 and 2010 season without ever suffering a league defeat. However, in the promotion round, things were not as easy and the Blue Devils missed out on promotion in 2009 but were successful in 2010. In 2011, the club has risen to the second tier of German football, the GFL 2, a league it never played in before. On 5 January 2011, the club announced that it would start a cooperation with
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1472-413: The end of the golden era of the Ansbach Grizzlies in 1986 and the rise of the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (who first reached the German Bowl in 2011), southern clubs have only made five appearances in the championship game of which only one was successful (the Munich Cowboys in 1993). After first reaching the German Bowl in 2011, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns made all (as of 2021) subsequent German Bowls except
1518-514: The field. The Lions repeated their 2014 success against the Unicorns in 2015, winning 41–31. Success in American football in Germany and at the German Bowl differs hugely between the clubs from the northern and the southern division, with the south only winning ten German Bowls and the north the remaining 32 (through XLII). Similarly (through XLII), southern clubs have only made 26 appearances in
1564-495: The first two and Ansbach the last. The era of the Frankfurter Löwen came to an end soon afterwards and the club went defunct in the mid-1980s, while the Ansbach Grizzlies continued to be an outstanding team, playing in all of the first eight German Bowls. Unlike the first season, play-off semi-finals were played in 1980 and 1981 to determine the two German Bowl contestants. From 1982, the play-offs were enlarged to include
1610-602: The history of the game is the Braunschweig Lions versus the Hamburg Blue Devils , having been played six times, last in 2005. The matchup between the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns and the New Yorker Lions has occurred five times - all in the span from 2014 to 2019. German Bowl XIX to German Bowl XXX (inclusive) all had appearances by the Braunschweig Lions (later to be renamed for sponsorship reasons to "New Yorker Lions") for twelve consecutive appearances over
1656-576: The late 1990s, the club had become the most financially successful American football club in Europe, but by 2003, the club had to declare insolvency. The Hamburg Blue Devils were formed in 1992 and began playing non-league football in September 1992. It continued to take part in tournaments in 1993, defeating a number of European top clubs, including the German champions, the Munich Cowboys . In 1994,
1702-458: The national championship for the first time. The Unicorns repeated their 2011 title in 2012 in the highest-scoring German Bowl to date winning 56–53 on a late field goal, while the 2013 title went to a resurgent and renamed Braunschweig, now playing as the New Yorker Lions in a close 35–34 victory against the Dresden Monarchs in their first German Bowl appearance. Dresden missed an extra-point attempt after their first touchdown and went on to lose on
1748-498: The next twelve German Bowls. The club won the first three of those, the first one against the Cologne Crocodiles and title number two and three against the Hamburg Blue Devils, the latest in front of a record crowd of over 30,000 in Hamburg. That year, the Lions also took out the Eurobowl , once more playing a final against the Blue Devils there, too. The next five seasons, the Lions were to lose five German Bowls in
1794-496: The play-offs, where they were knocked-out in the quarter-finals. The following season, 1995, saw the club miss the play-offs but in 1996 they returned and reached the semi-finals, losing to the Hamburg Blue Devils and beginning what was to become a strong football rivalry in the following decade. The year 1997 saw the beginning of the golden era of the Braunschweig Lions and the most successful era of any American football club in Germany to date. The Lions were to play in every one of
1840-408: The semi-finals of the national championships. Finally, in 1998, the club won the Eurobowl for a third consecutive time, as the first club ever, but once more lost the German Bowl, to future bitter rival Braunschweig Lions. The 1999 season was all about the Blue Devils versus the Lions, the two teams meeting both in the Eurobowl and the German Bowl. On both occasions, the Lions kept the upper hand, but
1886-561: The space of over a decade. Apart from the German Bowl, a Junior Bowl has also been contested in Germany since 1982. A Ladies Bowl was introduced in 1990. Other, related, national championship games in Germany include the German Flag Bowl (est. 2000), German Junior Flag Bowl (1999) and a German Indoor Flag Bowl (2000). In 1979, the American Football Bundesliga , later to be renamed the German Football League,
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1932-406: The sport in Germany begun in 1997, when the Braunschweig Lions reached and won the German Bowl for the first time. The Lions would play in every one of the next twelve German Bowls until 2008, and win seven of those. Their first title, in 1997, was won against the Cologne Crocodiles, who now had the unenviable record of five losses in five German Bowl appearances. The following six seasons, the final
1978-408: The team played in twelve consecutive German Bowls. After a number of less successful years the club won four more German titles from 2013 to 2016 as well as four more Eurobowls from 2015 to 2018. The Braunschweig Lions were formed in 1987 and the new team entered the tier-three Regionalliga Nord for that season, where it came third. The Lions were nevertheless promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga , now
2024-474: Was contested by the Lions and the Blue Devils on five occasions, with the Lions winning in 1998 and 1999, while the Blue Devils won in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Only in 2000 did neither of those two win the Bowl. Instead, the Cologne Crocodiles finally reversed their fortunes and won a championship in their sixth attempt. In between, in 1999, the Bundesliga was renamed to German Football League. Braunschweig lost
2070-482: Was formed, consisting of six clubs, the Frankfurter Löwen, Ansbach Grizzlies , Düsseldorf Panther , Munich Cowboys , Berlin Bears and Bremerhaven Seahawks . Of those six, the top two teams would contest the first ever German Bowl on 10 November 1979. The early years of the league were dominated by two teams, Frankfurt and Ansbach, who met each other in the first three editions of the German Bowl. Of those, Frankfurt won
2116-408: Was founded in 1992. The Blue Devils are one of the most successful American football clubs in Germany, having won four German Bowls as well as three Eurobowls . During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the clubs rivalry with the Braunschweig Lions dominated the game in the German Football League , with the two sides meeting in six German Bowls between 1998 and 2005 as well as the 1999 Eurobowl. In
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